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QuikTrip's attempted street-snatching: Will it be stopped?

UPDATE 2012/05/04: The answer is no, by a 5-4 vote to approve the PUD "amendment" and close the street. Thanks to Councilors Blake Ewing, Karen Gilbert, Skip Steele, and G. T. Bynum for upholding the plan and the notion of public infrastructure for public use over the demands of a...

Posted by Michael Bates on May 3, 2012 12:18 PM

Keeping the promise to the Pearl District

UPDATE 2012/04/03: The City of Tulsa Planning Department has issued a "policy analysis" of the Pearl District regulating plan, "a supplemental review of adopted plans of the City intended to provide the Planning Commission with a full understanding of the issues and policies created to address them." Attached at the...

Posted by Michael Bates on April 2, 2012 7:58 PM

Urban notes, 2010/07/20

Recent articles of interest on urban policy, both in Tulsa and elsewhere: Daniel Jeffries posts a map of the present-day University of Tulsa campus, comparing it to a map from the 1960s, showing the removal of the street grid over the last half century, and adding this comment: TU continues...

Posted by Michael Bates on July 20, 2010 6:25 PM

PLANiTULSA final draft, my comments

Today at 4 at Tulsa City Hall is what may be the final session of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area Planning Commission's public hearing on the PLANiTULSA comprehensive plan. (You can download the June 2010 Final Draft of the PLANiTULSA policy documents here.) Work obligations preclude me from attending today, but...

Posted by Michael Bates on June 15, 2010 10:59 AM

PLANiTULSA final draft; final hearing June 15, 2010

No, I haven't gotten completely absorbed in the upcoming elections. I haven't forgotten PLANiTULSA. But my last few nights have been short, so I'll keep this short and get some sleep. The final draft of the PLANiTULSA comprehensive plan was released earlier this week. There are actually nine separate PDF...

Posted by Michael Bates on June 10, 2010 12:40 AM

Cato fellow to speak on comprehensive planning

Cato Institute senior fellow Randal O'Toole will speak in Tulsa on Saturday, April 24, 2010, 1:30 p.m., on the topic of comprehensive planning. The talk is sponsored by Oklahomans for Sovereignty and Free Enterprise (OK-SAFE) and will be held at the Hardesty Library, 8316 E. 93rd St. The event is...

Posted by Michael Bates on April 16, 2010 10:25 AM

PLANiTULSA: Wither INCOG?

A commenter on another website noticed that I hadn't said anything about behind-the-scenes machinations by the INCOG -- the Indian Nations Council of Governments -- to modify the PLANiTULSA vision and policy plan, particularly the part that recommends that the City of Tulsa bring in-house the planning functions it currently...

Posted by Michael Bates on March 29, 2010 12:26 PM

PLANiTULSA TMAPC hearing reaction

I wasn't able to attend the March 23, 2010, TMAPC hearing in person, but I watched the last hour or so of the hearing on TGOVonline.org. The on-demand version should be posted in a couple of days. I submitted an email comment in response to an impassioned speech that seemed...

Posted by Michael Bates on March 25, 2010 5:39 AM

Last (?) TMAPC hearing on PLANiTULSA tonight; small area plans

Tonight, March 23, 2010, starting at 6 pm, is what may be the final session of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area Planning Commission's public hearing on PLANiTULSA, Tulsa's first comprehensive plan in a generation. If not everyone can be heard who wishes to speak, the TMAPC has the option to continue...

Posted by Michael Bates on March 23, 2010 5:22 PM

PLANiTULSA notebook: Denver, small-area planning in areas of stability

Before coming to Tulsa, Fregonese Associates consulted on a new comprehensive plan for Denver, called Blueprint Denver. It's interesting to see that some of what the homebuilders want excised from PLANiTULSA was adopted in Denver. On the main Blueprint Denver page, the following is listed as the first of three...

