Good evening and welcome to the Norman to the City Council Norman Utilities Authority, Norman Municipal Authority, and Norman Tax Increment Finance Authority meeting of September 23rd, 2025.

Madam Clerk, will you call the roll?

Councilmember Gandisbury.

Here.

Councilmember Peacock.

Absent.

Councilmember Vontoya.

Present.

Councilmember Grant.

Here.

Councilmember Nofire.

Here.

Councilmember Hinkle.

Here.

Councilmember Vlogett?

Here.

Councilmember Cameron.

I am here.

Mayor Holman.

Here.

All right, will you please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance?

I pledge allegiance.

And to the Republic for which it stands one nation, under God and indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

And the second proclamation is a proclamation proclaiming the month of September as healthy aging month in the City of Norman.

I'll entertain a motion to acknowledge receipt of the proclamations.

The motion on the floor is to acknowledge receipt of the proclamations.

Council members, you may cast your votes.

And for our first traffic transportation engineer for the city of Norman join me at the podium.

Whereas the City of Norman, Oklahoma is committed to the safety and well-being of all its residents and visitors, and whereas pedestrian safety is a fundamental concern and fostering a safe environment for pedestrians is essential for the vitality and health of our community.

And whereas we acknowledge the tremendous value and vibrancy that walkable districts like Campus Corner and downtown bring to our city, serving as hubs of culture, commerce, and community gathering, and reinforcing the importance of pedestrian safety.

And whereas raising awareness about pedestrian safety during the month of October when daylight hours decrease is critical to ensuring the safety of pedestrians and reducing accidents and injuries.

And whereas educating the public about safe pedestrian practices and encouraging responsible driver behavior is essential in preventing pedestrian accidents and fatalities.

Now therefore, I, mayor of the city of Norman, Oklahoma, do hereby proclaim the month of October as pedestrian safety month in Norman, Oklahoma, and I call upon all residents, businesses, schools, community organizations, and government agencies to participate in activities and initiatives that enhance pedestrian safety, including educational programs, public awareness campaigns, and efforts to improve our pedestrian infrastructure.

Passed and approved this 23rd day of September 2025.

Thank you.

As a voting member of the Transportation Committee, the Technical Committee for ACOG, as well as an ex-officio member of the bicycle advisory committee.

This means a lot to the efforts of both those organizations.

Thank you.

And for my next proclamation would Lynn Miller, former Mayor Lynn Miller, and Catherine Leedy please join me here at the podium.

A proclamation of the mayor of the City of Norman, Oklahoma, proclaiming the month of September as Healthy Aging Month in the City of Norman.

Whereas the City of Norman recognizes the importance of supporting older adults in leading vibrant, healthy, and engaged lives, and whereas September is nationally observed as Healthy Aging Month, a time to promote the positive aspects of aging and encourage individuals to take proactive steps toward physical, emotional, intellectual, and social well-being.

And whereas healthy aging is supported by access to nutritious food, regular physical activity, social connection, lifelong learning, preventive health care, and safe, inclusive environments.

And whereas Norman is a member of the AARP network of age-friendly states and communities, and whereas Norman is home to a variety of resources that promote healthy aging.

And whereas the City of Norman's Adult Wellness and Education Center is a state of the art facility operated by Healthy Living Norman, offering a wide range of healthy aging programming for adults age 50 and older.

These include fitness classes, personal training, art workshops, healthy cooking courses, health and nutrition classes, recreational activities, music programs, book clubs, support groups, social events, educational lectures, and access to amenities such as a fitness center, indoor warm saltwater pool, walking track, pickleball courts, billiards, teaching kitchen, art studios, and whereas the adult wellness and education center embodies a six-dimensional model of wellness, emotional, spiritual, intellectual, social, physical, and occupational, providing a holistic approach to aging well in our community.

Now, therefore, I, Mayor of the City of Norman, Oklahoma, do hereby proclaim the month of September 2025 as Healthy Aging Month in the City of Norman, Oklahoma, passed and adopted, approved this 23rd day of September 2025.

Thank you, Mayor Holman and Council members.

You will notice that they brought me along as an exhibit for healthy aging.

Anyway, okay.

And it's been amazing.

And now I'm gonna let Katherine Lighty, who is our executive director, say a few words about the center.

Mayor Holman and Council members and residents.

Thank you for this opportunity to say a few words today, recognizing September as healthy aging month, and for this proclamation, um, declaring it healthy aging month in uh Norman.

