Zack Stoycoff
Staff Writer
CLAREMORE —
Owners of land being eyed for an RV dealership next to homes on Highway 20 say they have new details about their development and want to meet with neighbors before officials intervene.
Gary and Donna Burger are asking Rogers County to rezone land east of Owasso from residential to commercial so they can build an RV park abutting the Tallgrass Trails housing addition.
Planning commissioners have already denied the request, but the Burgers appealed that decision to county commissioners and were set to plead their case Monday.
Instead, the Burgers’ lawyer asked commissioners to postpone the decision so new details can be presented at a yet-to-be-scheduled community meeting.
“We have new information about how the land will be used,” said lawyer Mac Greever. “We have answers about access, type of use, what it would look like, how it would be implemented.”
Commissioner Mike Helm, whose Owasso-area district includes the Tallgrass Trails addition, said he prefers sending the case back to the planning commission if there are new details. Planning commissioners will hear the case next month after the Burgers meet with neighbors.
But residents say no new details can change their minds. About 50 neighbors signed a petition against the development earlier this month.
“We think we have a nice neighborhood,” said Tom Middaugh, president of the Tallgrass Trails Homeowners Association. “If something like that goes up next door, the property values on our homes goes down and we can’t see them for as much, if we want to do that.”
Middaugh said Tallgrass Trails residents don’t understand why the Burgers want residential-zoned land next to homes when there is commercial-zoned land closer to Owasso.
The Tallgrass Trails development is about two miles east of the development near the intersections of highways 169 and 20 in northeast Owasso.
“There’s nothing that can change my mind,” Middaugh said.
Helm said he was ready to vote against the Burgers’ request Monday but agreed that neigbors should meet with the developers. He said he will attend the community meeting.
