Norman City Council Postpones Decision On OTA Turnpike Resolution

Groups opposed to a controversial turnpike plan in Norman are still waiting to find out if the city will enter into an agreement with the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority.

This comes after the decision was postponed at Tuesday night's City Council meeting.

The decision offered some relief to groups urging the city council to push back against the Access Oklahoma Turnpike Plan, many of which are Norman residents at risk of losing their homes.

That’s the case Tassie Hirschfeld.

"If this turnpike called the south extension is built it will go right there which is just beyond this tree line pretty much destroying everything that makes this place so special and wonderful," she said.

The proposed Access Oklahoma Turnpike Plan would require the OTA to demolish over 600 homes to build the turnpikes.

"Hundreds of homes, thousands of people. Because we assume there is more than one person per home," Hirschfeld said.

Hirschfeld is on the board of Pike Off OTA, a group against the OTA's proposed Access Oklahoma Turnpike Plan.

"We also have real concerns that even if an agreement was made that they wouldn't follow it and there's no mechanism to enforce them to follow it," Hirschfeld said.

Hirschfeld attended Tuesday's City Council meeting where they voted on a resolution that would combine two previously proposed resolutions regarding the turnpike.

One was proposed by Ward 5 councilmember Michael Nash calling for the OTA to address environmental concerns and the other was requests and conditions put forth by the OTA.

"It was getting so much pushback from the community because the way that we see it, one resolution protects our environment, and the other resolution greenlights the destruction of our environment and these things can't be put together in any compatible way," Hirschfeld said.

OTA said in a statement to News 9, "[...] the Authority is committed to ensuring environmental protections are met on all projects."

The OTA also went on to say that it's worked in good faith with the City of Norman, and it’s awaiting the city council's decision.

Meanwhile, groups like Pike Off OTA are still hopeful the city council will reject this resolution in a few weeks.

The Norman City Council will vote on this issue at its August 27 meeting.