Patrick
07-01-2005, 11:09 AM
At least this will regulate downtown development some.
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"City planners unveil draft of ordinance to make downtown development easier
Posted: Thursday, June 30, 2005
by Shelly Hickman
City planners debuted a working draft of an ordinance they believe is needed to make it easier to develop in downtown Oklahoma City.
First sharing the draft ordinance yesterday to the Downtown Stakeholders Committee, the planners indicate they will schedule public hearings on the ordinance later this summer, then perhaps modify it before bringing it to the Planning Commission and City Council for votes in the fall.
Before the public hearings, planners also will allow other business groups such as the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber and property owners to give input on the ordinance, said Terry Taylor with the city's Planning Department.
"Then, in November, if all goes well, it should be enacted," he said.
As presently written, the ordiance reduces the number of zoning districts from 15 to two in the area bordered by N.W. 13th St. to the north, S.W. 10th St. to the south, Centennial Expressway (I-235) to the east and Western Avenue.
The districts would be called the Central Business District and the Downtown Transitional District, which would wrap around the CBD and encompass areas south of the Oklahoma River.
The ordinance also establishes design criteria for the districts and creates a new seven-member Downtown Design Review Committee to review all development requests for them.
Some of the more notable design requirments in the ordinance are minimum height requirements in the CBD of three stories and two stores in the DTD; limiting industrial and warehouse operations in the CBD; building material specifications; setbacks within 10-feet of property lines; sidewalk construction and parking lot and street landscaping for every approved project.
The ordinance grandfathers existing businesses in the CBD, like the cotton gin, and the DTD that would be non conforming to the new regulations, but it wouldn't allow the businesses to expand their facilities, only to modernize them.
Taylor said the ordinance is needed because most of the greater downtown area lacks development regulations to ensure new construction and remodeling projects are consistent with planned development patterns.
Plus, "there is rapidly accelerating interest in downtown development," he said, "and new development codes are essential to support this interest, while also making downtown development easier.""
---------------
"City planners unveil draft of ordinance to make downtown development easier
Posted: Thursday, June 30, 2005
by Shelly Hickman
City planners debuted a working draft of an ordinance they believe is needed to make it easier to develop in downtown Oklahoma City.
First sharing the draft ordinance yesterday to the Downtown Stakeholders Committee, the planners indicate they will schedule public hearings on the ordinance later this summer, then perhaps modify it before bringing it to the Planning Commission and City Council for votes in the fall.
Before the public hearings, planners also will allow other business groups such as the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber and property owners to give input on the ordinance, said Terry Taylor with the city's Planning Department.
"Then, in November, if all goes well, it should be enacted," he said.
As presently written, the ordiance reduces the number of zoning districts from 15 to two in the area bordered by N.W. 13th St. to the north, S.W. 10th St. to the south, Centennial Expressway (I-235) to the east and Western Avenue.
The districts would be called the Central Business District and the Downtown Transitional District, which would wrap around the CBD and encompass areas south of the Oklahoma River.
The ordinance also establishes design criteria for the districts and creates a new seven-member Downtown Design Review Committee to review all development requests for them.
Some of the more notable design requirments in the ordinance are minimum height requirements in the CBD of three stories and two stores in the DTD; limiting industrial and warehouse operations in the CBD; building material specifications; setbacks within 10-feet of property lines; sidewalk construction and parking lot and street landscaping for every approved project.
The ordinance grandfathers existing businesses in the CBD, like the cotton gin, and the DTD that would be non conforming to the new regulations, but it wouldn't allow the businesses to expand their facilities, only to modernize them.
Taylor said the ordinance is needed because most of the greater downtown area lacks development regulations to ensure new construction and remodeling projects are consistent with planned development patterns.
Plus, "there is rapidly accelerating interest in downtown development," he said, "and new development codes are essential to support this interest, while also making downtown development easier.""