Developer urges expedited review, warns of lost financing window and infrastructure costs

At the May 5 Edmond Administrative Planning Commission meeting, developer and speaker David Lambeth urged commissioners to expedite review of a preliminary plat and to allow an early, non‑voted discussion so the public could see the larger plan. Lambeth said repeated delays in staff responses had cost his team "75 days" and threatened financing windows for multiple projects.

Lambeth told commissioners his team expects to bring roughly $2.5 million in sewer and water infrastructure to facilitate the development and said that completing the plat work would unlock approximately 400 acres for commercial development. "We lost 75 days there and now we've submitted it... time matters to us," he said, adding that roughly $780 million of private investment is already lined up in connected projects.

He asked the commission whether staff preferred piecemeal, short‑term traffic studies or a comprehensive 20‑year study covering the larger area extending to Sorbonne Mills and the I‑35 corridor. Lambeth said he and partner groups had planned traffic analyses looking out to 2040 and requested an opportunity to present those plans to the commission within two weeks.

The chair said the commission would take Lambeth's comments under advisement; no formal vote or direction to staff was recorded in the meeting minutes. Lambeth's remarks were recorded during the general public‑comment portion of the agenda, and commissioners or staff did not commit to a specific expedited hearing date during the session.