He wants to build Tulsa’s next RV park. She doesn’t want it near her backyard. He says the plans are subject to change. She thinks that’s part of the problem.
Darnell Blackmon is a developer and chairman of the Black Wall Street Chamber of Commerce. He owns 3.8 acres in the Charles Page neighborhood — west of downtown and north of the Arkansas River — with plans to build a luxury RV park along West Edison Street. Joan Wright is a teacher who’s lived right next to Blackmon’s land for the last four years. She says an RV park, luxury or not, just isn’t representative of the area.
“I am torn,” Wright said from her living room. “I don’t want ugly, I don’t. I want fair, and I guess maybe his version of fair and mine and the neighbors is different.”
The project hinges on an upcoming zoning decision from the city. But as neighbors asked more questions, the details became murkier. It led to a heated discussion at last month’s Charles Page Neighborhood Association meeting.
Blackmon, who spoke about the project at the April meeting, told the Flyer he would be concerned too if he lived in the neighborhood.
“It’s normal, and I think the proper thing to do is, as developer, is to engage them, try and allay any fears,” he said.
Defining luxury
Blackmon bought the land in 2024 for $225,000, according to the Tulsa County Assessor’s Office. For almost two years, he says it sat undeveloped — with squatters, rodents and overgrown grass.
Blackmon says he started clearing the property in recent months. The City of Tulsa posted an abatement April 17, ordering him to clean up the land and fining him $300.
“If I didn’t develop that lot, if I wouldn’t work clearing it, it may still look like a jungle,” Blackmon said. “If I didn’t buy it, it may still be sitting there. That, in itself, brings down the value of the surrounding properties.”
When Wright moved in next door, she had a forever home in mind. She’s put in about $40,000 of work, but now she finds herself debating whether to sell her home if the luxury RV park pans out.
She’s noticed a truck and bulldozer clearing trees, which she says knocked down a power line and left her without electricity for almost a day. Another time, Wright says a tree fell over in a storm and wrecked her fence.
“The area is still a raging disaster,” Wright said. “You can’t even maintain the property you have as (it is) now. How are you going to maintain it when you have 55 potential occupants?”
Blackmon shared initial plans for the luxury RV park, including a schematic map, at the neighborhood association meeting. It includes a pickleball court, a clubhouse, 55 RV pads, a basketball court and more. According to Blackmon, visitors can’t get in without a badge, and someone will be there around the clock.
All of this could still change, Blackmon says, because he just started the development process and nothing is set in stone. He asked the Flyer not to reference information from the schematic map in this story.
“Those plans are not finalized, right?” Blackmon said. “I don’t want anybody trying to hold me to a commitment of that schematic.”
One controversial number in the plan: 55 RV pads. Wright says that’s too ambitious for 3.8 acres, especially since the overarching plan seemed unclear to her. In a text exchange with Blackmon, she asked whether occupancy plans might decrease. If that number was lower, she says she’d feel better.
“It probably will still be that amount,” Blackmon texted Wright in response. “I don’t think that will be the thing that changes the environment. I think the way it is structured will be more meaningful so that it maintains privacy for everyone.”
However, Blackmon later told the Flyer that number could change as the luxury RV park is still a work in progress. He says even the word “luxury” means different things to different people.
“That’s not for me to define,” Blackmon said. “Someone may have an RV park and say it’s luxury, and someone may say it’s not — that’s for the consumer to define.”
Zoning hurdle
Wright learned about plans for the RV park after seeing a sign to rezone the land April 14, one week before the neighborhood meeting. It had the Tulsa Metropolitan Area Planning Commission (TMAPC) case number, a meeting date and a number to call. She panicked.
“I was like, ‘oh here we go,’” Wright said.
She reached out to the Tulsa Planning Office and received an email from Nathan Foster, the city’s principal planner. He said Blackmon was asked to submit an optional development plan with his rezoning request that would allow the planning commission to create guardrails around the use of the property.
Blackmon says the city told him the land needed to be rezoned to build the RV park. Nearly half of the 3.8 acres is zoned for commercial use, but the other half is zoned for residential use.
He says he could easily use the commercial half for an RV park already. But he can’t use the residential half for it. He intends for all of the space to be utilized no matter what.
“Whether it’s an apartment complex or it’s an RV park, all of it’s going to be developed,” Blackmon told the Flyer. “If your plan is not approved by the city, you’re not building anything. I don’t care what the zone is, right?”
According to Susan Miller, director of the Tulsa Planning Office, Blackmon has agreed to work with them on the optional development plan.
The planning commission’s rezoning hearing is scheduled for 1 p.m. May 6 at City Hall, but staff requested a continuance until May 20 to review additional details of the plan. A decision on the continuance will not be made until the May 6 meeting.
If the planning commission ultimately recommends approving the rezoning request, it heads to Tulsa City Council for consideration. The process stalls if the commission denies the request, but Blackmon could file an appeal.
Conflicting visions
Charles Page Neighborhood Association President Kellie Pendleton plans to attend the commission meeting. While she wants the neighborhood to thrive and grow, she’s worried about highway traffic inching closer to her house. She’s also concerned “luxury pricing” won’t be feasible since it’s a “low-income” area, she said.
“I talked to a gentleman even yesterday that lives very close to the RV park, they all unanimously have said this is a concern for them,” Pendleton told the Flyer.
There are other RV parks already nearby. Pendleton, who’s lived in the neighborhood her whole life, says the key difference is that this new RV park would be near existing houses. She and other neighbors would much rather see the Burger House drive-in reopen on the property because it’s a nostalgic place in the old neighborhood.
Unlike Pendleton, Blackmon says he’s heard positive things about the RV park from talks with neighbors, but he declined to repeat them to the Flyer.
“I’m gonna leave that right where it is because that’s not important to me, right?” Blackmon said. “I mean, whether someone is happy about it or sad about it — what’s important is if it works collectively as a whole for everyone because you’re going to have varying opinions.”
He says he wants to enhance the tax base, bring property values up and provide refuge for travelers. After the neighborhood association meeting, Blackmon thinks they all have the same goals in mind.
“You want to enhance the community, and that’s my goal,” Blackmon said. “All the other fluff around it doesn’t even really concern me. You know, my goals are different. My goals are philanthropic.”
While Wright says she appreciates the efforts to collaborate, she isn’t completely sold.
“This is not a neighborhood where that kind of stuff is gonna fly,” Wright said of the rezoning decision. “If (the rezoning) doesn’t go through … then they’re dead in the water. They have to start from scratch. They got to do something different.”
News decisions at the Tulsa Flyer are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
