Tulsa planning commission sends industrial park zoning to council

— What was once forceful opposition from residents to aspects of a planned north Tulsa industrial park melted into agreement before the Tulsa Metropolitan Area Planning Commission on Wednesday, leading the planning commission to approve rezoning for the project.

Provided it clears the Tulsa City Council, Peoria-Mohawk Business Park will have its industrial zoning, which paves the way for any development on the site. It’s a George Kaiser Family Foundation project that’s scheduled to receive $10 million in Vision funding in fiscal year 2019, according to city plans released Wednesday.

The project’s goal is to bring 1,000 jobs to north Tulsa. Progress was slowed late in 2016 when residents told the planning commission that they were concerned about truck traffic along Mohawk Boulevard and what the development would do for the neighborhood.

In two meetings over the past month, the foundation and residents have hashed out an agreement. Instead of entrances at both ends of Mohawk Boulevard, the foundation agreed to limit entrances along Mohawk to the west end of the street, away from the neighborhood on the south side of Mohawk and the one remaining house on the north side of the street.

The owner of that remaining house, Charles Williams, said Wednesday that the project will benefit the community and the area around it now that the foundation has changed plans.

He’s the last holdout on the north side of Mohawk Boulevard. He has refused to sell the foundation his land, and it plans on building on around him. It was Williams and Corinice Wilson who helped organize area residents to voice their concerns about the project.

That organization garnered praise from planning commissioners John Dix and Nick Doctor, who said it’s among the best they’ve seen.

Josh Miller of the foundation said the passage was what happens when the community comes together and works with those most affected to reach a solution suitable for almost everyone.