Oklahoma County amends C-PACE guidelines to allow variable-rate financing

At its Feb. 28, 2025 meeting, the Oklahoma County Board of Commissioners approved a minor amendment to the county's Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) program guidelines to permit a variable-rate financing option for assessment contracts.

The change, presented by Keith Coleman, was described as minimal and limited to a variable-rate schedule option while leaving the assessment contract language unchanged. "The changes within the guidelines are very, very minimal," Coleman said. He told the board that staff would return any assessment contracts using variable rates to the commissioners for consideration before the county would proceed on projects.

Why it matters: C-PACE provides long-term assessment contracts for energy- and water-efficiency improvements to commercial buildings. Commissioners and staff said the program has been used for large projects in the past, including what Coleman described as the largest C-PACE contract in the state for the Convergence project, and that current higher long-term interest rates had reduced demand for fixed-rate C-PACE deals.

Coleman told commissioners that C-PACE contracts typically run 20 to 25 years while many construction loans are 7 to 15 years; the variable-rate option is intended as a bridge to make projects viable until market rates fall. He cited a pending project at Northeast 13th Street and Broadway (referred to as Alley North) as one that could use the amended guidelines. "We will bring these assessment contracts for any variable rates to you for consideration prior to any type of going forward with these on the projects," Coleman said.

A member of the public, Jed Green, spoke during the allotted public-comment time on the item to say recent news reporting had prompted community questions about unrelated wind-energy development in the Arcadia area. "It led folks to believe that there was... a windmill farm that was imminently about to be planted in the Arcadia area," Green said, and thanked staff for explaining the program change publicly.

The board voted to approve the amendment after the presentation and public comment. No changes to the underlying assessment contract were proposed in the board action; commissioners were told contracts using any new variable-rate option would be presented to the board before execution.

The action leaves the county's existing C-PACE framework in place while adding a variable-rate financing option intended to address higher long-term interest rates and preserve the program's availability for energy-efficiency projects.