T
ULSA
W
ORLD
Westside
Community World
Editor
Delbert Schafer
(918) 712-7913
Assistant Editor
Emily Priddy
Copy Editor/Reporter
Mike Averill
Reporters
Kristina Dudley, Shaun Epperson
Jeff Postelwait, David Schulte
Editorial Assistant
Brigid Vance
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MAY
16-22
A WEEK’S WORTH OF LOCAL EVENTS. Unless otherwise stated, all events are free.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
2 Westside
Calendar items should be submitted by 5
p.m. Thursday for the following Wednes-
day’s publication.
WEEKLY MEETINGS
Senior Stretch Class Tulsa County Parks
will hold a stretching class for senior citi-
zens at View Acres Baptist Church, 2327
S. 65
t h
West Ave., from 9 until 10 a.m. on
Wednesday and Monday. Cost is free.
Call 591-6053 for more details.
Weight Watchers Carbondale Church of
Christ, 3210 W. 51
st
St., will host Weight
Watchers at 10 a.m. Tuesday. Class will
be in the Fellowship Hall. For more infor-
mation, call 446-9508.
COMMUNITY/CIVIC MEETINGS
Southwest Tulsa Chamber Meets South-
west Tulsa Chamber will meet at 7:30
a.m. Thursday at Ollie’s Station Res-
taurant, 4070 Southwest Blvd. Contact
David Breed at 446-7010 for details.
Southwest Tulsa Historical Society
Southwest Tulsa Historical Society will
meet at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Ollie’s
Station Restaurant, 4070 Southwest
Blvd. For more, call David Breed at 446-
7010.
Sapulpa City Council Meets Sapulpa City
Council will meet at 7 p.m. Monday at
425 E. Dewey Ave. For more information,
call 224-3040.
Sapulpa Chamber Meets Sapulpa Cham-
ber will meet at 4 p.m. Tuesday at 101 E.
Dewey Ave. Call 224-0170 to lear n more.
MISCELLANEOUS
Senior Bingo Christ the King Church,
1520 S. Rockford Ave., will offer bingo for
senior citizens from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m.
Wednesday. The event will be in Fletcher
Hall. Cost is $1 for twenty card packets.
For more information, call 955-9759.
Senior Bingo Neighbors Along the Line,
5000 Charles Page Blvd., will offer bingo
for seniors from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday.
For more information, call 584-1111.
FAMILY RESOURCES
Positive Discipline Neighbors Along the
Line, 5000 Charles Page Blvd., will offer
a session to teach parents how to posi-
tively discipline children at 5:30 p.m. Mon-
day. For more information, call 584-1111.
Preschool Story Time Charles Page
Library, 551 E. Fourth St., Sand Springs,
will hold a preschool story time from
10:30 to 11 a.m. Tuesday. The topic will
be pets. For ages five and younger with a
caregiver. To learn more, call 591-4585.
HEALTH AND WELLNESS
Allergy Clinic for the Uninsured Neigh-
bors Along the Line will offer an allergy
clinic for uninsured people at 5:30 p.m.
Wednesday at their office, 5000 Charles
Page Blvd. For more information, call
584-1111.
Medical Clinic for the Uninsured Neigh-
bors Along the Line, 5000 Charles Page
Blvd., will hold a medical clinic for unin-
sured people at 10:45 a.m. Thursday and
5:30 p.m. Monday. Call 584-1111 to learn
more.
SUPPORT GROUPS
DivorceCare Class Central Church of the
Nazarene, 7291 E. 81
st
St., will hold a
DivorceCare class at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
Call 252-5483 for more information.
Grief Support Grace Hospice, 6400 S.
Lewis Ave., No. 1000, will offer a profes-
sionally led bereavement group from
3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Thursday. Participants
will understand loss and build commu-
nity with others dealing with the same.
Classes are free. For more details, call
744-7223.
FO
C
U
S
H
om
e sw
eet hom
e
Housing starts are up in Sapulpa and Sand Springs, steady in west Tulsa
B
Y
D
AVID
S
CHULTE
AND
M
IKE
A
VERILL
World Staff Writers
Home starts are on pace to reach
a record high in Sapulpa, while Sand
Springs is seeing its best start in more
than 10 years.
West Tulsa is also remaining steady
with last year’s pace.
Sand Springs
Sand Springs is on pace to have
more than 100 housing starts this year
for
the
fi rst time since 1998.
