‘Let the citizens of Norman decide’: Residents request public vote on entertainment district

At the southwest corner of Porter Avenue and Main Street, Debbie Burleson instructs petition signers to write their names across the line in prominent capital letters. Community members ask her questions about the district and thank her for her volunteer work.

Burleson, a volunteer, is collecting signatures for the referendum petition that would put the Rock Creek Entertainment District project plan to a public vote.

“All we want to do here is let the citizens of Norman decide what they want to do: yes or no,” Burleson said.

In the early morning hours of Sept. 18, the Norman City Council approved the $1 billion project plan for the district by a vote of 5-4. Over 70 community members expressed support or concerns during the contentious seven-hour meeting.

Oklahomans for Responsible Economic Development submitted the petition to Mayor Larry Heikkila on Sept. 20.

At the meeting, many spoke about the tax increment financing districts (TIFs) included in the project plan. Community members who objected to the district’s funding through TIFs expressed concerns about their effectiveness and impact on public funding. A TIF is a financing instrument that allocates incoming tax dollars from a specific area for development.

The entertainment district would include an 8,000-seat arena for OU’s basketball and gymnastics teams, 500 residential units, commercial space, a hotel and a parking garage.

According to its website, ORED is a nonprofit organization created to give community members a voice in decisions regarding the city’s economic development.

Paul Arcaroli, a founding member of ORED, Pamela McCoy-Post and Richard Sondag are listed as sponsors of the petition.

Arcaroli said the petition allows the Norman community to have a say about the district.

“These developments, in this case economic, or other developments that may have an impact on the larger community, should be thoroughly examined and discussed by everyone,” Arcaroli said.

Burleson has been volunteering at the petition stand for the past three days and said she saw many people “eager to sign.” Burleson said Norman residents are upset that they didn’t have a chance to vote on how to spend such a large portion of their tax dollars.

“It is the audacity of the individual members of the City Council to decide that five people could make this tremendous financial commitment to the larger community,” Arcaroli said.

OU President Joseph Harroz Jr. told OU Daily he believes community members have the right to overturn the council’s decision, but he hopes the decision will prevail.

“They want to try to overturn it, they can try to overturn it,” Harroz said. “I obviously think it’s not in the best interest of the city, but they think otherwise. So we’ll see what comes of it.”

Harroz said progress and growth are key to OU’s success. He said the entertainment district is an opportunity to grow.

“People don’t like change,” Harroz said. “They want to criticize change, but that assumes that if you don’t change, the situation you’re in tomorrow will be the same as it is today.”

Arcaroli said he has always encouraged community-oriented growth, but the value of this district plan is “questionable.”

“We are not against growth, we are not against Arena, we are not against change,” Arcaroli said. “These are the narratives that pro-business voters continue to push, and they are absolutely not true.”

According to Arcaroli, developers and proponents of the project have “controlled the narrative” around the district. He said the community needs a public discussion so people’s questions can be answered.

“Up until now it has been a completely one-way flow of information that has been controlled and managed by the pro arena, the pro-TIF electorate, and the people who will be most affected by it have been frozen out,” Arcaroli said.

OU economics professor Cynthia Rogers, a founding member of ORED, serves as an economic advisor for the organization and collects signatures.

Rogers said it’s not about the arena, but about its financing. The project plan calls for two TIF districts, one collecting sales and use tax and the other collecting ad valorem, or property, tax.

Rogers said the city budget and public schools will suffer from the loss of tax revenue earmarked for the proposal. However, project developers assume that there will be no negative effects.

Nick Migliorino, superintendent of Norman Public Schools, said at a recent board meeting that there is no evidence that TIFs will negatively impact public school funding.

“The benefit is that the value of the community’s overall assets increases. Therefore, our retention capacity increases because our retention capacity is based on the sum of the rating,” Migliorino said.

According to a presentation Rogers sent to OU Daily, the proposed TIFs would take 100% of the district’s tax revenue. According to the project plan, the TIF districts will last for up to 25 years.