Um, with this proclamation, we celebrate not only the vitality and resilience of older adults in our community, but also the shared commitment to ensuring that aging is a journey marked by dignity, wellness, and connection.

Healthy aging is not just about adding years to life, it's about adding life to years.

And uh thanks to seniors in our community and our city leadership, um, Norman Forward, and the many organizations in our community that uh serve the interests of seniors.

Um, we are making great strides.

Um, Healthy Living Norman is currently conducting our annual membership survey uh for those who attend the adult wellness and education center.

And feedback so far is showing that the center's programs are helping older citizens stay physically active and stay healthy, stay connected with others, and to be less isolated.

I've heard from members um who have lost a spouse within the last couple years.

Um coming to the center has helped them stay connected and be engaged with others while they're working through their grief.

Um it gives them a reason to get up in the morning.

Umbers have told me that their health has improved, and I've seen it myself, and um also that they feel stronger.

Um, and one testament is that to that is that we're constantly being asked to add harder and harder fitness classes, and I think that is a great outcome.

Um it's also a joy just seeing people making friends every day.

Um, if anybody had been to our last dance, you can really tell that people are getting to know each other better and they're really having a good time.

Um so this proclamation reminds us that healthy aging is a community effort.

It's about creating safe, inclusive environments, promoting lifelong learning, and encouraging all residents to engage in activities that support their well-being.

On behalf of Healthy Living Norman and the growing population of older adults who call the city home, thank you for your continued support.

Thank you.

Next is council announcements, and I will start by recognizing Councilmember Montoya.

Thank you, Mayor Holman.

Well, good evening, Ward 3, and Norman Oklahoma.

I have just one announcement.

Um, in various capacities, I have served this community since 2008, and I am ready to pursue other interests.

Effective immediately.

I am resigning as council member for ward three.

Thank you, Ward Three.

So I'll make a few comments and then we will go uh through our regular council announcements.

As your mayor, I want to affirm our commitment to upholding the rights guaranteed under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.

The rights to free speech is fundamental to our democracy, and it are is our responsibility to ensure that every citizen has the opportunity to express their opinions and be heard.

City council meetings are a crucial platform for public discourse where residents can voice their thoughts, concerns, and ideas.

We encourage participation, respectful debate, and active involvement from all members of our community, including us.

While we honor the right to free speech, we must also maintain an environment that is respectful, orderly, and conducive to productive discussion.

Everyone attending can reasonably expect that the meeting will proceed an environment of mutual respect among the elected officials, presenters, and audience that is free from disruptions.

Consequently, disruptions, personal attacks, and behavior that attracts from the purpose of the meeting, including but not limited to cheers, boos, and applauding, will not be tolerated as they hinder the ability of others to exercise their rights.

My goal is to ensure that every voice in this room can be heard while maintaining the integrity and decorum of our meetings.

I ask for your cooperation and mutual respect as we continue to work together for the betterment of Norman.

And with that, I will ward one, Councilmore Gansbury to have any announcements.

I guess I grabbed the short stroll tonight and didn't know it.

Um Ward One announcements, though, for those that aren't aware.

I wasn't aware till recently, um, trying to give us some feel-good story rather than what we're dealing with already.

Um you have a notice on Sundays, I have a gentleman showing up on the zone.

Doesn't put his name out there on social media or to get any praise forward or anything like that, but over in one of our areas that can use it the most on Ward One over in the park lot of Lindsay.

We have a barber that's been showing up there and giving all those kids and men and women over there free haircuts on Sundays.

And this is what Norman's about.

You know, not doing it for his own publicity, not doing it for a stun or anything like that, just doing it out of the kindness of his heart and everything.

Um looks like now we might have a couple other barbers that are going to join up with him and maybe be able to serve more people on those days also.

So if you get a chance, go over there and just thank him.

I cannot even tell you what his name is because I'm still trying to find it out myself.

So, but definitely go over there and you know join with him.

And with everything going on recently, I just want to reiterate something that I said the last council meeting for my comments and stuff like that.

Everybody knows for 18 years I've worked at the health system.

And I've helped a lot of people through a lot of hard times.

I personally have went through those dark moments and had to get help myself to be here tonight.

So when I say this, I mean it sincerely.

If there's anybody listening or anybody in attendance tonight that feels like there's no hope, that feels like there's no other route, please reach out.

