JENKS, Okla. — After a request from its mayor the day before, Jenks City Council voted unanimously to table its decision Tuesday for how to develop two plots of land.
What's described as a state-of-the-art competition baseball park would bring thousands of people to Jenks each week, according to a proposal to the city.
But it sits at a location that isn't a home run with some neighbors.
"We need to really think about what we’re doing with this kind of regional commercial land use change," Jenks resident Catherine Lenhart said April 20. "It’s different than a local land use change. It’s a bigger impact, but it doesn’t benefit the residents.”
Lenhart lives in the area of 106th Street and Elm Street, along with many others who packed Jenks City Hall for its planning commission meeting Thursday.
A Facebook group Lenhart created in April discusses the impact the park would have on traffic, beautification, and the city's identity as a whole.
An online petition has since collected more than 600 signatures calling on the city to reject the land's development.
"This is a densely populated area with residents," she said. "And the property sits right at the intersection of one of the main arteries of Jenks. This leads to all the housing developments.”
"In 25 years, we are going to look back and say this was the worst decision we ever made," one Jenks resident said during the meeting.
Planning Director Marcaé Hilton said the city already has plans to expand Elm Street both ways to accommodate traffic from the ballpark, as well as the planned Jenks outlet mall.
The Cal Ripken Experience baseball park project would also reportedly retain half of its space for green or open space.
Hilton said while a traffic study suggests four lanes would ease jamming, that study hasn't been released to the public as of April 20.
After more than an hour of public comments - the vast majority being opposed to the development -- the volunteer-led planning commission voted 4-3 to allow the land use to change to 'local commercial use with adding public access to trails'.
Ahead of the May 16 city council meeting, Mayor Cory Box made a statement on Facebook asking the council to continue the agenda item on the topic saying in part, "Should the council support my decision, we will vote to continue this agenda item until sometime in late June. This decision should give all stakeholders more time to gather information, have their concerns addressed, and their questions answered."
In the May 16 meeting, Mayor Box confirmed the new voting date for the council will be June 27.
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