Norman community reacts to approval of $1 billion entertainment district, funding of new OU arena • Oklahoma Voice

NORMAN — After a contentious hearing, the Norman City Council approved a plan early Wednesday to create a $1 billion entertainment district that would be the future home of a new University of Oklahoma arena.

But the plan faces an uncertain future amid pushback from residents who question whether it is a sound investment, if it would harm local school funding, and why Norman residents, not OU, are footing the most of the bill for a new university sports arena.

Opponents vowed to utilize the initiative petition process and collect signatures to put the issue before voters. A public vote could potentially override the council’s go-ahead. 

In addition to the new OU arena, officials promised the Rock Creek Entertainment District project plan would create a mixed-use district that includes retail, hotels, residential housing and office space. City leaders want to pay for the project using two Tax Increment Financing, TIF, districts — one that relies on sales tax and the other property taxes.

Over 70 community members signed up to weigh in on the project’s future at the public hearing Tuesday night.

Norman resident James Howard said he supported the project. 

He said he has seen towns fail to progress “into the future.”

“They have fallen further and further behind in terms of maintaining their population and services to their citizens,” Howard said. “So it’s either forward or backwards.”

Howard said the district would be a “marquee” visible to Norman tourists or drivers on Interstate 35.

“It basically lets them know that we’re a destination to be taken seriously and enjoyed seriously, which is great for our businesses,” Howard said. 

After the meeting, OU President Joseph Harroz Jr. wrote in an email to OU Daily that the vote was a historic moment in Norman’s history, adding the “entire OU family” is grateful the council approved the project.

Harroz wrote he was thankful for the citizens who worked to make the project happen, and called the vote a “milestone.”

“A large coalition came together to support this initiative that will create thousands of new jobs, more housing and exciting new entertainment options for our residents that will help make Norman a destination city,” Harroz wrote.

OU Athletics Director Joe Castiglione touted the vote as being a “transformative” opportunity for the city and Cleveland County. Castiglione wrote OU had made it known it wants to be a partner in growth for the city, adding Norman can “reap” the benefits of fans from Southeastern Conference teams. 

“Tonight, we saw strong leadership when our city needed it most,” Castiglione said in an email. “We’re endlessly thankful for the opportunity to have an environment where we can put Sooner Magic on full display, showing our state and region all Oklahoma has to offer. The district and arena will do wonders for our ability to compete and win.” 

But Cynthia Rogers, an OU economics professor, said in an interview with OU Daily that such a contentious and large spending program should be voted on by the public. 

“You get to vote on everything else that uses tax dollars: sales tax, new sales tax,” Rogers said. “This uses the thing that we vote on, diverting it to something that we didn’t vote on.”

Rogers also said the property taxes the TIF collects are intended to fund public schools.

“The most important thing for families to come to Norman, they look at the schools,” she said. “That’s the first thing they look at. I doubt they’re like, ‘Do you have an arena?’”

Most current city council members will not be on the council when school and infrastructure funding issues arise, she said. 

Rogers said she doesn’t want the district to be completely funded by TIFs, but the city should finance the public infrastructure portions of the project.

Norman resident Marguerite Larson said city surveys reflect that the community does not want the project. She said the TIF will impact school and city funding, and that OU should finance the arena. 

The university has pledged $100 million of the estimated $330 million arena construction costs. The arena is expected to house the university’s basketball and women’s gymnastic teams.

Larson also said she was disappointed with the results of an unrelated TIF development project.

“We were promised the moon and the stars and sunshine and dancing girls, and we got Dollar Tree,” she said. “We got Target. We got Office Max.”

Larson said she doesn’t agree with the project developers’ assumption that a large amount of funding would be coming in from the TIFs.

She also questioned the wisdom of investing so many resources into one part of town.

“Why not invest in something that’s already here?” Larson said. “Why not invest in the community as a whole, as something that’s going to benefit everyone?”

Norman resident Andrew Rasner said he appreciates the walkability and higher density housing the project creates, but he doesn’t agree with how the project will be funded. 

The funding mechanism “severely impacts both our short-term fiscal stability and our long-term ability to invest elsewhere,” he said.

“A lot of those things look really neat, but they are just tied intimately to the way of funding this,” Rasner said. 

This article was originally published by OU Daily.