Pearl District form-based code gets new boundary options
BY KEVIN CANFIELD World Staff Writer
Thursday, October 04, 2012
10/04/12 at 3:35 AM
Tulsa Metropolitan Area Planning Commission members spent more than an hour Wednesday drawing new boundary options for the proposed expansion of the form-based zoning code within the Pearl District.
More than half of the commission's 11 members took part in the morning workshop, which produced four boundary options, including the one commissioners rejected Sept. 5.
Commission personnel will use the boundary options to come up with two new expansion proposals.
"The idea is to get to a point that we have two representations of this exercise that the commission can find consensus with," said Dawn Warrick, the city's planning director.
Once a consensus is reached, she said, the city will speak with each property owner in the proposed expansion area.
"And when we're ready, we'll advertise the proposed regulating plan and the form-based zoning change," Warrick said.
Wednesday's workshop was an attempt by commissioners to restart discussion of the form-based code's use within the Pearl District.
Commissioners rejected a proposal - called a regulating plan - on Sept. 5 that would have expanded the code's use to about two-thirds of the district. They cited concerns on how the plan would affect autocentric businesses and manufacturers.
Commissioners were later advised by their attorney that their vote was incomplete because it did not address the zoning of the property. That issue was not addressed Wednesday.
A regulating plan, a guide for applying the zoning code, addresses such issues as a building's design standards.
The form-based zoning code is the underlying zoning for the area covered by the regulating plan.
The City Council approved the form-based code last year. Unlike the traditional zoning code - which separates properties by use, such as commercial or residential - form-based code focuses on a property's form and placement on a lot.
The intent is to help create pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods.
The code has been applied to only 125 parcels covering about 60 acres of the district between Fifth Place and 11th Street west of Peoria Avenue. The code drew closer scrutiny when proponents requested that it be expanded to the entire district, which includes 1,172 parcels covering roughly 300 acres.
Original Print Headline: Form-based code gets new boundary options
Kevin Canfield 918-581-8313
kevin.canfield@tulsaworld.com
