Board of Adjustment upholds Tulsa Preservation Commission denial of front-yard parking pad but allows applicant time to revise

The Tulsa Board of Adjustment declined to reverse a decision by the Tulsa Preservation Commission (TPC) to deny a retroactive historic-preservation permit for a front-yard parking pad at 1519 East 20th Street in the Swan Lake historic district, saying the preservation commission's application of the district's design guidelines merited a presumption of correctness. The board's motion to overturn the TPC denial failed on a split vote; two members voted in favor of reversal, one voted against and one abstained, leaving the TPC denial in place.

Why it mattered: The property owner, Brent Wilkes, told the board the parking pad is a public-safety and functional necessity; his attorney and counsel argued the existing yard configuration and a 6-foot retaining wall create a dangerous blind spot that forces residents to reverse onto a busy four-lane arterial. The Tulsa Preservation Commission chair, Shane Hood, told the board the commission's mandate is to apply the adopted unified residential design guidelines for historic preservation districts — including provisions that strongly discourage front-yard parking pads — and that the work in question did not comply with those guidelines.

What the preservation commission said: Shane Hood, chair of the Tulsa Preservation Commission, told the Board of Adjustment that the commission's review of the 1519 East 20th Street application focused on the adopted unified residential design guidelines…