Broken Arrow council tables vote on color scheme for New Orleans Square street project

By John Dobberstein, Editor

The Broken Arrow City Council tabled a decision Monday on approving the color scheme for the New Orleans Street/Elm Place pavement reconstruction project and asked city staff to explore alternatives colors to consider later this month.

Ward 3 Councilwoman Christi Gillespie, who has been working with council members, city planners and residents to support redevelopment efforts, asked for the decision to be delayed so a different color scheme could be proposed.

The city brought forward “cool tone” and “warm tone” alternatives for stamped concrete to be placed as part of the $4.4 million revitalization project for the intersection. But the New Orleans Square logo that was approved last year mostly has blue and gold colors.

“I feel like we spent a lot of time on branding and the logo and everything about this, and part of that was the color scheme. So I was surprised when the consultant didn’t just give us something that went along with the branding, because that’s important,” she said.

“I was trying to be happy to with this recommendation but I couldn’t. Just doesn’t fit with our branding.”

Gillespie also noted some of the recommendations from the Catalyst Study about the intersection complete a few years ago offered some designs that seemed more desirable.

Assistant City Manager Kenneth Schwab said there are more color options he can bring to the table, although it could affect the project cost. He added that mixing concrete and achieving the proper consistency for a project of this size is challenging, and that some colors like those proposed Monday tend to show the best results.

He said there will be 120 cubic yards of concrete required for the project to arrive in 5-6 truckloads, 45 days apart for each quadrant for the intersection. The first quadrant may be poured in late July, so the date of the work, weather, traffic, travel time for the trucks and other factors must be considered.

Schwab said city staff will come back in 2 weeks with change orders, timeline updates and costs for the changes for discussion and potential approval.