Tonight the Tulsa City Council will consider a zoning change to remove some lots from the Yorktown historic preservation overlay (HP) district. These lots are part of the new Arvest Bank development under construction on the southwest corner of 15th and Utica. They'll also consider a major amendment to the PUD for Arvest Bank to allow a curb cut onto Victor Avenue from the bank's parking lot. Victor is a residential street, and nearby homeowners are concerned that the erosion of the HP district combined with making Victor Avenue a convenient route for bank traffic will hurt property values and quality of life. The neighborhood is already squeezed by the expansion plans of Saint John Medical Center.
The people who bought homes in the area bought with the understanding that HP would help protect their investment in restoring their historic homes. Sure, it can be a bother to seek a certificate of appropriateness when doing exterior work on a home in an HP district, but the benefit is that all your neighbors are under the same set of standards. You don't have to worry about your investment being undermined by a bad remodeling job across the street or the house next door being torn down and replaced with a suburban-style home with the garage as the most prominent feature. Changing the zoning breaks the promise the City made to these property owners.
Yorktown Neighborhood leaders would appreciate your presence and support at tonight's meeting at 6 pm at City Hall.
For more discussion about the issue, here's the relevant thread on TulsaNow's forum.
Comments (3)
My wife and I were there (we live in the neighboring Gillette HP District) supporting our Yorktown neighbors in their failed attempt to keep their HP neighborhood from being encroached upon by commercial development. Sad, precedent-setting evening for our city. Money still shouts louder than average citizens.
Posted by Mike | June 10, 2005 12:22 PM
Posted on June 10, 2005 12:22
The precedent was already set, and it will continue
71st & Harvard, Peggy Jones, the South Yale bridge, the I-44 expansion, the sound abatement program at the airport, etc...
Posted by mad okie
|
June 10, 2005 2:49 PM
Posted on June 10, 2005 14:49
THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND
words and music by Woody Guthrie
Chorus:
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California, to the New York Island
From the redwood forest, to the gulf stream waters
This land was made for you and me
As I was walking a ribbon of highway
I saw above me an endless skyway
I saw below me a golden valley
This land was made for you and me
Chorus
I've roamed and rambled and I've followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
And all around me a voice was sounding
This land was made for you and me
Chorus
The sun comes shining as I was strolling
The wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
The fog was lifting a voice come chanting
This land was made for you and me
Chorus
As I was walkin' - I saw a sign there
And that sign said - no tress passin'
But on the other side .... it didn't say nothin!
Now that side was made for you and me!
Chorus
In the squares of the city - In the shadow of the steeple
Near the relief office - I see my people
And some are grumblin' and some are wonderin'
If this land's still made for you and me.
Posted by The A Team | June 11, 2005 1:17 AM
Posted on June 11, 2005 01:17