Kendall Whittier Improvement District

Click to download a PDF of the map.

The previous improvement district expired in 2020. As the area continues to redevelop, certain services are still needed, like maintenance of previous projects funded by the Whittier Square Improvement District.

The new district is different from the previous one in four key ways:

1. Shorter time frame for improvements to be completed (5 years instead of 20 years)
2. There are slightly different boundaries to expand services farther north one block, extending east and west on Admiral, and starting south at 6th instead of 11th St.)
3. More strategic assessments (so that the funds generated will be sufficient to implement the proposed improvements), and
4. The assessments are calculated differently to be more equitable and fair. For more information, please see next question.

The new district and board with broad representation will help ensure more accountability and lead to more visible results.

During the outreach and planning phase of establishing a new BID in Kendall Whittier, the steering committee heard resounding feedback from property owners that they did not feel the assessments that they paid as part of the Whittier Square Improvement District were calculated equitably. Some properties received more benefits than others.

Therefore, in the proposal for a new improvement district, assessments are calculated differently. Some properties benefit from all planned improvements and services and pay a higher assessment fee. Other properties only benefit from some of the planned improvements and services and pay a lower assessment fee.

If your property is for sale, the City of Tulsa Finance Department can bill the new owner as reflected on Tulsa County records. You should coordinate with the Finance Department to ensure that you are compliant with assessment fee deadlines while your property is listed for sale and/or is sold.

The assessment fee would then be the responsibility of the new owner for the duration of the assessment’s lifetime as the property remains in the BID boundary.

The budget is $48,000 per year and will be funded through an assessment on each property in the boundary.

The assessment will last for five years. At the end of five years, property owners can decide to renew it or end it.

Every property will have a different assessment, based on the services you benefit from, and how much frontage you have. Costs vary from about $250 – $2,000, with an average of about $500. Your assessment fee is a fixed fee year-to-year.

All property owners should have received a letter from the City of Tulsa Clerk and the City of Tulsa Finance Dept. with their annual assessment total. The complete assessment roll (which includes all property owners’ assessment amounts) was published in the Tulsa World. →Download the assessment roll

Kendall Whittier Improvement District, Inc. will be run as a non-profit organization that shares staff with Kendall Whittier Main Street but has a separate board.

The board will include (at a minimum) two property owners, two business owners, and one at-large member. We are currently working to establish the official board.

From 2020-2021, considerable efforts were made to inform and engage Kendall Whittier property owners, business owners, stakeholders, and community members before the legislative process began in 2022. In addition to regular steering committee meetings, three stakeholder meetings were held, a survey was conducted in both English and Spanish with over 100 respondents, a public info session was held, a postcard mailing to all property and business owners (regarding the public info session) was sent, steering committee held twenty-seven one-on-one meetings with business and property owners, posted on Kendall Whittier Main Street’s and Tulsa Planning Office’s social media accounts, and answered individual calls and emails.

Once the legislative process began, in February 2022, the petition to establish a new BID was taken door-to-door in the district for signatures by steering committee members, Kendall Whittier Main Street staff, and volunteers. Individuals collecting signatures had supplemental materials with them including BID boundary map, assessment formula, list of proposed improvements and services, and the proposed budget.

The petition collected more than the 51% needed to move forward, and demonstrated that 62% of property owners to be assessed in the area approved of the proposed resolution.

In March and April 2022, City Council and the Mayor’s Office reviewed the Resolution on necessity of creating the Kendall Whittier Improvement District and the Resolution creating the Kendall Whittier Improvement District. The Tulsa World published two notices of the upcoming public hearing regarding the resolution and the City Clerk mailed a notice of public hearing to all property owners. A public hearing was held on April 20, 2022 for public comment. Four property owners spoke in support of the BID, and there were no objections.

When the resolution passed after unanimous City Council vote, it was published in the Tulsa World on May 4 & 11, 2022, along with a notice of public hearing on the ordinance adopting the assessment roll. The city clerk mailed the notice of public hearing on the ordinance in May 2022.

In May and June 2022, City Council conducted the first and second reading of the ordinance. A public hearing was held on May 25 on the ordinance. There were no objections made at this hearing. On June 8, 2022, City Council unanimously passed the ordinance and Mayor Bynum signed it into local law. The ordinance adopting the assessment roll (and the assessment roll in its entirety) was published in the Tulsa World on June 19, 2022.

No, the last day to protest the assessment was July 4, 2022, fifteen days after the publication of the ordinance adopting the assessment roll (published on June 19, 2022).

You can call 918-596-7228, the Improvement District Customer Line at the City of Tulsa’s Finance Department.