The city has 42 housing starts to
date, nearly double the 22 the city
had through the same time period last
year, marking the best start to a year
for the city since 1994.
“We’re having one of the best starts
to a year we’ve had in more than a de-
cade,” said Andy Templeton, director
of Neighborhood Ser vices. “We’ve had
some new additions come along that
have broadened the range of housing
opportunities that people can look at.”
The homes being built in Sand
Springs fall into fi ve dif ferent sizes and
price ranges, ranging from sub-starter
homes to custom estates costing more
than $500,000.
Templeton said the home permits is-
sued so far this year have an estimated
value of $8.3 million.
He added that the majority of the
homes being built are in the $150,000
to $350,000 price range, with the aver-
age home costing $197,000 to build.
Last year, the city had 62 housing
starts and has averaged about 80 in
previous years.
The average cost per home was
$207,613 last year and $198,625 in
2005.
Templeton credits the number of
housing starts this year to a relatively
stable economy.
“Interest rates are stable, and the
employment rate is healthy, certainly
locally,” he said.
Three subdivisions, Angus Valley
Farms, Stone Creek Estates III and
Brooklyn Heights, have opened re-
cently in the city.
Another, Walnut Ridge, is expected
to open later in the year.
“We have a lot of subdivisions in a lot
of dif ferent settings and price ranges,”
Templeton said. “The builders and de-
velopers are of fering a lot of variety in
housing starts.”
Templeton said the key area of
growth is in the 51st Street corridor
west of Oklahoma 97.
“The area has a rural feel but is only
a few minutes away from downtown
Sand Springs, Sapulpa and Tulsa,” he
said.
Areas surrounding Sand Springs in
Tulsa and Osage counties are also ex-
periencing steady growth, Templeton
said.
So far, the city has issued 30 new wa-
ter taps this year. Last year, more than
100 were issued.
“Although they are not in the city
limits, the people moving into new
homes in the rural areas are part of
the Sand Springs community,” Tem-
pleton added.
City Manager Doug Enevoldsen
said the housing starts this year are a
sign of good things to come.
“The city is working with its commu-
nity partners to assure we have smart
growth and can provide a complete
community in the years to come that
people will enthusiastically call home,”
he said.
“I hope we can look back in a few
years and say this was the start of
many great things.”
Sapulpa
Home builders have broken ground
on 46 homes through April as con-
struction has picked up within the
past two months, said Lois Korn, ad-
ministrative assistant to the economic
development director in Sapulpa.
Heavy snow and ice early in the year
delayed much construction, but city
offi cials expect the pace of bu ilding
new homes to increase with warmer
weather.
“If we stay on this pace, we will have
138 to 150 new homes, because typi-
cally in the summer, you have more
building,” Korn said.
The 46 housing starts already match
the total number of new homes in 2002
in Sapulpa.
Since then, the number of housing
starts has increased each year, reach-
ing 129 new homes in 2006.
The construction of new homes is
evenly spread out through the com-
munity, with the exception of the north
part of Sapulpa, she said.
New subdivisions in Sapulpa include
Lakes at Cross Timbers, Lakes at Jef-
ferson Heights, Hickory South, and
phase two of Freedom Park.
Construction of 53 homes has al-
ready begun in the gated community
of Lakes at Cross Timbers.
These homes will represent some
of the more luxurious homes in Sapul-
pa, ranging between $500,000 and
$900,000, said Susan Marshall, man-
ager of the development.
The gated community is part of a
160-acre subdivision that sits on Okla-
homa 117 and 49th West Avenue in
Sapulpa.
About 250 homes have been planned
for the subdivision, which is expected
to be completed within four years,
Marshall said.
Sapulpan Dan Newman is the de-
veloper of Lakes at Jefferson Heights,
phase two of Freedom Park, and Hick-
or y South.
Construction of homes has already
begun at Hickor y South and phase
two of Freedom Park.
Hickory South is a 232-lot subdivi-
sion near Hickory Street in southwest
Sapulpa.
Phase two of Freedom Park is a 90-
home subdivision north of the Creek
Turnpike and east of Oklahoma 66
near Freedom Elementary School,
9170 S. 73rd West Ave.
Both subdivisions are expected to
be completed by 2008.
Lakes at Jef ferson Heights is New-
man’s most recent subdivision in
Sapulpa, with construction of homes
expected to begin in the fall of 2008,
he said.
