"The Pearl" an area that will go down in History as a turning point in Tulsa
dioscorides:
is it this one?
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20120403_16_A12_TheTul687259
Pearl District zoning plan idea before panel to expand pedestrian-friendly code area appears ripe for controversy
By KEVIN CANFIELD World Staff Writer
Published: 4/3/2012 2:23 AM
Last Modified: 4/3/2012 6:09 AM
The Tulsa Metropolitan Area Planning Commission on Wednesday will weigh the wisdom of applying the city's newly adopted form-based code to the entire Pearl District.
At present, the code - along with a regulating plan - includes 125 parcels of land covering about 60 acres of the district between Fifth Place and 11th Street west of Peoria Avenue.
The entire Pearl District, meanwhile, includes 1,172 parcels of land covering roughly 300 acres and is bounded by U.S. 75 and Utica Avenue between Interstate 244 and 11th Street.
Commissioners will be asked Wednesday to consider a regulating plan for the portion of the district not covered by the new code.
The plan is the first step in expanding the form-based code to the entire district.
Generally speaking, the form-based code encourages the development of dense, pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods and discourages the use of automobiles.
Wednesday's public hearing is sure to be contentious, with some business owners having already voiced their opposition to the new code.
At a February Planning Commission meeting, attorney Malcolm Rosser, representing Sonic Corp., told commissioners that extending the form-based zoning code to the entire district would doom the company's drive-in restaurant at 120 S. Utica Ave.
"The short answer on this from their (Sonic's) standpoint is that if the form-based code is extended out to cover this store, that store will eventually be shut down," Rosser said.
Nancy Keithline and her husband, Charles Keithline, own the Pediatric Dental Group building at 602 S. Utica Ave.
In a letter sent to other property owners in the district last week, Charles Keithline said the new code would limit the design and placement of new buildings while restricting parking and making existing structures nonconforming.
"To expand the code to include all of the Pearl District seems short-sighted at best and possibly disastrous to property values," he wrote.
Of particular concern to some business owners is the new code's requirement that new construction be a minimum of two stories and be built up to the property line.
In addition, vehicle access to properties is limited to alleys, with parking behind buildings.
Mike Thornbrugh, a spokesman for QuikTrip Corp., said those requirements simply won't work for the company as it plans to build its next-generation store on the site of an existing QuikTrip at 11th Street and Utica Avenue.
The Planning Commission recently recommended approval of a Planned Unit Development for the new store. Should the City Council fail to approve that plan, Thornbrugh said, "that particular site will deteriorate because we can't do anything."
Thornbrugh said QuikTrip has tried to work with the Pearl District Association to reach a compromise and that the new store would have sidewalks, bike racks and landscaping - all part of QuikTrip's effort to work in the spirit of the new code.
But, he added, "common sense will tell you a convenience store, you get in quick and you get out. A two-story building, that would not work."
Dave Strader, president of the Pearl District Association, said his group is not trying to push the form-based code down anyone's throat.
He noted, for example, that the code includes "auto-oriented" areas near Interstate 244 and Utica Avenue.
Strader said QuikTrip was presented with several design options for its proposed 11th Street and Utica Avenue store but rejected them all.
"They have not worked with the Pearl District," Strader said. "They are really rigid with their designs."
Strader also took exception to the notion, expressed by some opponents of the new code, that the process was not inclusive.
"They don't seem to have any interest until there is a deadline, and if they had been involved in the planning from the beginning, there might be a different outcome," he said.
Rachel Navarro, who owns property along Sixth Street and Peoria Avenue, is a strong supporter of the new code. She said the parking requirements in the existing zoning code make it necessary for her tenants to get a zoning variance each time they open a business.
"The form-based code will eliminate that requirement," she said.
Her support of the new code is not simply a product of self-interest.
"I support the whole vision of the Pearl District Association for the neighborhood," she said. "The vision for walkable, urban infill that addresses the pedestrian.
"I am behind that. I'm excited about that."
Planning Commission
What: Meeting
When: 1:30 p.m. Wednesday
Where: City Council chambers, City Hall, Second Street and Cincinnati Avenue
Form-based zoning
Under the form-based zoning code approved by the City Council in October, a building's form - as well as its placement on a lot - takes precedence over how the land would be used.
The code aims to create dense, urbanlike environments that are pedestrian-friendly and discourages the use of automobiles. For example, vehicle access is limited to alleys, with parking behind buildings.
Original Print Headline: Panel to address Pearl District zoning
DTowner:
Quote from: jacobi on April 03, 2012, 01:53:04 pm
So, I couldn't get the link to The World article, but the article in today's paper about the form based codes was seriously one-sided. It was completely omited that existing building are grandfathered in.
While the article doesn't go into it, I thought the concern was that the new code would apply to any rebuild.
jacobi:
That is it, but I think I may have read an earlier version or something. Maybe I didn't read the whole thing (Oops! :o)
patric:
Quote from: dioscorides on April 03, 2012, 02:08:29 pm
Mike Thornbrugh, a spokesman for QuikTrip Corp., said those requirements simply won't work for the company as it plans to build its next-generation store on the site of an existing QuikTrip at 11th Street and Utica Avenue.
But, he added, "common sense will tell you a convenience store, you get in quick and you get out. A two-story building, that would not work."
...unless, of course, you understood that the second story may be another use besides a convenience store...
dsjeffries:
Quote from: patric on April 03, 2012, 02:30:00 pm
...unless, of course, you understood that the second story may be another use besides a convenience store...
+1, sir!
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