Somebody will always be on the other end of the line to talk to you, to care for you, and to get you the help that you need.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Ward four.

Yes, buenas noches, ward four in city of Norman.

It's Hispanic Heritage Month till October 15th.

And if you're a photographer or an aspiring one that missed the opening of Perusca Chambi's Exploring Life and Death in the Andes at the Firehouse Arts Center on September 17th, just know the photography exhibition runs until November 2nd.

At Chambi's opening, State Representative Annie Menz, who is the first Latina to be elected to the Oklahoma House of Representatives, presented a citation of recognition highlighting the importance of Chombi's work and the valuable cultural contribution of the Peruvian community to our state.

Next is an event for old silk stalking residents this Thursday on uh 9 25 from 6 to 7 30 at Ruth Updograft Park.

The Old Soak Stocking Voluntary Neighborhood Association is hosting their annual neighborhood night out.

There will be hot dogs, burgers, chips, drinks, ice cream, and fun activities at the park and at the Moore Lindsay Historical Museum.

This event is a great entry point into building up your neighborhood, one relationship at a time.

And follow up, I want to extend a congratulations to many talented people and organizers who successfully held the following events in the last two weeks.

These were community-driven efforts that took serious teamwork to accomplish.

So congrats to both Porch Fest and Ink the Block Party organizers, volunteers, and sponsors on another successful and well-attended event.

And actually, congrats to the inaugural uh Ink the Block, which many artists were able to sell.

Works ranging from two to 100 dollars to bless.

Um seemed like everybody made their money.

Also, in a bid to increase civic IQ, we have another we had another ward meet ward four quarterly meeting last Saturday.

Topics range from 2025 council updates and priorities, development 101, community events, and some information on the Marnox in the park that will be happening at Legacy Park.

Uh one bit of positive news, which we will touch on in the next month's oversight committee is a glimpse of the first of uh three months of data and the on the day labor van, aka opportunity knocks littered cleanup crew.

As of August 31st, there have been 279 referrals to the program, 63 riders, 42 have elected to receive services, one participant has obtained permanent employment, and they removed 23.96 tons of trash from 127 program allowable locations.

For the record, the day labor van came from the 2020 2023 council retreat.

And I personally remember being very clear in that I wanted trained mental health professionals running that van and for those people to have the opportunity to connect with services.

Um I'm very glad that staff made it happen by searching for the best fit operator, which is a better way, and that we discovered that we could fund it with opioid settlement money.

And I will save my other comments for after uh the rest of the meeting.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Ward five.

Good evening, everybody.

Uh, I guess everybody's actually heard by now that the Oklahoma Turnpike Association has announced their new route for the uh South Extension.

And I just want to let all the Ward 5 citizens know that don't despair.

It's not insurmountable.

We're still working, and if we band together, we will continue working and beat this monstrosity.

Thank you.

Ward six.

Thank you.

Good evening.

The only announcement I want to make tonight is just to save the date for October 18th, which is Saturday at 9 a.m.

for a uh watershed cleanup event at Sutton Wilderness.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Ward seven.

Uh no announcements at this time.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Ward 8.

All right.

Try to unmute my microphone.

Sorry about that.

Um just want to highlight a uh two million dollar grant that the city applied for and received from uh OWERB.

It's gonna go towards uh the construction cost of our line maintenance facility.

So huge shout out to everybody on the staff that uh made that happen.

That's uh huge.

Um certainly appreciate it.

And uh that's it for ward eight.

Thank you.

Um I do want to add to what Councilmember Nofire had to say about the OTA announcement.

There is a public meeting tomorrow at Norman North High School at the Nancy O'Brien Center at five o'clock.

I believe there is a press conference at four o'clock for anybody interested in that.

Um, and so and I share the same concerns.

Folks who didn't know if their home or property was going to be in the path of this new route, and those of you who are, and um what you are dealing with now emotionally, and then what uh the path will be ahead as this whole thing gets navigated through.

But I do want you to know that the city of Norman has your back.

This council has your back if you are impacted by this turnpike, and uh we will continue working with you and keeping everybody as up to date as we can about what they are planning to do and what their timelines are and what legal options are still out there uh to be explored as well.

Um, also want to encourage everybody on Thursday at 4 p.m.

here at City Hall and live streamed on YouTube, the community planning and transportation committee at 4 p.m.

Um if you're interested in our public transit system and what's going on there and any road construction or infrastructure projects that you've been wondering about.

