http://newsok.com/norman-neighborhood-protests-plans-for-auto-dealership/article/3675098?custom_click=pod_headline_norman-news

it's about 10 day old news, but hadn't seen anything on her about this yet

Yeah. Norman is just really short on car dealerships. There just aren't enough car dealerships around. If only there could only be a whole mile of new cars on I-35, we wouldn't have this problem. Right guys?

Isn't there at least one unused care lot that could be reused in the area? Didn't at least a one or two go out of business after the recession?

Isn't there at least one unused care lot that could be reused in the area? Didn't at least a one or two go out of business after the recession?

well and you had fowler toyota move off the mile and the built fowler honda there now... but were was fowler honda? isn't that space available?

The old Fowler Honda spot is tiny which is a big reason they moved.

I really wish they would impose some landscaping requirements for the dealerships. Seeing nothing but car lots along I-35 is pretty drab. At some point enough has to be enough.

For my own curiosity as I have not been to Norman in a while, what has become of the old Mark Heitz dealership?

The old one was demolished and part of the lot is now a Whataburger while the rest is flat

I also heard that Arby's was going in on the west side of that property.

I thought Buffalo Wild Wings was going over at Mark Heitz old lot on the west side of Whataburger.

Again another example of horrible Norman planning. Basically the entire gateway to Norman, over a mile of it, is nothing but car lots. It looks horrible. Their latest addition is just a few feet away from Hey Day and all the family entertainment stuff off of Indian Hills. I don't know why I ever bought the UNP hype... The town is continuing to prove itself to be a small time operation.

Again another example of horrible Norman planning. Basically the entire gateway to Norman, over a mile of it, is nothing but car lots. It looks horrible. Their latest addition is just a few feet away from Hey Day and all the family entertainment stuff off of Indian Hills. I don't know why I ever bought the UNP hype... The town is continuing to prove itself to be a small time operation.

Mmhmm. You would think we could get some of the kids who come through OU to move into positions of power and bring new ideas to the community from their hometowns.

Again another example of horrible Norman planning. Basically the entire gateway to Norman, over a mile of it, is nothing but car lots. It looks horrible. Their latest addition is just a few feet away from Hey Day and all the family entertainment stuff off of Indian Hills. I don't know why I ever bought the UNP hype... The town is continuing to prove itself to be a small time operation.

This. It's embarrassing.

Car sales are big money though so I don't think they'll be going anywhere.

At least I hope not or I'll be unemployed.

Car sales are big money though so I don't think they'll be going anywhere.

At least I hope not or I'll be unemployed.

While that is a given, I think they should take more responsibility in minimizing the eyesore-ness of their establishments. I-35 from Main to Robinson is just repulsive now. Of course the massive concrete walls don't help much (well they help stopping semis going crazy). However, I would much rather seen dozens of trees planted along this section to help break up the the sea of cars.

Almost all of the dealerships along the mile really do have outdated, ugly buildings and lots needing repair although a couple are renovating and trying to do some upkeep.

Is this because a lot more people are buying cars? Particularly In Norman?

The gateway of Edmond is nothing but car dealerships....Duh its big buisness and it's not going anywhere.

You're correct and car dealerships by their nature are never going to be particularly attractive. Of course they should be well maintained and landscaped but they all have large parking areas full of, well, cars. Until people quit buying cars we're going to have them around. At least Norman doesn't have the Mile of Salvage Yards, lol.

Car dealerships don't tend to have trees. Trees attract birds. Birds poo ... a lot.

Think of treeless car lots as a water conservation measure.

Car dealerships don't tend to have trees. Trees attract birds. Birds poo ... a lot.

Think of treeless car lots as a water conservation measure.

Sure we don't want a ton of trees in the lots themselves, but maybe between I-35 and the service road to create a nice natural barrier.

Sure we don't want a ton of trees in the lots themselves, but maybe between I-35 and the service road to create a nice natural barrier.

I couldn't agree more with you on this one. Would be a huge improvement to the area.

Trying to recall anywhere I've come across a tree line parked between an interstate and its companion service road. Drawing a blank.

As for the poo issue, not sure that setting a row of trees across the frontage road would do a lot to preclude that particular problem. Might be wrong.

Trying to recall anywhere I've come across a tree line parked between an interstate and its companion service road. Drawing a blank.

As for the poo issue, not sure that setting a row of trees across the frontage road would do a lot to preclude that particular problem. Might be wrong.

It is something that would green up the area and break up the monotony of just a sea of cars. Go back north and east and there are plenty of interstates lined directly with trees - including having a canopy directly overhead of the roadway.

Car dealerships don't tend to have trees. Trees attract birds. Birds poo ... a lot.

Think of treeless car lots as a water conservation measure.

Wanted to follow up on this since I actually paid attention driving home from work yesterday. Most of all the newly built car dealerships actually had a decent number of trees on their perimeter (between I-35 and the lot). Fowler Hondo being the exception as they do have trees, but went with just a few here and there and they are pretty small as well.

I was in Dallas recently and noticed how the car lots there, often found along major corridors such as the LBJ, are somehow just not as intrusive as they are in Norman. To me it was because of massive amounts of landscaping that the car lots had both in and around the lots, as well as in between the lots and the highways. Many in Dallas had a wall of trees between the dealership and the highway. It looked very nice, and it's not like Dallas is some bastion of government planning.... Also I think that breaking up the dealerships with large multi-story office buildings, strip malls, and so forth helps. I wish Norman showed through its actions that it did indeed care more about things like this, rather than just paying them lip service.

http://normantranscript.com/headlines/x399013689/Hudimax-withdraws-zoning-application

Transcript Staff The Norman Transcript


NORMAN — An Oklahoma automobile dealer’s petition to build a dealership in northwest Norman has been withdrawn, officials confirmed Friday........


.......The neighboring homeowners signed petitions and marched in protest against the proposed rezoning.

http://normantranscript.com/headlines/x399013689/Hudimax-withdraws-zoning-application

Transcript Staff The Norman Transcript


NORMAN — An Oklahoma automobile dealer’s petition to build a dealership in northwest Norman has been withdrawn, officials confirmed Friday........


.......The neighboring homeowners signed petitions and marched in protest against the proposed rezoning.

They will probably move to Moore now

Speaking of car dealerships...Anyone know why Marc Heitz has sold off all their dealership locations except the norman one? Is this one going to be changing ownership soon as well??

Don't know for sure if they're keeping the Norman lot but I know the new owner at Pauls Valley is doing a ton of work to the location and has it stocked full of trucks.

Speaking of car dealerships...Anyone know why Marc Heitz has sold off all their dealership locations except the norman one? Is this one going to be changing ownership soon as well??

Here is what I have heard. When Mark Heitz built his new dealership he was given the go ahead with the design even though it did not meet GM's standard design. Apparently the agreement was voided after the GM shakeup. Heitz is not getting the dealer money (which I heard was over 1million) from GM and is being fined for not having the standard design building. Rumor has it that he is trying to sell but the problem is whomever buys the dealership will have to comply with GM's design requirements or face the same issues. Dealerships are cash cows for the dealer principles and they use that cash for real estate investments. Either way, Heitz will be just fine. That little doc fee everyone pays goes directly into his pocket. It should be called ADP which means Additional Dealer Profit.