Norman residents in favor of bringing the Rock Creek Entertainment District project plan to a public vote filed a final brief with the Oklahoma Supreme Court on Thursday.
The brief argues that the opponents are “manufacturing” assertions of misleading provisions in the petition’s language. The brief defends the placement of a comma that opponents said was misleading about tax fund numbers.
Appellants include the three Norman residents who filed a referendum petition to send the entertainment district to a public vote, Pamela McCoy-Post, Paul Arcaroli and Richard Sondag. Appellees include those who filed a lawsuit challenging the gist, or summary, of the petition.
“Appellees’ claims involve a whole lot of agonizing over each word, each phrase, each comma, and each punctuation mark to manufacture something wrong with the gist,” the brief states. “Even after all this, it is clear that the gist in this case does not contain any omissions or statements which would have deceived, misled, or acted as a fraud upon a potential signer.”
The brief also states that opponents claimed the gist of the petition did not include specific details like a 3% sales tax figure. The brief argues that including the 3% tax figure warranted policy questions.
“Appellants demonstrated that the gist’s narrative description of what is actually included in the sales tax increment is factually accurate, not misleading or deceptive, and legally sufficient,” the brief states. “The gist clearly did not need to include the specific regulatory detail of the 3% numeral.”
Background
On Sept. 20, three Norman residents filed a petition to force a public vote on the entertainment district. In October, less than a month later, 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.; Vernon 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 and Natalie Armour. Sophie Hemker copy edited this story.
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