The Oklahoma State Capital

A prominent north Edmond property that a church headed by a past Republican gubernatorial candidate and conservative icon tried and failed to acquire at auction last year has now been partially sold to another church.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has purchased 5.75 acres along North Coltrane Road near Coffee Creek, adjacent to the Iron Horse Ranch addition, for nearly $1.9 million, acquiring the northern portion of a roughly 10-acre property that LifePoint Bible Church, pastored by conservative icon Dan Fisher, had attempted to purchase in its entirety in August 2025.

The purchase comes about 17 months after the LDS Church created its new Deer Creek Oklahoma Stake to serve seven congregations across the north Oklahoma City, Edmond and Guthrie area. The church has not publicly announced what it intends to construct on the Edmond property.

LifePoint’s effort went further than simply expressing interest in the property. In an Aug. 16, 2025, message to its congregation, the church said it had won an auction for the 9.8 acres at Coffee Creek and Coltrane after members authorized the effort.

The transaction nevertheless fell apart.

“Although we won the auction, the owner is unwilling to sell the property at a price we can afford,” Fisher told the LifePoint congregation at the time.

LifePoint subsequently moved on from the property. After considering a separate six-acre site at Coffee Creek and Kelly Avenue, the congregation instead received a donated 7.6-acre property at the northeast corner of 33rd Street and Bryant Avenue, where it began pursuing plans for a permanent church facility.

Oklahoma County Assessor records show the sale to the LDS organization, dated Aug. 10, included 5.75 acres of the property, with an Aug. 21 closing date.

The church did not, however, purchase the actual hard corner at Coffee Creek and Coltrane. The LDS-owned property is the northern portion of what had been marketed as an approximately 10-acre tract.

The remaining 4.321-acre southern tract includes the northwest corner itself, with approximately 440 feet along Coffee Creek and 431 feet along Coltrane. That property is scheduled for an online auction Oct. 7, with Alan Staab as the seller.

The Ranch Property Company LLC conveyed the approximately 9.7-acre parent parcel to Staab in June 2025. The Ranch Property Company had originally acquired the property from James E. Harper in 2005.

LifePoint’s 2025 attempt adds another chapter to a property whose development history stretches back more than two decades and includes a previous controversy over what should be built at the intersection.

In July 2005, The Ranch Property Company sought to change the 10-acre northwest corner from agricultural zoning to an E-1 General Commercial Planned Unit Development.

The proposed development included multiple commercial buildings and contemplated access from both Coffee Creek and Coltrane. Area residents objected, arguing the surrounding area was predominantly residential and that commercial development was already available at other nearby intersections.

The Edmond Planning Commission rejected the commercial rezoning request on a 0-4 vote.

The developers returned the following year with a substantially different proposal.

In October 2006, Iron Horse Development proposed changing the same 10 acres to D-O Suburban Office.

By then, Edmond Public Schools was developing Centennial Elementary School and a future middle-school site on the opposite side of Coltrane, while The Ranch and other residential developments were continuing to grow around the intersection.

City planning staff described office development as a potential transition between the school, arterial streets and nearby residential neighborhoods.

When the proposal reached the Edmond City Council in November 2006, developer Dee Greninger said the company had originally sought general commercial zoning approximately a year earlier but had since met with area residents and changed course.

The plan envisioned one- and two-story office buildings built to standards similar to neighboring residential development. The developer also agreed there would be no curb cuts along Coffee Creek.

The council unanimously approved Ordinance No. 3058, changing the property from General Agricultural to D-O Suburban Office.

That nearly 20-year-old zoning decision is now significant because the LDS purchase does not automatically authorize construction of a church.

Under Edmond’s current zoning ordinance, a “place of worship” is not a use permitted by right in the D-O Suburban Office district. Instead, it requires a Specific Use Permit approved by the Edmond City Council.

The D-O district was designed primarily for low-rise professional offices near residential neighborhoods, with additional emphasis on open space, landscaping and residential-style architecture.

That means the church would not necessarily have to seek another wholesale rezoning of the property, but if it intends to construct a meetinghouse, it would have to go through Edmond’s public Specific Use Permit process.

The Planning Commission reviews such applications and forwards a recommendation, with the City Council conducting a public hearing and making the final decision.

The potential site would not be unusual as a place of worship along the broader Coltrane corridor.

Connect United Methodist Church is located to the north at the southeast corner of Coltrane and Sorghum Mill Road, while The Well Church operates to the south at the intersection of Coltrane and Danforth.

The acquisition also adds to an established Latter-day Saint presence in the northern Oklahoma City metropolitan area.

The church’s most prominent regional facility is the Oklahoma City Oklahoma Temple, located at 12030 N. Mustang Road in the Surrey Hills area.

Although its official mailing address is Yukon, contemporary reports described the temple as being constructed in the Surrey Hills neighborhood.

Announced in 1999, the temple was dedicated July 30, 2000, underwent an extensive renovation beginning in 2017 and was rededicated in May 2019.

The temple should not be confused with a conventional LDS church building. Temples are used for particular religious ordinances, while local meetinghouses are where congregations gather for regular Sunday worship.

One of those meetinghouses has operated for decades in nearby Guthrie at 5326 Ellie Mae Drive, where the Guthrie 2nd Ward and Edmond 1st Ward hold Sunday services. That Edmond 1st Ward presents as a prime candidate for relocating away from the Guthrie facility to the new property.

The church has also recently reorganized its congregational structure in the area.

In March 2025, it created the Deer Creek Oklahoma Stake from portions of the Edmond, Oklahoma City and Stillwater stakes. The new stake included, among others, the Guthrie 1st and Edmond 5th wards.

There is presently no public evidence establishing that reorganization as the reason for the Coffee Creek-area property purchase.

Meanwhile, the remaining 4.321-acre tract at the actual Coffee Creek-Coltrane corner is being offered separately.

Like the LDS parcel, it remains zoned D-O Suburban Office, meaning what ultimately develops on the corner itself could be determined independently from whatever the church eventually proposes immediately to its north.