Um, that is the committee where we discuss those things every month.

Um, and you're welcome to attend.

You're welcome to watch online live or the replay.

And if you have any questions or comments about those issues of transportation, please reach out to me or your council member and we'll make sure those are addressed.

And with that, we will move to the consent docket.

This item is placed on the agenda so that the city council by unanimous consent can designate these those routine agenda items that they wish to be approved or acknowledged by one motion.

If any item proposed does not meet with approval approval of all council members, that item will be heard in regular order.

Staff recommends that item three through item 22 be placed on the consent docket.

I'll entertain a motion to place items three through twenty-two on the consent docket.

Motion second.

The motion on the floor is to place items three through twenty-two on the consent docket.

Council members, you may cast your votes.

All votes have been cast and the motion to place items three through twenty-two on the consent docket passes unanimously.

I'll entertain a motion to docket second.

Are there any comments from council regarding any item on the consent docket seeing none?

The motion on the floor is to approve the consent members.

You may cast your votes.

And the motion to approve the consent docket passes unanimously.

All right.

Moving on to the non-consent agenda.

Item number 23, an ordinance rezoning property generally located north of West Tecumseh Road on North Flood Avenue from A2 Rural Agricultural District and I2 Heavy Industrial District to SPUD simple planned unit development.

I'll entertain a motion to adopt or reject the ordinance on second reading, section by section.

Motion.

Second.

Is there a representative of the applicant to make a presentation?

Yes, and council, there we go.

Uh Gunnar Joyce on behalf of the applicant and SMC is the civil engineer on this project.

So Mohammed Khan is here with us as well.

We can get in uh to deep detail on the stormwater if need be.

But uh this is a spU right here on uh basically the close to the intersection of 24th Avenue and Tecumseh.

Uh I know you guys are probably familiar with the commercial activity going on there as you can see it.

Uh the recent uh Starbucks is just south of the site, the on queue right there on the intersection.

I'll jump back real quick to show you the current zoning and why we're here on a rezoning.

A little bit of an outdated zoning on the site.

It's an A2 agricultural zoning, but right there on the frontage of Flood Avenue as we get into kind of a pretty major commercial area.

So the request here, it being under five acres, it's not a PUD, it's an SPUD, essentially the same thing other than the acreage size.

So here is the site plan.

Uh it'll be a little prettier when we get to the green space, but I want to show you the actual site plan that you'll be voting on as an exhibit to the SPUD.

It is it is planned as one lot, uh, but six buildings are shown.

And essentially, right now the request is a very a mix of uses for commercial or industrial.

So right now, no tenant really expected at this time, but the plan is to get this zone for commercial, and then that could put it on the market when we start to see some activity there, get some sales tax dollars uh for this uh area.

It continued to advance the commercial activity that's already in place and operational there.

Um like I mentioned, mixed use.

The one change that is new from planning commission here tonight is exterior materials.

So no protests.

There'll be a slide that shows that, so I know I'm jumping here, but uh no protest on the project.

There was a neighbor to the east to the rear that was concerned about metal buildings, industrial buildings, and so we uh added into after planning commission an 80% masonry requirement.

We discussed it at Planning Commission.

Every PUD has an 80% masonry requirement.

There interest rate interest rate interestingly enough.

Sorry for going quick there.

There is not a corresponding SPUD 80% requirement.

So if this was a PUD, it would have 80%.

Since we don't have five acres, we have a SPUD we had to draft it in.

So that's now drafted in.

It's in your packet.

Planning commission unanimously recommended approval of the project with that recommendation that we put 80% requirement.

It was a friendly floor amendment at Planning Commission, so that is what's in front of you tonight.

Again, unanimously approved by planning commission.

Two items, one is the zoning, the second is a preliminary plat.

As I mentioned, there is only one platted lot, so the whole development, all the buildings just on one uh lot there.

Staff recommends approval of the preliminary plat.

We had discussion at Planning Commission about height requirements.

The actual spUD document does not have a maximum height.

That is very similar to all of your base commercial and industrial zonings.

They asked at Planning Commission what could go there with the proximity of the airport.

So I just want to show you that we would have to go get FAA approval and run an obstruction evaluation study when we get a building permit.

So while the SPUD says no height requirement, it is governed both by state and federal levels that we would have to go through for uh building permits.

It is a substantially green proposal.

The reason for that is it does have WQPZ water quality protection zone through the site.

