A plan to build an outdoors store on the Arkansas River is a step closer to becoming reality.
A Tulsa city-county planning commission is recommending the Tulsa Public Facilities Authority sign an agreement with retailer REI for a store at 71st and Riverside.
Former Tulsa Mayor Terry Young is among those against the development.
"In the area of the 71st Street bridge, there was never any expectation of anything but public recreation and preservation and enhancement of the natural state of the land between Riverside [Drive] and the river," Young said.
While several people voiced their opposition at a Wednesday hearing, Mayor Dewey Bartlett is behind the store all the way.
"This mayor is 110 percent supportive of the approval and the implementation of this site plan, the concept and the implementation of the use as anticipated," Bartlett said.
The Tulsa Public Facilities Authority owns the land and has yet to approve the deal. The plan calls for a parking lot with nearly 600 spaces around several buildings totaling more than 50,000 square feet of retail space.
Former planning commissioner Bill Leighty disagrees with assertions the 27-thousand square foot anchor store won’t affect the River Parks trail.
"Right now, they're going by open space, green space, and going by a building with a 30-foot wall is not quite the same thing," Leighty said.
If the store is approved, sand volleyball courts at 71st and Riverside would be moved a mile north.