Rogers said she estimates $105 million of the $600 million in funding will be taxpayer money taken from schools.

“I find it incredibly offensive to take public school funds and use them for an arena for OU,” Rogers said. “The financing is bad. And of course (the developers) never ask the public, ‘Do you want to pay for a new arena for OU?’ Do you want to spend that much money on one?’ That conversation never happened.”

Since the petition was filed, a group called Elevate Norman has sent text messages to community members urging them not to sign the petition.

“Support Norman’s growth and the new Rock Creek Entertainment District sports arena approved by the City Council,” the message said. “Do not sign the petition as it could put this important project at risk of further delays.”

According to Elevate Norman’s website, the project will not increase taxes or pose risks to the city.

“Anyone who tells you that $600 million in tax spending doesn’t come out of taxpayers’ pockets is crazy,” Rogers said.

OU Daily asked Lawrence McKinney, president and CEO of the Norman Economic Development Coalition, Scott Martin, president and CEO of the Norman Chamber of Commerce, and Dan Schemm, executive director of Visit Norman, if their organizations were involved in the campaign. All three said that while their organizations support the entertainment district, they are not involved in the site.

Elevate Norman does not display contact information or founders on its website.

“I think that’s worth noting that whoever it is, they don’t stand behind their claims,” ​​Rogers said.

The petition proponents’ attorney is listed as attorney Robert Norman, who provides legal advice to ORED and served on the previous TIF Oversight Committee. He said the text message motivated the community to sign the petition.

“It brought their attention to the forefront, and we had a nice increase in signatures after people received that text,” Norman said. “So if anything, it did us a favor.”

Like Rogers, Norman said he was concerned about the district’s funding. While consulting studies show new economic activity will move into the county, he said the TIFs will absorb all of the tax revenue.

“The problem arises when the city, county and schools no longer benefit from the tax activity that is diverted to the TIF district,” Norman said.

Rogers said there is a chance the project will “fail” and the arena won’t be built. She said the city is still “in a bind” to pay back the TIF no matter what.

“There’s a risk of spending $600 million and not getting an arena, nothing we wouldn’t have had otherwise,” Rogers said. “This is a significant risk.”

According to Tiffany Vrska, Norman’s chief communications officer, petitioners have until Oct. 18 to collect the 6,098 signatures required for the petition.

Once the signatures are collected, they will be presented to City Clerk Brenda Hall for review. If it determines there are enough valid signatures, it will issue a notice, Norman said. Any legal challenges to the petition can then be filed.

“It’s possible that this could impact the date of an election,” Norman said. “We would endeavor to resolve any legal disputes expeditiously and meet this election date.”

Oklahoma’s next general election is February 11, and the petitioners hope the public vote will take place on that ballot.

“We’re just going to keep going and keep working to collect signatures and get the people to vote,” Norman said.

Arcaroli said about 200 signature collectors volunteered to help with the petition.

Russell Rice, co-founder of Norman Care-A-Vans, is helping organize the petition. He said the petition creates change and allows people’s voices to be heard.

“We vote on bonds, we vote on all kinds of loose change, so I don’t know why we don’t vote on $600 million,” Rice said. “We want to make this petition to find out the will of the people.”

Rice said he expects taxes will increase because the city’s general fund will be depleted by the TIF.

Community member Kay Warren said she signed the petition because the new developments were unnecessary. She said the university should continue to use the Lloyd Noble Center because it is closer to campus.

“You have to use what you have instead of going to a new place,” Warren said.

Rice said the petition has received recognition and praise from various leaders across the state.

“All kinds of people from different cities, elected officials from different cities come by just to tell us we’re doing a great job,” Rice said. “They hear about it, they’re amazed and they love it.”

Arcaroli said he saw community members from all sides of the political spectrum support the petition.

“This is not a left or right issue,” Arcaroli said. “This is an economic issue and a community issue.”

This story was edited by Anusha Fathepure, Ismael Lele and Ana Barboza. Mary Ann Livingood copied this story.

The Article was originally published by OU Daily.