The Cleveland County Commissioners took the next step in the Rock Creek Entertainment District project amid a pending court case.
In April, Norman residents in favor of bringing the proposed entertainment district plan to a public vote filed a brief with the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
Despite the pending case, special counsel David Floyd says the Recreational and Entertainment Facilities Authority is required to meet deadlines outlined in the economic development agreement, which lays out the schedule of the project.
“While we are waiting on the challenge to be resolved by the Supreme Court, the economic development agreement is still in force,” Floyd said. “The filing of an appeal of and by itself does not undo the district court’s ruling.”
Floyd said the authority has waited as long as possible to take action to give the court time to reach a final decision.
“That’s why we’ve waited as long as possible on issuing (a request for proposal),” Floyd said. “We want the court to rule, we don’t want to overstep ourselves, but at some point we have to act to make sure that we stay in compliance with the deadlines in the economic development agreement.”
In order to meet the Oct. 1 deadline of submitting planned horizontal infrastructure to the city of Norman, the authority has to submit a request for a quote to solicit design, building and operating services.
Once the request is made public, there will be a 60 day response window before the authority will start negotiations with qualified bidders.
