Land case in Edmond goes to Supreme Court
EDMOND — The would-be developers of Arcadia Peak, a housing addition proposed for an undisturbed portion of the Cross Timbers, appear to have resolve as strong as the "forest of cast iron" they want to disturb.
Having lost before the Edmond Planning Commission last November, and a state district court in August, SACC InvestmentsMoyer 1 1 0 LLC — Edmond resident Kyle Cope land and others—appealed this week to the Oklahoma Supreme Court in its plan f or the neighborhood, which would have 451 lots of about 6,000 square feet each.
The surrounding area is mostly homes on large acreages.
Arcadia Peak would be on 110 acres on the west side of Midwest Boulevard, just south of Coffee Creek Road.
The land is covered with oaks and other hardwoods, part of the Cross Timbers, an ancient swath of thick woods running from southeastern Kansas to central Texas across eastern and central Oklahoma.
Author Washington Irving, who toured the area with Army rangers out of Fort Gibson in 1832, famously described the hard- to- traverse Cross Timbers as a "forest of cast iron."
The Cross Timbers came under consideration i n April 2018 when Edmond city staff recommended the Planning Commission approve Moyer 110 LLC's request for rezoning from general agricultural use to single-family residential, the most restrictive zoning for housing, with a minimum lot size of 6,000 square feet.
"The property contains a significant amount of Cross Timbers forest with a large area of Potential Remnant Forest located in the central and western portion of the site," city planner Randy Entz wrote in a study report. "With proper planning, the proposed use offers ample opportunity for retaining trees and forested areas, and preservation of the Potential Remnant Forest is encouraged.
"However, impact to tree canopy is difficult to anticipate due to no tree planning or preservation requirements currently existing within the proposed land use."
The report concluded with apparent standa rd language :" Staff recommendations are advisory only and do not constitute Planning Commission or City Council decisions."
The Planning Commission did approve there zoning, and that summer the rezoned land sold to developer SA CC Investments-Moyer 110 LLC for $2.88 million.
In November, the Planning Commission denied the developer's preliminary plan for the property, going against city staff's recommendation to approve it, which ended with the usual notice that a recommendation was advisory only. The commission's discretion
in such cases is among the challenges brought by the developers in their appeal to the Supreme Court.
The staff re comme nd a ti onto approve the pl at for Arcadia Peak made no mention of t he Cross Timbers. However, neighbors had complained that traffic from the higher-density neighborhood would ruin the aesthetics and appeal of the surrounding area.
The developers sued the city of Edmond, claiming that the Planning Commission had no discretion to deny the plat because it complied with all zoning and subdivision regulations. They claimed the denial was "arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable."
The developers asked District Judge Thomas E. Prince for a summary judgment in their favor. The judge denied it, and went a step further in granting a judgment in favor of the city and
several residents who joined the case.
The developers t hen appealed to the Supreme Court, questioning the district court' s conclusion that the Planning Commission had the discretion to make decisions more restrictive than city zoning and subdivision reg ulations; challenging certain aspects of its summary judgments; and arguing that they were denied hearing on several motions the judge declined to consider.
Copeland and SACC Investments are involved in other residential developments in Edmond, including scuttled plans for housing and commercial development on the closed-down Coffee Creek Golf Course, which were opposed by Coffee Creek residents and denied by the City Council.
Plans for the former golf course are being reworked.