So we are respecting that WQPZ, and that essentially is what you see in the middle there with two bioretention ponds.

Uh the goal there is that area would filter out any trash and debris before it moves down through the system.

You are typically used to seeing in commercial and industrial development, something like 10% of green space, 10% of open space.

As you can see here, what's proposed tonight is 43%.

So it is a very green project, green proposal, especially when you think about a commercial strip center that this essentially is proposing.

So it's very green.

And just to summarize, it's a mix of uses, commercial, industrial allowed in the spUD planning commission unanimously recommended approval with that floor amendment, and that is already in the document that is in your agenda packet.

So the same item here, no amendment needed tonight.

And again, we're not aware of any protests.

We had the interested neighbor that kind of spurred the on the floor amendment.

So uh with that, happy to take any questions that you may have.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Are there any council questions regarding this item?

Seeing none.

Um Gunner, Mr.

Joyce.

Yeah, yeah.

Uh we talked about when I met with you the um trees are on the property and specifically around the perimeter of the property and where it it neighbors other adjoining properties.

Um talk about that a little bit.

Yes, definitely.

So the goal there, as you can see, along the edges is to maintain as much of a kind of green buffer as we can.

It is a pretty heavily treed site currently.

If we go back, it's basically mostly trees.

Uh but this area being commercial, I think you would expect when when development occurs, most of it would be clear cut and start from scratch.

Uh the nice thing about this proposal locking in that site plan and the bioretention and a very uh interesting element that I had never heard before that Mohammed could talk through is four bays.

So it is a uh drainage technique that essentially allows the area before we get to the pond to collect all the trash and debris.

And so utilizing four bays and bioretention areas, we think we can keep it greener than what you would typically see of commercial development.

Uh there is not a you know mandated tree preservation language, and I think really the reason for that is achieving the WQPZ, the bioretention areas.

We will have to go in and do quite a bit of dirt work to get that done.

Uh but after that's all finished, the goal here is a you know high class commercial development that is similar to what's uh in the area, and they would come in and put trees and landscaping and and try to keep that landscape buffer to protect any neighbors to the north and to the east.

And trees that are in a lot of the green space that are not in the way of anything would remain potentially that is certainly the goal of the developer.

If we get in and have to move stuff, it's it is possible.

There's like I said, not a preservationist area, uh, but the goal and the intent here is to preserve what we can.

Thank you.

Yeah, absolutely.

Okay, this is an opportunity for members of the public to make comments regarding this item.

Remarks should be directed to council only.

Madam Clerk, are there any speakers registered for this item?

Uh yes, we'll start with Stephen Ellis.

Steve Ellis Ward 4.

Uh, this is just gonna be my regular uh discussion about both PUDs and spuds, which is to remind you that the way the statutes are written, and now the I'm glad the city staff has started to put the the in the uh the actual statutory language in the uh reports.

But spuds are supposed to be a a kind of a special deal, right?

They're supposed to be some loosening of city regulations in order to get something special, unique, uh something that we might want to follow on.

And in a certain sense, uh uh PUD language and spUD language is supposed to be our sort of version of experiments in living to use Mills term, right?

We're trying to figure out better ways to do things.

And one of the things that you almost always notice when there's a PUD or when there's a spUD in front of the city council, is that no one talks about sort of what that deal is.

It would be very, very nice if when someone was uh presenting about the spUD, they would try to spell out their side of the deal.

That be would be something that uh you know people who were citizens of Norman could listen to for like why aren't we following our rules?

Why do we have that rule if we're just gonna bend it for people, right?

So I I think it would be useful, and I'll I'll remind you of this probably more than once tonight, that um the way the statutes are written about PUDs and spUDs is it's supposed to be uh this for that kind of thing, and it's incredibly unclear to everybody in the audience today sort of what the this for that is supposed to be.

What's in it for Norman?

Let me ask that that way.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Cynthia Rogers.

She's uh waving us off.

Okay.

Um Cheryl Andenzo?

Uh okay.

Okay.

Is there any further comment from any of the audience about this particular item?

Seeing none?

Okay.

Um Gunnar, would you maybe talk about um would you talk about why your client is pursuing a spUD for this instead of a rezoning and you know, to answer Mr.

Ellis's questions?

Yeah, I think the reason that we usually go forward with uh a PUD and spUD and similar uh to the project tonight is it does offer flexibility both for the current owner but also for Norman so that when tenants come in or buyers come in, they can be a commercial user.

