CHICKASHA – The City Council has authorized human cremations in town, voted to sell water for production in the oil patch, and approved plans for two residential developments.
In a split vote, Ferguson Funeral Home was authorized to operate a human crematorium in their building at 804 W. Utah Avenue.
City officials said they received several letters and telephone calls from citizens who supported the application, and none in opposition.
“The Ferguson Family are outstanding folks,” wrote one resident. “Having this facility in Chickasha would keep Chickasha money in Chickasha. It could even bring down the cost of cremation by not having to outsource that service,” another citizen wrote.
“Having this capability on site would allow future services to be handled entirely by a local provider we know and trust, ensuring the same dignity and careful oversight throughout the entire process,” another resident wrote.
Bodies are cremated in carboard boxes or wooden caskets; no jewelry or pacemakers are allowed in the crematorium; and all that’s left afterward are ashes and a few larger bones, the council was informed. Heat, but no odor and no ash, escapes through a “stack” approximately 4 feet high through the roof of the building, the councilors were told.
Ferguson’s application was approved, 8-1. Councilman Charlie Burruss voted “no.”
The City Council approved the request of Continental Resources to obtain water from Lake Chickasha “for use in completion operations” on a well in Caddo County.
The city will sell the water to Continental for 20 cents per 42-gallon barrel.
Continental is an oil and gas exploration and production company based in Oklahoma City and owned by billionaire Harold Hamm.
The City Council also unanimously approved two final plats.
-Local businessman Brannan Bordwine plans to develop Country Manor Estates: six lots on a little over 1 acre along South 23rd Street off Country Club Road. The lots range in size from 6,007 to 9,648 square feet, blueprints show.
The R-3 zoning would allow “anything from duplexes to quadplexes and apartments,” Community Development Director Jessica Green said. “Mostly duplexes are planned,” she added.
-Enclave Estates Section 2 will be a residential development on 7.3 acres in south Chickasha.
The housing addition will be comprised of 32 lots; 29 of them will range in size from 6,000 to 6,999 square feet, one lot will be 7,077 square feet, one will be 8,508 square feet, and one lot will encompass 11,380 square feet.
The property owner is identified in city records as Christopher Tritsis of Wilmette, Illinois.
The final plat for Phase 1 of Enclave Estates, a housing addition of 40 lots on almost 9.5 acres in southwest Chickasha, was approved by the City Council last November.
The subdivision is located south of West Grand Avenue and west of South 29th Street. The applicant was Cubit Development Group based in Wilmette, and the landowner is McNatt Rentals of Ninnekah.
Blueprints show there will be 17 lots ranging from 6,000 to 6,887 square feet, nine lots of 7,066 to 7,888 square feet in size, eight lots varying from 8,276 to 8,919 square feet, three lots encompassing 9,184 to 9,524 square feet, two lots of a little more than 11,000 square feet, and one 13,270 square-foot parcel.
The single-family, one-story houses will be rental units owned by Mc-Natt Rentals of Ninnekah, records indicate. A letter dated Jan. 23, 2025, shows the owner applied to the Oklahoma Housing Finance Agency for a federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit on the project.
Three-fourths of the houses will be reserved for families whose income is 60% or less of the area median gross income. Three units will be reserved for families whose income is 30% of the AMGI, 24 houses will be set aside for families at 60% of the AMGI, and three units will be reserved for families at 80% of the AMGI.