Norman City Council rejected a proposed tax rebate agreement with Sooner Mall and unanimously approved a year-long moratorium on any potential data centers during a five-hour meeting Tuesday.
The agreement would have allowed Sooner Mall to receive a rebate on tax revenue, reimbursing certain property costs made by the mall, according to a staff report.
The moratorium will suspend applications for new data centers until June 9, 2027. Holman said he was not aware of any companies building data centers in Norman.
Read live updates from the meeting:
11:33 p.m.: Council has adjourned the meeting.
10:50 p.m.: Council rejected the agreement in a 4-4 vote with Ward 1 Councilmember David Gandesbery, Ward 4 Councilmember Helen Grant, Ward 5 Councilmember Trey Kirby and Mayor Stephen Tyler Holman voting against. Ward 7 Councilmember Kimberly Blodgett was absent for the vote.
10:35 p.m.: Ward 8 Councilmember Scott Dixon expressed frustration about the pushback regarding the mall.
An attendee interrupted Dixon while he discussed investment returns the agreement could provide, causing both to shout at each other and Holman to restore order. The attendee was escorted out of city chambers by police, but later returned during a separate item.
9:18 p.m.: Ward 3 Councilmember Robert Bruce had questions about mall vacancies.
“You’re in the business of leasing space, and you have spaces that are vacant, a lot of spaces. I don’t want a slow decline in the mall,” Bruce said.
9:16 p.m.: Derick Colwell, Sooner Mall general manager, said he reached out to Gandesbery to discuss the economic agreement but didn’t hear back.
“I actually reached out to you two days ago, and haven’t heard back from you …” Colwell said. “I feel like I’ve done all I can do. We presented this multiple times, given the postponements as everybody wanted. I don’t know what else to say, to show a 50-year-old business that is a community center has been here.”
9:07 p.m.: Council approved the moratorium unanimously.
Council is now considering a tax rebate agreement with Sooner Mall.
The agreement would allow Sooner Mall to receive a rebate on tax revenue, reimbursing certain property costs made by the mall, according to a staff report.
The first rebate would be based on 2025 sales tax collection and would be approximately $60,735. The initial term of the agreement is five years, but could be renewed for a maximum of two 3-year periods.
9:06 p.m.: Holman said he is not currently aware of anyone building a data center in Norman.
9:01 p.m.: Grant is in favor of the moratorium.
“I look forward to voting yes on this item, so that we have the time to study it and create policy that is specific to Norman, and hopefully doesn’t get preempted, or we get sued for an illegal taking,” Grant said.
8:38 p.m.: City Attorney Rick Knighton discussed the goals of the moratorium.
“The specific directive was for staff to go forth with some investigation, providing counsel with some information, ultimately hopefully moving towards some sort of work information that outlines the requirements if one of those entities were to locate the group there,” Knighton said.
8:36 p.m.: Kirby said he supports the item because it would protect Norman’s water resources.
“(I) definitely want to move forward with this on making sure that we keep proper regulations in, to protect the water in all of Norman,” Kirby said.
8:33 p.m.: Council is now considering a motion to adopt a moratorium on data centers.
The moratorium will temporarily suspend rezoning applications and permits for new or expanded data centers, according to a staff report. The moratorium will give the city time to evaluate the environmental, utility and infrastructure impacts of data centers, allow public participation through future hearings regarding proposed zoning regulations and support implementation of the city’s area and infrastructure master plan.
The moratorium will last until June 9, 2027.
8:15 p.m.: Council approved the item unanimously.
8:10 p.m.: Holman addressed concerns about an agenda item to approve a housing development in a historic neighborhood between Campus Corner and Main Street, stating OU has not sufficiently addressed student housing related issues.
“The universities are experiencing significant growth in student enrollment, and the universities are not adding any on-campus student housing, and that’s causing a lot of issues,” Holman said. “With limited on-campus housing options, we’ve approved some large-scale student housing complexes that have not been constructed yet.”
7:35 p.m.: Council has approved items 6-39 on the consent docket. This motion was approved unanimously.
6:39 p.m.: Parks and Recreation Director Jason Olsen addressed the temporary closure of the Gray Street shelter, which reopened June 12.
“Our facility maintenance guys were out there for three straight days working to get that building open, and much credit they worked so hard to get that done,” Olsen said.
6:31 p.m.: Norman City Council called its regular meeting to order.
This story was edited by Reagan Rozzi.
