City Addresses Ballpark Questions

City leaders called a meeting with downtown business owners on Wednesday to set the record straight about the current plans with the development of a new stadium and to answer questions about what's next. News On 6 anchor Jennifer Loren reports the newest renderings of the proposed $60 million ballpark show the Tulsa skyline down the first base line.

The new drawings were revealed to downtown business owners at a meeting called by City Councilor Eric Gomez. He called the meeting, he says, to set the record straight amid controversies he calls misinformation.

"The public needs to know that this has been a huge undertaking by many individuals who serve to gain nothing from it. They are doing it merely because it's in the best interest of the city of Tulsa," said Gomez.

The Tulsa Development Authority is working to form a trust that would govern the ballpark and surrounding developments. Those trustees would be Mayor Kathy Taylor, a downtown business/property owner appointed by the mayor and then donors who contributed more than $2 million toward the project.

The city council is looking over that proposal now.

"All the properties that will ultimately be under the control of the trust, the sole beneficiary will be the City of Tulsa, and so the trustees will have no financial gain from this trust and from this development," said Gomez.

But those donors have preferences. They want the ballpark to be used for all kinds of activities, every three days, throughout the year. They'll also have a say in what happens to these adjacent properties being bought privately by the Kaiser Foundation to be transferred to the trust.

"I think it's important for the district, and not just for Greenwood, but for all the surrounding districts and areas, Blue Dome, Brady, that there be some synergy about the type of development that occurs around the stadium, to protect the integrity of the stadium," said Greenwood Chamber President Reuben Gant.

And at this point it looks like these properties will be turned into retail on the first floor and residential properties above that.

The Tulsa Development Authority still needs to get past several hurdles to implement their plan, including a pending lawsuit, finalizing a contract with the Drillers, agreeing on a trust and securing all their funding.

If all goes well they hope to open the ball park in January or February of 2010.