A special meeting of the Broken Arrow City Council met on Monday, Jan. 12, 2026, at the NSU BA campus to hear from the public and determine the fate of an application for a zoning change from Agricultural (AG) to Commercial General (CG).

The zoning request change was to enable the land to be used as a place of worship – a mosque.  The Planning Commission last week had approved the zoning change to go before the council for final approval.

The Council moved their meeting to the NSU Broken Arrow Campus to accomodate the expected large number of people who wished to attend.

The meeting began at 6 p.m. with the Council being on the first floor meeting room with overflow put into a second story room with live stream.  The entire City Council was present.  Mayor Deborah Wimpee, Vice Mayor Johnnie Parks, Justin Green, David Pickel and Lisa Ford.

In the interest of fairness the plan was to hear alternating comments from pro and con speakers. Speakers were only given three minutes to make their case.

Before the comments, the council heard from the Rocky Hinkel, Director of Community Development for Broken Arrow, about the zoning change asked and the surrounding area.   The site was described as south of the Creek Expressway and on the east side of Olive or 129th St. S.   The land to the east is vacant, the land to the south is a place of worship, and the land across Olive is agricultural and single family residences.    The zoning asked for CG is compatible with housing a place of assembly.  There has been no engineering studies done on the site as of yet.  There would be no outdoor speakers for the mosque.

The Applicant’s spokesperson next addressed the council. He addressed concerns over property values and that they are fully willing to comply with City of Broken Arrow requirements.  That many of the concerns of citizens – traffic and drainage – would be addressed once the zoning change was approved and the engineering phase of planning began.

He spoke of the group asking nothing more than their Constitutional rights of freedom of religion.

Next there was a speaker from the applicant’s design team who also confirmed that traffic, drainage, etc would have to approved by local and state and federal regulations in the next phase after the zoning was granted. She did say that after the planning commission meeting they did go back to the plan and realize that the original estimate of around 700 parking spaces would not be feasible and it would more likely be around 150 spaces for phases 1 and 2.

The next phase of the meeting was for public comment – it lasted around three hours.  There were many speakers both pro zoning change and con zoning change.

The pro zoning change speakers were many and varied, both Muslim and non-Muslim.

They spoke of the positive Muslim contributions to Broken Arrow in volunteer work and how the mosque would be a much needed place of worship as the Tulsa Mosque cannot accomodate everyone, a place of generosity to the area by providing a food bank for anyone and also a place to come for medical help for those who cannot afford it.

They spoke of their love for the Broken Arrow community at large and how there are over 200 Muslim families currently living in Broken Arrow.  How many of these families already contribute to the Broken Arrow community in many positive ways.

They asked the Council to consider the facts, fairness, their Constitutional rights and to make brave decisions.  They are only asking for equal treatment under the law.  They want to work with the city to make this work.

Not many, but a few speakers said that hate and fear were the reasons behind the opposition to this zoning change as well as racism and bigotry.

The opposition speakers spoke mainly of the problems that this zoning change would bring.

They spoke of the fact that it would change the comprehensive plan for Broken Arrow that was passed in 2019.

They spoke of traffic that would be created on top of an already congested area between the Creek Expressway and points south on Olive.  One person asserted that at daily peak hours already it could easily take 15 minutes to get past Tucson which is less than a mile away. Added  traffic is not what the neighbors south of the proposed mosque would welcome and according to the city’s time table that part of Olive would not even be considered for widening for another 10 years.

They spoke of  a frontage road to be built to the Creek expressway who’s easement would take away some of the mosque’s  ability to use its land on the north side.

They spoke of drainage problems in this area that are already severe and would only be increased by changing the land from agricultural use to anything else.

They spoke of the lack of a sewer available at this location and that it was highly unlikely that the mosques would be able to use septic with half of the land being in a flood plain.  That would mean increased taxes for supplying a sewer line, etc. to this location.

Others spoke to parking situation – that 150 parking spaces alluded to by the applicant would not serve the size of the mosque and the number of people they expect to attend.

Several speakers contended that this was not about hatred, or bigotry, they would be very willing to see a mosque built if the site was appropriately sized and would not present the problems that his site has with traffic, etc.

Several notable speakers were present and spoke asking for a denial of the  zoning change.

State Senator and former Broken Arrow City Councilor Christi Gillespie spoke of how the zoning change would change the comprehensive plan in several ways: the frontage road problem, that in the future that this was designated for commercial retail, not a place of worship, as there are already three non-tax producers within a mile of the site (Tulsa Tech and two churches).  That Olive could not be widened for at least tem year.

State Representative Gabe Woolley of Broken Arrow stated that he was there representing concerns that his constituents had voiced to him.  Most of his remarks were addressed to the already bad traffic in the area and that there was no other egress from the site except onto Olive.  Others feared the call to prayer would be very loud.

Former State Senator Nathan Dahm spoke  to the fact that this was not in the current comprehensive plan.  He asked why the exception would be made in this case, as churches are denied because of proximity to other places of worship.

It would be very difficult for this use to be compliant  between the water, traffic and parking problems.

A few speakers on the denial of zoning change side mentioned their concerns on the mosque land belonging to NAIT,  the North American Islamic Trust, a 501c3 trust which has in the past been linked to the Muslim Brotherhood designated by the U.S. State Department to be a terrorist organization.

Others asked that this decision be tabled until more of their questions were answered.

At approximated 9:30 p.m. Councilor Lisa Ford moved that the public comment section of the meeting be closed  as she felt they had heard enough to vote.  This motion was passed.

The floor was then opened back up to the applicant’s spokesperson to address any of the issues that had been brought up.

He began with the NAIT issue, saying there were advantages to having the mosque in their trust, the 501c3 designation and legal stability, but if that was the problem they would be willing to disengage with them if necessary.

Several critics had  spoken disparagingly of changing plans – which he described as just a response to the Planning Commission meeting and their willingness to work with the City.

The engineering was not done yet because they had been advised to get the zoning change first.

The City Council had no questions to ask him and went to a vote.  Mayor Wimpee, Lisa Ford and Justin Green all spoke as to how they would base their votes – only on the zoning change aspect and the comprehensive plan.  This is the criteria used to  pass a requested zoning change, not the constitutional right of freedom of religion.

The Council then had a motion to vote, which passed and had a roll call vote on the motion to deny the zoning change.  Four votes yes to one vote no.

Mayor Wimpee, Lisa Ford, Justin Green, and David Pickel voted yes with Vice Mayor Johnnie Parks voting no.

The zoning change was denied.