Hunter's Place HOA

Feb 27 City Council Minutes Pages 36-40

Mar 27, 2007

Mr. Foshee stated that as the Council knows, he is not running for the Ward 5 Council seat. During campaigns, there is always campaign rhetoric, which he does not mind, except when it reflects on the job he has done as a Councilman. Mr. Foshee stated there was news coverage of Mr. Miller who said he was going to keep Wal-Mart out of SW 104th and Earlywine. This has become inflammatory in the Lake Ridge Neighborhood Association, and he has received numerous calls. He stated he spoke with Mr. Miller about the City?’s inability to downzone property. Mr. Foshee addressed Mr. Jordan and confirmed that the City does not have the legal right to downzone property. The property that Wal-Mart is building the store on at 104th and May Avenue was zoned in 1984, before Mr. Foshee was on the Council. Mr. Foshee stated he has met with Planning Commissioner Washington, the Wal-Mart representatives, Gary Kincade, (Lake Ridge homeowners association president), David Swift, (Lakeridge Run Wal-Mart committee chairman) and Jeff Schuff, (Hunter?’s Place homeowners association president) and they have already received concessions from Wal-Mart.
Mr. Foshee stated he wanted the residents of Lake Ridge to know that there is nothing the City can do to keep Wal-Mart from building on that property. He had the same issue when 600 apartments were built across from where he lives, which he could not stop because it was zoned in 1971. Mr. Foshee described how he tried to get a bill passed by the state legislature. The bill would have addressed the situation when land is not used for the purpose it was zoned for within 10 years, it would come back before the Council to see what effect it had on the community. Mr. Foshee stated the lobbyists killed it in committee. Until the state legislature changes that law, we cannot do anything about it. For Mr. Miller to infer that he was not doing his job upset him, and is the reason he is speaking out on it.
Mr. Foshee listed the eleven things that the Wal-Mart developer and Mr. Washington have already dealt with: 1) no direct access to Earlywine Boulevard from any part of the development will be permitted; 2) the developer will install an eight foot brick fence, closely matching the existing fence, along the perimeter of Earlywine Boulevard; 3) the development will leave the existing brick entry areas on the north side of the South May and Earlywine entry and the east side of the SW 104th and Earlywine entry; 4) the developer will provide the landscaping (trees and shrubs, no flower beds) for the entire area on the perimeter of the new fence next to Earlywine Boulevard; 5) the developer will provide a sprinkler system for the entire area on the perimeter of the new fence next to Earlywine Boulevard; 6) Lake Ridge HOA will provide the lawn care maintenance for the entire area between the new fence and Earlywine Boulevard; 7) there will be no unscreened shipping containers stored on the property; 8) the architecture of the buildings will be upscale, made of brick, not tilt-up concrete or concrete block; 9) the developer will install and maintain a pollution control drainage system to protect the Lake Ridge lakes, Earlywine Park and Earlywine Golf Course from parking lot water runoff; 10) the developer will provide increased density landscaping, including bermed greenbelts along the perimeter at May Avenue and along SW 104th. No Bradford pear trees will be used. The developer will provide landscaped ?“islands?” within the perimeter of the parking lot; and 11) the developer will provide parking lot lighting installed and manufactured for the purpose of reducing light pollution beyond the perimeter of SW 104th and May Avenue.
There are four additional concessions which they are trying to get Wal-Mart to agree to, but when you make inflammatory statements that you are going to be able to keep Wal-Mart out, that is just not ethical and reflects on his character and the job he has done as Councilman. Mr. Foshee stated that if Mr. Miller would like to call him, he would be more than happy to talk to him. He had talked to Mr. Miller before he gave the news conference. It is an effort to get information out there that is totally incorrect for no other reason but to inflame one homeowners association in regard to an election. Mr. Foshee stated he has always tried to represent South Oklahoma City and they were already working on this issue. He stated he does not want campaign rhetoric to get involved when they are trying to get concessions out of Wal-Mart which help the community and the neighborhood associations. Mr. Foshee apologized for the length of the statement, but stated this upsets him. He received approximately 27 calls from that neighborhood. One woman asked him why in the world he did not keep Wal-Mart from coming in. He stated he talked to her for 15 minutes about why there was no way he could stop it.
Mr. Foshee stated that long-time Councilman John Smith had passed away. Mr. Smith was from Ward 5, and was the one who talked him into running for Council the first time he ran. Mr. Foshee asked for a resolution for his family. Mr. Smith was one of President Bush?’s ?“Thousand Points of Light.?”