By MIKE SEALS
mike@poncacitynews.com
At the regular meeting of the Ponca City Planning Commission, it was decided by unanimous vote to deny the request of a landowner to change the zoning of property in the northeast part of town from residential to commercial.
The zoning question involved property located at 3420 North Pecan Road. According to Chris Henderson, City Development Services Director, until 2004, the property was vacant. The owner at the time sought and received a Special Use Permit from the city to construct a church on the site.
Consequently, a 5,000-square-foot building was erected and finished out, but the owner, according to the City Development Services Office, failed to complete any improvements, e.g. parking, landscaping, etc., in accordance with the approved site development plan.
Nonetheless, the owner attempted to occupy the building and hold church services until the City filed an injunction to stop the illegal occupancy.
The owner then attempted to sell the parcel and improvements to another local church, but an inspection revealed ‘numerous code violations’ inside the building.
At that point, the building was deeded back to the lending institution in lieu of foreclosure.
In 2010, the City issued a ‘Certificate of Occupancy’ to the new land owner, Dr. Bill Stuever, for the property to be used as ‘personal storage.’ Since then, according to Henderson, the property has been used commercially as a dirt hauling business.
To bring the property into compliance, Henderson said, a change of zoning to C-2 General Commercial is required.
The City Development Office presented the commission with two alternatives: approval of the petition or denial of the petition.
The staff recommended denial basically because it would set a precedent that may not be best for what is primarily a residential area.
Dr. Stuever took issue with a number of the ‘facts’ and positions presented to the commission.
First, he pointed out that the opinion that the property have been used commercial ‘as a dirt hauling business’ is patently untrue.
In a written statement given to the commission, and provided to The News, Stuever said that the property has never housed a business entity and that the equipment shown in aerial photos presented to the commission as ‘evidence’ of the business use were photos of equipment personally owned by Stuever and stored on the property when not in use.
“Starting in 2013, equipment used at the Motocross facility was moved to 3420 North Pecan during non-use,” he said. “The storage of equipment (at that location) was precipitated by frequent burglaries at the motocross track.”
Stuever also underscored the facts that:
- No mail service is provided at the location, and no P.O. Box tracks back to that address
- No trash service is active at that location since 2010
- Utilities are paid individually and personally
- If an internet search is conducted for that address, there is no reference to any business entity to be found, and,
- If ‘Stuever Dirtworks, LLC,’ is searched for, it should, and will, come up in the search results at a different address, which is where the business is physically located.
Stuever also pointed at that the statement provided by the Development Services office that ‘current and past policies have directed new commercial development to the intersections of Arterial streets’ is misleading at best.
Stuever said “the facts show that Pecan Avenue has been developed well beyond a residential street.” He continued, “The daily traffic count and speed limit clearly shows that Pecan Avenue current(ly) is a high-level collector street or a low-level arterial street.”
Stuever as pointed out that the statement by Henderson in his presentation to the commission that “One must remember, C-2 zoning will permit any land use listed under the zoning classification, not limited to the current land use existing at this time. Is this location appropriate for a used auto dealer, or a bar, or a marijuana dispensary? This question needs to be addressed.”
Stuever made the point that denying a zoning request because of a ‘potential future use’ is shaky ground.
“It is obvious that the zoning classifications are flawed to allow this statement to be even made,” he said. “Zoning is to protect the adjacent property owners from inappropriate uses of property and potentially devaluing adjacent property.”
Henderson countered with “the zoning classifications are not flawed.” He said that Ponca City’s use of zoning is the same use that is practiced in every town and city in the State.
“Would you want a bulldozer parked in your neighbor’s yard?” Henderson asked the commission.
Henderson also pointed out that, using the standard criteria for zoning consideration, he believed the best decision was to deny the petition.
The standard criteria asks:
- Is there similar zoning in the area? In this case, the answer is ‘yes,’ with a commercially-zoned area just to the north of the property in question.
- Is nearby land being used in a similar way? In this case, the answer is ‘no.’
- Is the petition consistent with the City’s Commercial Plan? In this case, the answer is ‘no.’
- Is there a significant protest by adjacent or nearby property owners? In this case, there was no protest, and Stuever pointed out that the personally talked to all the adjacent and nearby landowners, and none of them had a complaint with his proposal.
- Is the necessary infrastructure in place to support the petition request? In this case, the answer is ‘yes.’
- Is this the highest and best use of the land? Henderson said the answer to that question is debatable.
The possibility of a ‘Special Use Permit” was broached by the commission but Stuever said that discussion happened with Henderson but wasn’t, apparently, a valid solution to this situation.
Stuever closed his statement by underscoring that he felt the commission should understand the reason for his initiating the zoning change request.
“The entire motivation for the request is proactive,” he said. “Stuever Dirtworks, LLC, was formed in February 2019. The business address is 2600 Fieldstone Trail. Eventually, Stuever Dirtworks, LLC, would like to move it business to that location,” (3420 North Pecan Road).
The recommendation to deny the request now goes to the Ponca City Board of Commissioners for consideration and a final decision. The next meeting of the Board of Commissions is scheduled for the 13th of January, at 5:30 p.m. in the commission chamber at City Hall, 516 East Grand Avenue.
In other business, the commission received an update on current and future projects and was asked by Henderson to consider future requests for road and sidewalk work that was needed and should be programmed into the upcoming budget request.