Jenks trustees and city council clear way for food hall near Oklahoma Aquarium with shared-parking leases

A shared-parking and economic-development package for a proposed food hall north of the Oklahoma Aquarium advanced Tuesday after trustees of the Jenks Aquarium Authority and the Jenks City Council approved related agreements and a restrictive planned-unit development.

The trustees voted to approve the shared-parking lease and the aquarium-campus architectural agreement on the authority’s consent agenda. The city council later approved the shared-parking economic-development agreement and the related planned-unit development ordinance after staff described the leases and concept plans.

Staff described the project as a food hall with indoor and outdoor dining and accessory entertainment uses that is intended to “draw visitors to the aquarium and support the continued development of the city's riverfront as a dining and entertainment destination,” citing language from an earlier economic-development resolution. Marce, a city staff member who presented the documents to the authority, told trustees the group would need to finalize a lease for parking…