At Tuesday’s Sapulpa Metro Area Plan Commission meeting, residents expressed serious concern about a new apartment complex planned for the land south of the southeast corner of Cheyenne and Taft near Walmart.
The proposed 156 units in four stories are spread out over a series of buildings, and the plan includes a pool, a playground and a dog park.
The problem with all this is that aside from being a driving range for a number of years, that parcel of land has been a natural watershed for a long time, and some people believe it’s a watershed that’s needed.
The concern is this: as anyone who’s lived in Sapulpa longer than a year can tell you, Rock Creek likes to flood pretty much anytime the threat of rain is in the forecast. Several folks brought up the issue that if this watershed were to be removed through the construction of this apartment complex, what’s going to happen to the water that resides there?
Walter Shelton is a civil engineers with the architecture firm and was there to answer the questions and concerns of the public. He brought up the fact that part of the construction included a flood basin—similar to the one situated near Walmart on the west side. But when concerns were expressed over what the construction might do the adjacent roadway and folks on the other side of Rock Creek, the firm had to collectively acknowledge that their responsibility ended at the boundaries of the property they were developing.
Still, it doesn’t mean that they’re going completely unchecked. A passerby may have noticed that for some time, there was some dirt work being done on the property. That was only allowed, the firm said, because they had submitted a design to FEMA, which had then been approved, allowing them to move forward.
But a design is not the same as a permit, and there is still more work to be done in getting proper approval from FEMA to finish the project. The City Council still has to approve the project, but the SMAPC board did vote to recommend approval on the project.
The City Council goes to vote on the issue on September 18th at 7:00pm.
Featured Image: Walter Shelton (right) addresses the concerns of Jim Yaeger, someone who was concerned about how the construction would impact flooding in the area.
