City Council Appoints New Board of Adjustment Member, Approves New Building Permit Fees

The Stillwater City Council appointed Rob Lamecker to a new three-year term on the Board of Adjustment that will expire in March 2028.

The Board evaluates variance requests based on criteria such as unnecessary hardship, peculiarity of the property, potential detriment to the public good, and whether the variance is the minimum necessary to alleviate the hardship.

Meetings are open to the public, providing an opportunity for community members to engage in discussions and stay updated on decisions that impact local development and land use.

Lamecker is the Director of Facilities Management at Stillwater Public Schools.

Stillwater introduces fees for temporary occupancy and fixture stocking

Council also approved new fees for temporary occupancy certificates and fixture stocking as part of updates to the city's building permit fee schedule.

Jeff Mathews, Building and Fire Code Services Director, presented the fee proposal, which had been reviewed and unanimously approved by the Builders Relation Committee.

"These fees do a couple of things," Mathews explains. "One is help us to continue to accommodate builders and occupants for these special circumstances where a TCO or fixture stock allowance is needed. While they also help with some accountability to see that these are completed, that we are moving them all the way to a complete certificate of occupancy."

The new fee structure includes a $100 charge for temporary certificates of occupancy, which increases to $200 after 90 days. Fixture stocking requests for commercial properties will cost $0.06 per building square foot.

Mathews notes that the fees will help cover administrative costs associated with these services, which involve multiple city departments.

"We have a number of staff that are involved with this process. We have with a commercial project, six to seven different departments or attached departments that are involved in this, as well as administrative services, who processes these TCOs and fixture stocking allowances," Mathews said.

According to Mathews, builders and developers are accustomed to similar fees in other municipalities and consider Stillwater's proposed fees reasonable by comparison.

"One builder that was part of the builders relation committee had stated that he felt like these fees were very reasonable compared to what they're used to," Mathews adds.

Land Development Code update

The council also approves a text amendment to the Land Development Code that provides flexibility in numbering lots within a final plat. The amendment to Chapter 23, Section 23-327 allows the Development Services Director to approve non-consecutive lot numbering in certain circumstances.

David Barth, Development Services Director, explains the need for this flexibility.

"There are times when we have very complicated projects that are phased over many years, might have other actions that are related to that, such as project plans or TIFs or TIDs, where things are already defined in a certain way," Barth said. "And so then when we want to consider a plat, it just makes the most sense in a rare circumstance to have the numbering that is not consecutively numbered."

The Planning Commission had previously recommended approval of the text amendment with a 5-0 vote.

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On the consent docket

In other business, the council accepts a FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant in the amount of $145,876.78 to update the city's hazard mitigation plan. The grant includes $136,759.49 at 75% federal cost share and $9,117.29 at 100% federal cost share, as administered by the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management.

Rob Hill, Emergency Management Director, explains that the city's current hazard mitigation plan expires in September 2025, and updating it is essential for applying for many state and federal grants.

For the Stillwater Airport Terminal Building and Improvements Project, the council approves the award by Lippert Bros., Inc. of contracts for Project Work Package #4 for the relocation of the airport beacon.

The council authorizes total expenditures of $72,498 for the beacon relocation project, which includes CMAR markups and fees, construction administration and contingency.

Upcoming events

The meeting concludes with announcements from city officials about upcoming events, including the annual Trash-off event on March 29, the Household Hazardous Waste event on April 26, and the Mid South endurance race from March 13-16.