The 232-home subdivision is located
on 80 acres west of the new Jef ferson
Heights Elementary School, 1521
Wickham Road.
It will contain neighborhood parks
with playground equipment and a rec-
reation trail.
In the past three years, Newman has
developed about 435 new homes, rang-
ing in value from $100,000 to $150,000,
in Sapulpa.
Korn cited several factors contribut-
ing to the increase of new homes in
Sapulpa, including four major high-
ways that go through the community.
Those highways are Oklahoma 66,
Oklahoma 117, Oklahoma 97 and U.S.
75.
The Creek Turnpike and Turner
Turnpike pass nearby as well.
“Our highway system is unequaled
as far we are concerned,” Korn said.
“We can get anywhere in Tulsa in 20
minutes, and we can pick the highway
that we want to pick based upon where
we are at.”
The building of Jef ferson Heights
and Freedom elementary schools, in
addition to upgrades to athletic facili-
ties, also helped attract new families to
the community, she said.
A more progressive city govern-
ment under the leadership of Tom
DeArman, city manager, has also con-
tributed to more residential and com-
mercial development in recent years,
she said.
“We are pro-growth and pro-busi-
ness,” Korn said.
“There was a time when Sapulpa re-
ally wanted to be its own unique entity
and remain small, but we don’t feel
that way anymore.”
West Tulsa
Through the fi rst quarter of 2007, 20
new homes were under construction
in west Tulsa, matching last year’s to-
tal during the same period, said Glenn
Shaw, president of the Home Builders
Association of Greater Tulsa, 11545 E.
43rd St.
In previous years, home construc-
tion in west Tulsa has lagged behind
other par ts of the city because much
of the region lacked the necessary wa-
ter and sewer systems.
In 2006, 58 new homes were built in
west Tulsa, which represented 8.5 per-
cent of the 681 new homes construct-
ed in the city for the year, according to
information provided by Home Build-
ers Association.
“The problem from a developer’s
standpoint is that there has been no
infrastructure,” Shaw said.
That has changed within the past
two years, largely because of the con-
struction of the Tulsa Hills shopping
center in west Tulsa, which has pro-
vided much of the infrastructure.
The building of new homes is under
way at the Stonebrooke subdivision,
located on about 140 acres along West
81st Street and Elwood Avenue, just
south and east of Tulsa Hills.
The addition is a four-phase project
that will bring about 300 new homes to
the area once it is completed, said Rob
Miles, a partner in the development.
The building of new homes has al-
ready begun in the fi rst two phases
of the project, Stonebrooke Park and
Stonebrooke Glenn, he said.
The price of homes in these two
phases will range between $300,000
and $450,000.
The fourth phase, Reser ve at Ston-
ebrooke, will be a gated community
with about 40 homes.
Price of homes in the gated commu-
nity will go as high as $1 million, Miles
said.
The Stonebrooke subdivision will
contain a clubhouse with a pool, walk-
ing trails and a greenbelt area.
The subdivision is in the city lim-
its of Tulsa but is a part of the Jenks
school district.
The entire subdivision is expected
to be completed by 2010, Miles said.
Tulsa Hills could have a huge im-
pact on the construction of new homes
in west Tulsa.
“With the infrastructure in place,
you will see steady development in
west Tulsa,” Shaw said.
“I think that area is poised for growth
just because of the infrastructure that
has taken place in the last two years.”
One subdivision that is under review
by the Tulsa Metropolitan Planning
Commission is Lookout Mountain, a
57-home residential development on
143 acres at the southeast corner of
31st Street and 33rd West Avenue.
Lots are expected to be sold for
$250,000 or more.
No starting date for the construc-
tion of homes has been set for this de-
velopment.
Photos by MIKE AVERILL, DAVID SCHULTE /
Tulsa World
Above, 14 of the 149 lots in the
recently opened Angus Valley Farms
subdivision in Sand Springs are being
developed. The homes being built vary
in price and size. At right, one of the
attractions of the Lakes at Cross Tim-
bers, a subdivision under development
in Sapulpa, is a waterfall surrounded
by a scenic view. Cost of homes in the
gated section of the subdivision will
reach as high as $1 million dollars.
Online
To comment on this or other Southside
stories, go to www.tulsaworld.com/com-
munity and click on the story.
NEXT WEEK:
We ek ly bicycle rides are a
longtime Tulsa tradition.