The Oklahoma City Council has thrown a wrench in the plans of a proposed 12,000-seat outdoor amphitheater in far west OKC.
Last summer, Colorado-based Notes Live announced a land purchase agreement and construction plans for The Sunset Amphitheater. The proposed location was the Mustang Creek Crossing development, between Yukon and Mustang, near I-40 and the Kilpatrick Turnpike.
But, the city council rejected the company’s plans on Tuesday by a vote of 7 to 2, with all council members voting to deny, except for Bradley Carter and Mark Stonecipher.
The proposed site sits within Ward 3, which is represented by Barbara Peck. The council member made the motion to deny the application, saying those in opposition to the proposal outnumbered those in favor three to one.
“There’s 1,073 pages of protest letters…letters sharing very personal details about your family, your friends, your pets, our vets, PTSD, autism and other health conditions and how they feel like those could be impacted,” said Peck.
Roughly 70 residents living near the proposed development showed up to the meeting to encourage the council to vote against it. They cited noise pollution, increased traffic and other concerns about the proposed development.
“I live one block from this impending disaster that will impact my family, our families and the entire neighborhood — an established community for over five decades,” said resident Karl Edgin. “The family environment will forever be changed if this goes through.”
The Sunset Amphitheater was proposed to include fixed seats and general lawn seating, along with 12 “super suites” and 120 natural gas-powered fire pit suites, which were available for lifetime ownership.
The venue's projected capacity would have made it nearly double the size of Oklahoma City's long-running outdoor stage — Zoo Amphitheatre — which opened in 1936 and has an estimated capacity of 7,000. That venue is under new management and is undergoing infrastructure and facility upgrades.
In a press release sent after the council vote, Notes Live says the company will "be moving quickly to explore alternative sites within the Oklahoma City region for the Sunset Amphitheater."
It’s a different story in Broken Arrow, where Notes Live won final approval from the city council last month for the construction of a $93 million, 12,500-person-capacity outdoor amphitheater just to the north of Broken Arrow Events Park. That venue is scheduled to open in 2025.
