Commission recommends PUD-21-26 for senior independent living after adding neighborhood protections

The Oklahoma City Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend City Council approve PUD-21-26, an application to rezone 9700 DeVore Drive for a senior independent living facility, after the applicant and neighbors negotiated a package of technical edits (TEs).

David Box, representing the applicant, said the item was deferred from a prior hearing to allow meetings with neighbors and that the applicant had worked to resolve concerns. He read multiple TEs into the record: prohibit balconies on portions of the eastern building (TE-4), change a material percentage from 70%/30% to 60%/40% (TE-5), add a 20-foot landscape buffer on the north and east (TE-6), require a 6-to-8-foot wall or fence adjacent to single-family residences and along the eastern boundary (TE-7), limit structures within 55 feet of the eastern PD boundary to two stories (TE-8), and maintain yard requirements with a 55-foot setback from the northern boundary (TE-9).

Box said those changes were submitted to the neighborhood groups and that the law firm representing the Catholic Charities group said it was in agreement and did not intend to object. Commissioner Newman, the ward commissioner, praised the applicant for addressing neighbors’ concerns and said the three-story buildings had been placed on the south side to reduce adjacency impacts.

A commissioner familiar with the site urged staff to take extra care on drainage because of an exposed inlet that becomes hazardous in heavy rain; the applicant responded that shifting a building to move the detention pond was not feasible given site contours and that the pond placement would remain. The commission then moved to recommend approval of the PUD with the full set of TEs read into the record; the motion carried unanimously and the item will be transmitted to City Council for final action.