Residents Concerned Apartment Development Will Hurt Community

By Jennifer Pierce, NEWS 9

EDMOND, Oklahoma -- Some Edmond residents are fighting a development going up in their area. They worry it will bring problems to their quiet neighborhood.

The area behind Coffee Creek is zoned for multi-family dwelling, but residents in the area don't want apartments in their backyard.

Scott Witherby said he's looking out for his family. He doesn't want a large development steps from where his children play.

"These people aren't invested in the community. They are living here for a short amount of time, they're in, they're out. They use what the rest of us have invested in the neighborhood, our schools, our roads, so that's kind of what it is," said Witherby, who is against the apartment plans.

But the land has been zoned for multi-family development since 1996.

"This is new information to them that they may not have realized that vacant area was zoned multi-family," said Edmond Planning Director Bob Schiermeyer.

The area happens to be in one of Edmond's fast growing areas. There are several new, large apartments and commercial businesses near the neighborhood. Home owners, like Witherby have heard the apartments could house hundreds of families.

"We're talking about in this little plot over here putting in 550 more units. That's really going to put a strain on the community," Witherby said.

The land owners are running into a deadline to finish their development and are applying for a zoning extension. The city planning director said he's been given few details on how large the project will be.

"It's not uncommon for them to be two or three stories. The number of units in this case could be high compared to a normal project," Schiermeyer said.

The planning director said he doesn't even know who the land is being sold to. He said there are still a lot of details that need to be worked out for the project to even go forward.

Concerned Coffee Creek home owners plan to be at the planning commission meeting Tuesday night at 5:30 p.m. to voice their concerns about the development.