The City of Tulsa is moving ahead with a complete rewrite of its Comprehensive Plan, the first thorough revision since the '70s. Amendments minor and major have been adopted over the years, often to retroactively change the plan to reflect a zoning decision that was not compatible with the plan. Special area plans involving the city's hospitals, the University of Tulsa, Brady Village, 6th & Peoria, Crutchfield, Brookside, the Charles Page Boulevard Corridor, and the Arkansas River have been adopted into the Comprehensive Plan.
We have some excellent planners in the City's Urban Development Department. They are in earnest about getting the involvement of ordinary Tulsans all through the process of developing a new plan.
One of the first steps is happening mainly this month and next, going out to talk to neighborhood associations and other community groups to find out what they want to see in a Comprehensive Plan and how they want to be involved in the process. The input the planners gather will shape the Request for Proposals for an outside planning firm to handle the process of developing the new plan.
If you're in charge of speakers for a neighborhood or civic group, e-mail planning@cityoftulsa.org or phone Martha Schultz at 596-2600.
If you want to shape the city's future growth, this is the most strategic way to do it. Check out the website for the new Comprehensive Plan process at www.planitulsa.org. There you'll find a list of the steering committee, and an outline of the process.
UPDATE: Fixed the link. It doesn't work without the www.
Comments (4)
The link should be www.planitulsa.org.
Posted by Joey | April 24, 2007 10:08 AM
Posted on April 24, 2007 10:08
Thanks, Joey. They told me it wouldn't work without the www, but I forgot.
Posted by MichaelBates
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April 24, 2007 10:33 AM
Posted on April 24, 2007 10:33
I haven't decided yet to what degree I will become involved in this process (if at all). Part of the problem with the current Comprehensive Plan is that is has become outdated. But a bigger problem is that the TMAPC, on the inaccurate advice of INCOG staff, ignores the Plan when making decisions about zoning, as they did in the case of my property.
I didn't ask for the re-zoning. The TMAPC requested that the City Council re-zone my property against my wishes. I researched the Comprehensive Plan and the zoning districts in my neighborhood before I purchased my property. The previous zoning (with which I was completely satisfied) was in accordance with the Comprehensive Plan.
A new Comprehensive Plan won't matter much if INCOG continues to lie about it and if the TMAPC continues to ignore it. I would like to see a new Comprehensive Plan formulated through a process of true public participation, and then I would love to see it administered by the City, not INCOG. Tulsa is big enough and good enough to set and to enforce its own land use rules. We don't need the "planners" at INCOG to perform this important responsibility for us.
Posted by Paul Uttinger | April 26, 2007 7:50 PM
Posted on April 26, 2007 19:50
I agree with you, Paul, about the way the comp plan has been ignored, and that we'd be better off pulling the land use administration back into city government instead of contracting it out to INCOG. Putting the new comp plan in the hands of the City's Urban Development Department is a good first step in the right direction. I hope you will be involved. Your knowledge would be a valuable asset, as would your personal experience with zoning. (Could you remind us about the specifics of the rezoning of your property?)
Posted by MichaelBates
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April 26, 2007 10:18 PM
Posted on April 26, 2007 22:18