Posted by Michael Bates on March 20, 2010 1:10 PM

PLANiTULSA: My comments to the TMAPC

Here is the text of my email to the TMAPC, submitted prior to the March 10, 2010, public hearing on PLANiTULSA. I also spoke to the TMAPC at that hearing, which you can view at TGOV Online. My remarks begin at 2:46:30.My list of five key qualities of an ideal...

Posted by Michael Bates on March 20, 2010 8:40 AM

PLANiTULSA notebook: Protecting the integrity of the process

In addition to the lovely winter storm we're enjoying on the first day of spring, there's a storm swirling around PLANiTULSA, Tulsa's first comprehensive plan since the late '70s. After almost two years of public input from thousands of Tulsans, the PLANiTULSA policy plan, vision document, and land use...

Posted by Michael Bates on March 20, 2010 7:20 AM

TMAPC & PLANiTULSA: The hearing and the delayers

I spoke at Wednesday's TMAPC public hearing on PLANiTULSA, Tulsa's first comprehensive plan in a generation. I haven't had time to write my thoughts on the event, but my friend Jamie Jamieson copied me on an email to a Pearl District neighborhood leader. He did a fine job describing yesterday's...

Posted by Michael Bates on March 11, 2010 6:55 PM

Dear TMAPC, please don't dismember PLANiTULSA

Today is the final public hearing before the Tulsa Metropolitan Area Planning Commission for adoption of the PLANiTULSA vision and policy documents as Tulsa's first comprehensive plan in a generation. The hearing is in the City Council chambers today at 1:30, and I urge you either to attend and speak...

Posted by Michael Bates on March 10, 2010 8:36 AM

Tulsa Realtor Martha Thomas Cobb on historic preservation zoning

URGENT UPDATE: I've heard that Ms. Cobb sent an email blast that's generating some panicked comments attacking PLANiTULSA. If her email is as misinformative as her remarks to the TMAPC (see below), her influence will need to be countered by those who have actually read the PLANiTULSA policy plan and...

Posted by Michael Bates on March 9, 2010 7:35 AM

TulsaNow on the PLANiTULSA public hearing

This announcement in the latest TulsaNow newsletter is worth your attention. I've also been hearing rumblings about certain special interest groups who have avoided making public comments about PLANiTULSA now trying to get their own way behind the scenes, as they are accustomed to doing. The PLANiTULSA process has been...

Posted by Michael Bates on February 23, 2010 7:09 AM

PLANiTULSA TMAPC hearing Tuesday evening

The formal process of adopting the PLANiTULSA vision and policy plan as part of the City of Tulsa's comprehensive plan will begin this Tuesday, February 23, 2010, with a public hearing from 4 to 7 p.m. at City Hall, 2nd and Cincinnati, on the 2nd floor. The public hearing will...

Posted by Michael Bates on February 22, 2010 12:22 AM

PLANiTULSA district meetings

A series of meetings about PLANiTULSA, the proposed new comprehensive plan for the City of Tulsa, will be held in each city council district starting tonight and continuing over the next two weeks, hosted by the district councilor. Here's the schedule: Day/Date Time Dist Councilor/Aide Location   Tues/2 Feb 6...

Posted by Michael Bates on February 2, 2010 12:14 PM

PLANiTULSA public forum, Tuesday, January 19, 2010

PLANiTULSA, the process for developing Tulsa's first comprehensive plan in a generation, will hold a public forum a week from tonight: What: PLANiTULSA public forum, led by John Fregonese Where: Central Center at Centennial Park, on 6th St. west of Peoria When: Tuesday, January 19, 2010, 6:00 pm to 8:00...

Posted by Michael Bates on January 12, 2010 5:19 PM

PLANiTULSA policy plan working draft

On the PLANiTULSA.org website, there is a new working draft of the PLANiTULSA policy plan, a component of a new comprehensive plan for the City of Tulsa. The policy plan covers, in broad terms, city policy would be concerning land use, transportation, housing, economic development, and parks, open space, and...

Posted by Michael Bates on December 16, 2009 11:09 PM