They could be an industrial user.

They could pick from that list, and typically, you know, in these areas you will see projects come through that have unique um you know variances requested that that we would come back through and say, hey, this is kind of a no-brainer, we're in a commercial area, we don't want it to be you know industrial by the code, so let's draft a specific ordinance that uh ends up in a project that everyone's supportive of, that we don't have a protest.

We've worked through that process with the surrounding property owners, and then we have a variety of uses that may not come directly from the code, but the city can agree that's appropriate for this area.

And then additionally, for this one, this green space, this open space is something that you would not see in a commercial development in the industrial development.

So essentially, you know, that's their proposal tonight is a little bit of flexibility both to the city in this area, so we don't continuously come back every single time, and a very substantial open space, green space with a lot of best management practices, WQPZ bioretention swell, you know, type of uh drainage, drainage uh improvements that you would not technically get otherwise.

So that that essentially is this project.

And the 80 percent masonry requirement would be something where we a spUD or PUD gives us the ability to re ask that of you and it be in writing and you have to do it.

That's exactly right.

So if we just went with straight industrial, there would be no similar masonry requirement and really no way to impose those conditions on a straight zoning request.

Okay, thank you.

Any final comments from council on this project?

Okay.

The motion on the floor is to adopt the ordinance on second reading, section by section.

Councilmember.

Okay, sorry.

All votes have been cast and the motion to adopt the ordinance upon second reading passes unanimously.

I'll entertain a motion to adopt or rejecting as a whole.

So moved.

Second.

The motion on the floor is to adopt the ordinance on final reading as a whole.

Council members, you may cast your votes.

All votes have been cast and the motion to adopt the ordinance upon final reading passes unanimously.

Item 24, a preliminary plat for North Flood Business Park Edition, a simple planned unit development, generally located one quarter mile north of Tecumseh Road on the east side of Flood Avenue.

I'll entertain a motion to approve or reject the preliminary plat.

Motion.

Second.

This is a companion item to the previous item.

Are there any further council questions regarding this item?

Madam Clerk, are there any further public comments regarding this item?

Um Steve Van Ellis, Cindy Rogers, and Cheryline Denzel.

Okay.

Yes.

Okay.

And any other body in the audience that would like to speak about this item.

Seeing none.

Okay.

Are there any final comments from council?

Seeing none.

The motion on the floor is to approve the preliminary plat.

Council members, you may cast your vote.

Item 25.

An ordinance rezoning property generally located near the northeast corner of the intersection of Classen Boulevard and Cedar Lane Road from R1 single family dwelling district to PUD planned unit development.

I'll entertain a motion to adopt or reject the ordinance on second reading section by section.

Motion.

Second.

Is there a representative of the applicant to make a presentation?

Let me go through this one.

Here we go.

All right.

Thank you.

Uh glad to be here tonight.

Sean Reger for the applicant in this case.

We're in St.

James Park in Southeast Norman with a continuation of St.

James.

This is a neighborhood that's been in development for over 20 years in Southeast Norman section after section after section.

And this is sort of the next big swath of it.

It's been preliminary plotted before, but it's coming back through now with a little bit of an adjustment or two, and I'll show you what that is in this area.

There's the map you see, just basically raw land across the center, in between St.

James on the upper right, and you see that circle in the middle is the St.

James Community Clubhouse, one of the more unique ones in our community.

And then to the south west is South Lake community over on the left side of that development.

You see Classen Avenue, Class Boulevard, excuse me, that is really expanding now with all kinds of uses coming into that zone.

Pretty remarkable that we're seeing the uses come into Southeast Norman that we are now with so many different retailers and restaurateurs now coming into that area.

It's pretty exciting for for this location.

And this is really why is because the population is starting to just explode down there significantly.

And rooftops, we've always said brings commerce and all kinds of things, and that's kind of what's happening.

So we're just north of the Walmart Supercenter.

A lot more development happening south of that, as you're well aware that has been coming through lately.

So take you through just a series of maps so you'll see this is the subject track from city staff.

You can see the yellow striped is all uh zoned as R1.

So it's already zoned R1.

We could bring this through as just a simple straight R1 zoning, and I might just expand on some of those comments a little while ago.

Another thing I would say about PUDs and the zoning code is our zoning code, as you're well aware, is a very old zoning code.

That's not a criticism, it's just a fact.

