By Eric Oesch Staff Writer

When members of Our Lord’s Lutheran Church presented their plans to donate a portion of their property to Central Oklahoma Habitat for Humanity to The Village City Council last September it was met with enthusiasm from council members.

At the time, Mayor Sonny

Wilkinson and Councilman David Glover suggested the possibility of constructing up to four “cluster” homes, similar to homes constructed in the Hawthorne neighborhood, on the donated church site.

“The part of our property we want to donate had never been used except as a softball field years ago,” Tom Ziebell, a 32-year church member, told the council last fall. “We believe part of our church’s mission is to our community, and because of our involvement with Habitat, we decided donating the land to provide affordable housing to deserving families would help fulfill that mission.”

Earlier this month residents living near the proposed Habitat for Humanity home sites voiced both their concerns and support for the project during a packed public hearing held by the Planning and Zoning Commission. The commission met to consider a Planned Unit Development (PUD) zoning request from Habitat for Humanity for undeveloped property directly south of Our Lord’s Lutheran Church, which is located south of Hefner Road and east of Major Avenue. Mark Zitzow, AICP, with Johnson & Associates summarized the proposed project by telling the commission, “Four homes would be constructed on smaller lots featuring homes with an average square footage of 1,1001,300 with construction and materials costs between

See VILLAGE, Page 5

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