Planning commission approves annexation and M2 PUD zoning for former Siemens site at 408 US-60

The Bartlesville Planning Commission voted April 20 to recommend annexation of approximately 27.02 acres, including the state highway right-of-way, and to zone the former Siemens property at 408 U.S. Highway 60 to M2 General Industrial Planned Unit Development (PUD).

Greg Collins, special projects manager for the City of Bartlesville, presented the annexation and zoning request from Dinner Out LLC, an affiliate of Lincoln Electric Products, noting the property was sold in 2024 by the Bartlesville Development Authority. Collins said the property includes an existing three-story building (about 53 feet in height) and a one-story building; the parcel lies east of Bartlesville Municipal Airport and north of the Phillips 66 Research Center.

Why it matters: Annexation and zoning would bring the property into city limits, make municipal building-permit and inspection services available to the owner and allow the city to adopt development standards and allowable uses for the site.

Collins said staff recommended approval of both the annexation and the requested M2 General Industrial PUD, together with an amendment to the comprehensive plan to add the territory to the Industry and Trade character area and the miscellaneous context area on the future thoroughfare map. He told commissioners the annexation would include the appropriate ODOT right-of-way per state law and that the city already provides water, sanitary sewer and solid-waste service along Wiley Post Road and US-60 to the site.

The applicant requested several PUD modifications: an allowance for the existing approximately 53-foot, three-story building where the base M2 district limit is 35 feet; specification of allowed office and select commercial uses in the three-story building; allowance of most M2 uses in the one-story building with enumerated exceptions (for example, no open contractor yards, no billboards/off-site advertising, and no unenclosed outdoor storage or travel-trailer/boat storage); and a request to deem existing landscaping and perimeter tree cover sufficient for screening, with replacement if diseased or removed. Collins said the proposed uses in accessory buildings would be limited to activities accessory to the main buildings and that the applicant's site development plan and survey were provided in the staff packet.

Commissioner Munkers asked why the owner sought annexation. Collins said the principal benefit to the owner was access to city fire-department plan review and inspection services; Collins said Osage County refers building review to the state fire marshal, which can delay certificates of occupancy by more than a year.

Staff notified property owners within 300 feet, placed a public notice sign on the site and published notice in the Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise. Collins said the applicant hosted citizen-participation meetings with surrounding property owners, including Bartlesville Development Authority, Phillips 66 and the Oklahoma Department of Transportation; he reported no registered objections from those parties.

A motion to approve annexation, the M2 General Industrial PUD as proposed and the associated comp-plan amendment carried on a voice vote with commissioners voting aye. The item will proceed to City Council for its public hearing and final action, scheduled May 5.

The approved PUD as presented allows the existing height of the three-story building and the specified mix of indoor office and selected commercial uses in the three-story structure, with M2-type uses in the one-story building subject to listed exceptions; screening and parking-lot landscaping rely largely on existing vegetation subject to replacement rules in the site plan.