It is, and as we meet with staff and Ms.

Hudson and start working on projects that are more modern and more layouts, your existing zoning code, it just doesn't work.

It is an antiquated zone zoning code in a lot of ways.

And so PUDs have been for a good 20 years the norm.

Instead of communities really updating their zoning codes, they've shifted to PUDs more than anything.

If you show up in Oklahoma City with anything but a PUD, you will be quickly told to come back and see us when you have a PUD because there's a lot of extensive parameters the city can put upon you when you bring a PUD.

Site plan requirements, the site plan is locked when you bring a PUD.

It's not when you do open district zoning, and a lot of other parameters we talk about.

So there's a lot of reasons we bring a PUD more than what was expressed here at the podium by the audience member.

This is uh GIS.

Your GIS puts forth uh great maps to show us what we're working with.

You see all of those lines, those are all utilities.

So this is in fill development with utilities all around it, even through it, fire hydrants, water lines, sewer lines, all of it is there.

And so we're really just in field developing where there is already significant public infrastructure in place to work from.

There is no floodplain on this property.

There is no WQPZ zone on this property.

It is really quite clean.

Another map just to show you again the zoning.

You see, sort of on the upper right is the existing St.

Joe St.

James neighborhood, all R1.

Then our proposed area is already zoned R1, but we're tweaking it just a little bit.

I'll show you that in just a few moments.

And then to the left of the site is really some fairly significant more intense use is RM6.

You see on the upper left, RO, RM6, Parkland, and then the South Lake development is R1, but it also has a piece of it at the bottom left that is RM2 that will be important in a moment that I'll show you that we're actually doing a part of this development next to that RM2 that will be a little more dense than an RM1 R1 product.

So this is the preliminary plat that you would be voting on.

And there's really two areas that we're showing you tonight.

The area one in green is basically an extension of St.

James Park.

Slight changes that we're doing through the PUD, such as a 10-foot rear yard setback and a little bit higher impervious amount and a little bit less of a frontage.

That will allow us the backyards especially to do ADUs if we should so choose.

You gracefully passed ordinances that said R1 can have ADUs in them now, accessory dwelling units.

This PUD also says they can be put here.

What we're finding is that it would be helpful to have a little bit less rear yard setback for that and a little bit more ability to put that ADU back there.

So this PUD will allow for that.

Area two is what we're really kind of focused on tonight because area one will largely look like an R1 development.

It basically is an R1 development.

Area two, though, is using the PUD to do much smaller lots.

And I'll show you in a moment how your AIM community master plan has asked us to do just that.

And so area two on the lower left in red will be a smaller single-family residential product and a thinner lot, basically about 3,500 square foot lots, as opposed to R1, which is 6,000 square foot lots.

And so those are sort of the two areas we're proposing tonight.

In total, there's 373 single family lots across this development.

And again, it will be largely an extension of the St.

James Park.

We are asking for one floor amendment tonight.

We rarely do this, but at Plan Commission, we had a suggestion at the vote.

You recall Gunner was just talking about an amendment at Plan Commission on the last item.

We got that amendment done at Planning Commission.

On this item, it was suggested as the planning commissioners were voting on the item, and they unanimously voted approval of this.

They recommended Chairman Byrd and Commissioner Brewer kind of supported as well.

Said, will you do a smaller setback on the frontage of that area too, the lower left side of the development?

We said fine.

They had already voted on it.

We we said fine, we're happy to do that.

Staff has asked us to ask you to make it a floor amendment tonight to the PUD.

And so we're asking that you will make a friendly amendment to the PUD that changes the front yard setback from 20 feet, 25 feet to 20 feet for area development too.

So when I'm done, I would ask that some point one of you please make that motion, and then we can proceed.

Let me show you AIM Norman.

We're all learning this document that you approved a few months ago.

A lot of incredible information in this document that's been very helpful for us to see and use.

Under AIM, UL is low urban or residential plan designation.

And I have a quote down there on the lower right, but first let me just tell you this is again 373 single family lots.

It amounts to about 3.92 lots per acre across the development.

And then if you read AIM Norman for this designation, it says that they want gross densities in England any single development should be greater than three units per acre.

So we have met the density request of AIM Norman.

And then AIM goes on to say that they want a variety and diversity of housing stock, and that they want wider variety of lot sizes.

That's the purpose then of area development number two.

In this development, we're able to have a couple of different housing sizes across the development to where St.

