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Council approves rezoning on South Mustang Road after heated neighborhood opposition, limits access to one curb cut
Summary
After hours of testimony from neighbors citing covenants, traffic and rural character, the council amended and approved rezoning of 5401 South Mustang Road to SPUD 1799 by a 7' vote, adding a condition limiting vehicle access to a single curb cut on Mustang Road.
The Oklahoma City Council voted 7' on Tuesday to approve an ordinance rezoning 5401 South Mustang Road from R-1 to SPUD 1799 after extensive public testimony and a council amendment limiting access to a single curb cut.
The applicant's representative, attorney David Fox, told the council the SPUD had been substantially rewritten to reduce intensity: the plan limits the site to single-story, residential-style office buildings capped at 7,500 square feet each, requires significant landscaping buffers and an eight-foot masonry wall where the property abuts single-family lots, and prohibits access to 54th Street. Fox said the changes were negotiated with planning staff and the planning commissioner to improve compatibility with the neighboring rural residential area.
Neighborhood speakers and the Thoroughbred Homeowners Association, who spoke from the podium, urged denial. Colin Walke, representing the Thoroughbred Homeowners Association, said the property is historically agricultural with five-acre lots and that the covenants, private roads and existing rural character make the proposed office development incompatible. Multiple residents raised traffic and safety concerns on Mustang Road, private road maintenance costs and the visual impact of masonry walls and retention ponds.
Council discussion acknowledged the property-rights tension: one council member said if the council denied the negotiated SPUD the applicant could pursue court remedies and that rejecting the settlement would undo mitigations that reduce neighborhood impacts. Council members debated the tradeoffs and then voted to amend the SPUD to explicitly limit site access to one curb cut off Mustang Road, a restriction the applicant accepted.
The motion to approve the rezoning as amended carried 7', meeting the supermajority threshold required by the protest calculations on the file. Council members who opposed raised remaining concerns about traffic, precedent for commercial conversion on Mustang Road and enforcement of covenants, noting private covenant enforcement remains a civil matter between property owners.
The council's action was a final vote on the ordinance at the meeting; opponents were informed they retain the option to pursue legal challenges in district court.
The outcome preserves the negotiated design concessions negotiated at planning commission while permitting the property owner a nonresidential use subject to the council's conditions.
