by Asia Scudder and Gene Perry

In October the Association of Central Oklahoma Governments (ACOG) held a public meeting to share its long-range transportation plan for central Oklahoma. ACOG is a volunteer association of city, town, and county governments within Central Oklahoma that is responsible for coordinating regional development and aiding local governments in planning for transportation needs…

by Casey Holcomb

Norman is a growing city. In the past 20 years the population has increased more than 30 percent, to about 106 thousand people today. This growth potentially brings many benefits to Norman. When handled wisely, an expanding labor market and higher demands for goods and services can contribute to the prosperity of all of us…

From NewsOK:

Three years ago Bricktown’s property owners and merchants were barely on speaking terms, and the hostility was palpable.

Gunshots already had fired — granted, they were at the hands of suspected gang members getting too testy on a hot summer night. But the police presence that flooded the district after that violent summer of 2006 might well have been keeping the peace among property owners and merchants as much as anything else.

[...]

What a difference a couple of years make.

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PRESS RELEASE — The City of Norman has nearly completed the first phase of a long-range plan to revitalize Porter Avenue, a busy commercial corridor in Central Norman. On Thursday, September 10 at 6:30 P.M., the Norman Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on the plan to revitalize Porter in a way that encourages commercial development and supports the long-term health of adjacent residential neighborhoods. The public hearing will be held in City Council Chambers in the Municipal Building, 201 West Gray Street.

The Norman City Council will follow with a public hearing on the plan on Tuesday, September 22 at 6:30 P.M. Following public comments, the Council will consider the plan and take appropriate action. The Council meeting will also be held in City Council Chambers.

Susan Connors, Director of Planning and Community Development for the City of Norman urges citizens to attend both public hearings. “From our perspective, there are substantial opportunities along Porter Avenue to improve aesthetic, economic, and social conditions for both residential and commercial property owners for years to come. We hope citizens will attend the public hearings and give us their input on the future of Porter Avenue.”

In March 2008, City Council designated a 60-block district along and around Porter Avenue as the Porter Corridor Plan area in response to growing disagreements between commercial and residential property owners about land uses. In doing so, the Council acknowledged that there was a significant opportunity to make Porter Avenue an attractive, pedestrian-friendly destination that attracts a healthy mix of land uses.

Over the past 15 months, guided by an 18-member stakeholder committee appointed by Mayor Cindy Rosenthal, the planning team led by the design firm Ochsner Hare & Hare of Kansas City, MO has thoroughly analyzed the mile-long corridor and conducted over 50 interviews with residential and commercial property owners in the area. In October 2008, the team held a three-day public Design Charrette to establish consensus about a vision and long-term goals and to articulate redevelopment options for Porter that were acceptable to the community. On May 20, over 150 people attended a public Open House at City Hall during which the planning team presented drawings and answered questions about the study and the future vision for the Porter Avenue Corridor.

For more information, contact Susan Atkinson, City of Norman, 405-366-5392.

From The Journal Record:

Anyone who thinks of downtown Oklahoma City as one entity should look again. While downtown covers a wide area, it has several districts, each with unique identities and long-term goals.

Some of the areas, like Bricktown, are known near and far. Other areas, like Midtown and Automobile Alley, are more widely known to locals. In the Film Exchange District, work is just starting to rehabilitate an area that has been ailing for decades.

A.J. Kirkpatrick, planner II with the Urban Redevelopment Division with the Oklahoma City Planning Department, deals daily with the concerns and challenges of developers in each of the districts working to improve their areas with public and private dollars.

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From NewsOK:

It is a testament to the strength of the MAPS brand that so many in our city speculate as to the focus of a possible MAPS 3.

MAPS and MAPS for Kids were a success. They were a success because they each had a clearly defined, community building purpose and the citizens could envision the consequences for life in our city. With this filter, we should guard against the next MAPS initiative becoming an effort to build buildings, or a diffuse set of initiatives that amount to a tax in search of a purpose.

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