Tulsa Owl Supporters Win Victory In Church Parking Lot Expansion Fight

People who live in a midtown neighborhood that's home to a family of owls won a victory on Tuesday afternoon.

The Tulsa Board of Adjustment voted against a parking lot expansion request by the church in the neighborhood.

A pair of barred owls has been nesting in a tree in the Sonoma Midtown Neighborhood at 36th Place and New Haven for years.

The church purchased two duplexes adjacent to its facility and asked the city for a permit to tear them down and build a parking lot.

Supporters of the owls objected, because the parking lot expansion included removing some large trees which they said the owls used for their habitat.

The church already removed the trees and demolished the duplexes after the city's attorney told the city council it didn't have jurisdiction to stop it.

10/19/2016 Related Story: Tulsa Barred Owl Supporters Upset With Duplex Demolition

On Tuesday, December 13, 2016, the Board of Adjustment voted to deny the church's request to expand the parking lot.

The next step, if the church decides to fight, would be to ask a judge to intervene.