Last Updated on May 30, 2017, 3:28 PM | Published: May 26, 2017
*See the update at the end of this article.
With the threat of a lawsuit against the city looming, Oklahoma City Ward 7 Councilman John Pettis has decided to back off his idea of changing ordinances on the Lost Lakes Amphitheater east of downtown.
Instead, he has placed on the May 30 council agenda a resolution to rescind his previous one from May 16 that spurred the lawsuit threat.
In three previous stories May 17, May 23 and May 25, Free Press reported on Pettis’ proposal and the possible financial harm it would cause Lost Lakes if passed.
The latest resolution Pettis added to the agenda Friday afternoon calls for the usual procedure of measuring noise for code violations and then addressing those violations if they occur.
“That’s the way they ought to do it,” said Eric Groves, attorney for Lost Lakes Development, LLC. “It’s the right approach to addressing that kind of a problem.”
A phone call and email to the councilman for comment late Friday were not returned.
His proposal introduced in the last council meeting May 16 was to change the ordinances for Lost Lakes so that the private park could only hold ML.
He said that residents in a nearby neighborhood had been contacting him to complain about the levels of sound coming from the main, most-developed part of the park when is also the section closest to the neighborhood.
This came after the council concluded a yearlong negotiation for a new planned unit development for Lost Lakes the month before.
April 11 the council voted unanimously to approve the PUD that would allow the park to hold as many concerts as they wanted without pulling permits as long as they stayed within standard noise ordinance levels.
Pettis made the motion to adopt and voted with the rest of the council to accept it.
Groves believes the council will approve the new resolution to rescind Pettis’ May 16 resolution in their upcoming meeting.
*UPDATE, 5-30-2017– The Oklahoma City Council ended the threat of re-zoning or down-zoning the core tract of Lost Lakes Amphitheater by voting 7-1 Tuesday in favor of rescinding Pettis’ resolution to change the zoning for the private park.
“Previously, when law enforcement officers came out there they just said call your councilman,” Pettis said to the council before the vote. “And so there was some miscommunication.”
Pettis said that he has had meetings with the residents of the affected neighborhood and they now understand that they are supposed to call the police and ask to file a report about the noise.
“It is still a major concern of mine,” said Pettis before the vote. “But hopefully, by having the residents call the police we’ll be able to somewhat take care of it.”
“This is one zoning case I do regret on many different levels,” Pettis said.
After the meeting Free Press asked Pettis for comment and he declined.
Founder, publisher, and editor of Oklahoma City Free Press. Brett continues to contribute reports and photography to this site as he runs the business.
