Correction: This story was updated at 10:08 a.m. Aug. 11 to reflect the proper spelling of David Floyd’s last name.
Cleveland County Recreation and Entertainment Facilities Authority unanimously approved issuing a request for proposals for designer, builder and operator services for the Rock Creek Entertainment District Project Plan in a nearly eight-minute special meeting Thursday.
Jacob McHughes, District 2 Cleveland County commissioner, served as chair of the meeting and Rod Cleveland, District 1 Cleveland County commissioner, served as vice chair. Members of the authority include Cleveland County District 3 Commissioner Rusty Grissom, OU executive deputy athletic director Larry Naifeh and Steve McDaniels, who was not present at the meeting.
David Floyd, an attorney and the authority’s special counsel, proposed submitting the request before the meeting. Floyd said the authority has to meet obligations under the economic development agreement between the city, the Norman Tax Increment Finance Authority, the OU Foundation and the authority.
The economic development agreement was unanimously approved by the authority in May.
Floyd said that in order to meet deadlines outlined in the economic development agreement, the authority has to start the process of soliciting a designer, an operator and a builder for the entertainment district plan through a request for proposal, a document that requests price quotes from potential suppliers of goods or services.
Despite the pending legal case before the Oklahoma Supreme Court, Floyd said the economic development agreement is still in effect.
“While we are waiting on the challenge to be resolved by the Supreme Court, the economic development agreement is still in force,” Floyd said. “The filing of an appeal of and by itself does not undo the district court’s ruling.”
Floyd said the authority has waited as long as possible to take action to give the court time to reach a final decision.
“That’s why we’ve waited as long as possible on issuing (a request for proposal),” Floyd said. “We want the court to rule, we don’t want to overstep ourselves, but at some point we have to act to make sure that we stay in compliance with the deadlines in the economic development agreement.”
In the event of an adverse ruling from the Supreme Court, the authority can pause the process until voters have a chance to weigh in on the project, Floyd said.
Cleveland said the authority is working backward from the agreement’s required construction completion date of Jan. 1, 2029.
“We have to back dates,” Cleveland said. “We’ve got to hit these beforehand – before they come up – because if we don’t then we’re in violation of the agreement.”
Once the request is prepared for release, which Floyd said is not yet finalized, it will be publicly available for commissioners’ review and comments. There will be a 60-day response window before the authority starts negotiations with any qualified bidders, Floyd said.
Both Cleveland and Floyd told OU Daily after the meeting that the plan for purchasing or renting the land for the entertainment district had not been finalized. As of Thursday, the land is still owned by the OU Foundation.
“Ultimately, either ownership or control of (the land) will have to pass to the authority,” Floyd said. “We haven’t yet determined what that form will be yet, but that’s going to be at no cost to the authority. It’s just going to be either a nominal sale or a lease at a nominal rent value.”
Background
On Sep. 20, three Norman residents filed a petition to turn the Rock Creek Entertainment District to a public vote. In October, petitioners submitted 11,602 signatures, exceeding the required 6,098. City Clerk Brenda Hall certified 10,689 of the 11,602 signatures.
In November, four Norman business leaders, Kyle Allison, director of Allison’s FUN Inc,; Verson McKown, CEO of Ideal Homes & Neighborhoods; David Nimmo, former president and CEO of Chickasaw Nation Industries; and Dan Quinn, former Ward 8 councilmember, filed a lawsuit challenging the gist of the public vote proposed by the petition.
On Feb. 21, Cleveland County Judge Jeff Virgin ruled that the gist contained in the petition was insufficient and that it did not comply with an Oklahoma statute requiring a referendum petition to summarize the nature of the proposed referendum vote in a manner that can be understood by those who do not practice law.
On April 28, Norman residents filed a brief with the Oklahoma Supreme Court appealing for the reversal of Virgin’s ruling.
On April 24, a notice of default to the city of Norman stated that if the Norman Tax Increment Finance Authority does not approve the phasing plan by May 24, the city could be sued. On May 20, city council approved the phasing plan for the project in an 8-1 vote. Ward 5 Councilmember Michael Nash voted against the plan.
This story was edited by Ana Barboza.
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.oudaily.com ’
