October 2021 - Parks & Recreation - 29

board met and named the park
" Helmerich Park "
after Walter
Helmerich III, the principal private
donor. Helmerich Park is a public
park in Tulsa and has operated
as such from 1991 to the present.
From 1991 to April 2017, all 67.3
acres of Helmerich Park was operated,
maintained and managed
by the City's park department as a
public park.
During
this same time period,
improvements were made to
Helmerich Park under the supervision
of the City. The improvements
included: 10 volleyball courts, a
playground, a splash pad, a picnic
area, restrooms, a parking lot and a
driveway. The improvements were
ultimately made possible by private
funds donated by Walter Helmerich
III; however, the City's park
department also sought $1,175,000
in improvements specifically earmarked
for Helmerich Park as part
of its 2015-2019 capital improvements
plan.
Economic Development
Land Sale
In 2013, the City's economic development
director
unused
or
decided
to
try
and sell or lease some of the
City's
underutilized
property in an attempt to, hopefully,
increase sales tax revenue and
generate revenue based on recommendations
from an outside third
party who prepared a study of the
City's property. Helmerich Park
was identified as a potential candidate
by the outside third party's
study to be leased or sold.
Once identified as a potential
candidate to be leased or sold,
the City's economic development
director discovered legal title to
Helmerich Park was held by the
TPFA, not by the City. As a result,
the City's economic development
director and the City's staff prepared
a request for proposal (RFP)
offering Helmerich Park for longterm
lease in hopes of attracting
new businesses that would lease
the property and thereby increase
sales tax revenue. The RFP provided
that it was from both the TPFA
and the City. Ultimately, the RFP
was unsuccessful.
In 2014, a private developer became
interested in a small portion
of the property - specifically Tract
A, which runs along the east bank
of the Arkansas River - for commercial
development. The City's
economic development
through private negotiations,
director,
initially
thought he was successful in
negotiating a long-term lease for
Tract A with the private developer.
However, the long-term lease
ultimately culminated into a contract
for the purchase and sale of
Tract A to the private developer for
the construction of a commercial
shopping center.
After lengthy negotiations, the
TPFA and the private developer
agreed on a purchase and sale contract
(Contract) for Tract A on August
11, 2015. The TPFA approved
the
Contract
during one of its
scheduled meetings. The remaining
58.5 acres of Helmerich Park
was to continue to be held in trust
by the TPFA for the public's use as
a city park.
Challenge to Sale Contract
On August
11,
2015,
Plaintiff
Craig Immel sought to prevent the
sale of Tract A by seeking an injunction
and a temporary restraining
order against the TPFA. On
January 7, 2016, Immel filed an
In response to the two resolutions
passed by the City Council and the
City's approval of the Amended
Contract for the sale of Tract A,
Taxpayers petitioned the trial court
for a declaratory judgment on the
following points:
(1) [T]he TPFA and the City
cannot sell Tract A to a private
developer for commercial use because
the park land is held in a
public trust, expressly as a park for
the people; (2) tax funds would be
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29
Amended Petition to include the
City of Tulsa as a defendant and
added four other individual Tulsa
taxpayers as plaintiffs.
On March 1, 2017, the Tulsa City
Council passed two resolutions
concerning Tract A. The first resolution
provided that the City would
abandon Tract A and support its
sale if the TPFA and the developer
would revise its contract to include
terms requested by the City. The
second resolution provided up to
$570,000 of the City's tax funds
to be paid to the private developer
for infrastructure improvements
to Tract A in connection with the
construction of the shopping center
if the contract was revised. The
TPFA and the developer revised
the Purchase and Sale Contract
(Amended Contract), which the
City approved on March 3, 2017.
The City's economic
development director decided to
try and sell or lease some of the
City's unused or underutilized
property in an attempt to,
hopefully, increase sales tax
revenue and generate revenue.
October 2021 - Parks & Recreation

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