James before was just basically the one size R1.

Now with AIM, we can come in and we can do one part of it as a little bit of a more dense product to get a little bit more housing into this development.

And you see AIME Norman on this UL designation had a couple of character photos, and I think that's pretty telling because that is basically what we're proposing.

On the lower left, you see is basically St.

James as a continuation of that.

And the second photo is a thinner lot with a thinner home on it, and that is basically what we're proposing on area development number two.

This is that area, development number two.

So you recall from the larger map, lower left area was the smaller lots.

So this is the smaller lot area.

Important to note, we actually had a proposal on that area, that little rectangular area for a commercial development a little while back.

Some of you may have heard about it because the neighbors were not happy about that proposal.

And uh we uh quickly withdrew that.

I don't think we actually filed it.

It was a meeting that we had with neighbors and uh Mayor Holman.

I think you might remember that.

And uh they did not like it, and so we withdrew that, pulled back, and came back with this proposal for the small residential lot development.

I can never speak for neighbors, I don't know, but I can tell you there is only two protests tonight of the entire area, 0.4 percent, and we had nobody speak against this project at planning commission.

So I think it's a far significant improvement from when we had proposed that area as a commercial development.

So happy that it was uh much better received.

You can see we're connecting the streets, as you see in the lower left.

And I think if you would look at the very far lower left of that uh screenshot, you can see that the housing already there in place on South Lake does have a street of very thin lots of of smaller homes.

We basically are continuing that street motif all the way to the right there.

So that is uh that's basically that smaller lower left area.

Parks plan.

Parks plan is uh interesting in that this will basically be a kind of a uh summation of what has been happening down there over many years.

We met with Parks Board, of course.

We have to when we do residential projects, and we met with James Briggs extensively on this project.

And what you see, it looks a little complicated, it's not that complicated, but on the left side of the screen, you see a green sort of trapezoid shape.

That is the parkland, public parkland dedicated to you.

The remainder of that kind of uh kind of key shape area is all zoned parkland, and it is a detention pond on the left side of it.

But the green space that you see there is now going to be the totality of the park, and there's a plan or hope that we will work with the city, the city has approached the developer and and eventually connect all of it once they finish their detention pond.

But I know Mr.

Briggs told the parks board that he was excited, and that now with these final pieces in place, they can start developing the park and with improvements now to put in the the infrastructure for the park itself.

So that will be happening, I think, in fairly short order after this.

And there you see that big green space right on the left is the park.

That's the park that will be a public park for these developments, and the street will now connect to it over from J.

James.

So staff wrote it's consistent with the aim norm and comprehensive plan because it proposes a single family development featuring a variety of lot sizes, connections to existing neighborhoods, and access to existing city utilities.

All we're aware of is a 0.4% protest, two homeowners in the in the large general area of that.

This was unanimous approval at Planning Commission.

No protest at the planning commission that we were aware of that spoke against it.

And with that, we are happy to answer any questions you have.

The engineers are here so they can speak much more educated wise than I can about the details, and we thank you very much for your consideration.

Yes.

Council questions or comments for someone.

Yes, I was going over your allowable uses, and I know you have accessory dwelling units in area one, which I'd love to hear.

Will those be built, or does the resident have to want an ADU?

I'm sorry, I missed the sim the middle part of the question.

Will these those be what?

Um the accessory dwelling units in area one.

Will they be built with the house, or is that something the president has to elect to build themselves?

We will basically leave it to the resident to build.

Okay, so those will be allowed to.

It's not like they'll be uh barred in the uh language of the spUD narrative from doing it.

They would have the right to, yeah.

Okay, and then uh also you answered most of my questions about the protest.

Um, but I just wanted to highlight the home occupations.

I'm glad you put that in there.

Thank you, Customer.

Um thank you.

Uh I'd like to make a motion to amend ordinance 02526-5 to reduce the front yard setback for development area two from 25 feet to 20 feet motion to amend okay.

And is there a second on that?

Second.

Are there any council questions regarding the amendment?

Seeing none.

This is an opportunity for members of the public to make comments regarding the amendment only.

Remarks should be directed to council only.

Is there since there was nobody to sign up for this?

Is there anybody in the audience that would like to comment about the amendment on the floor for this item?

Seeing none.

All right.

Are there any final comments from council regarding this amendment?

Seeing none.

The motion on the floor is to amend ordinance 0-2425-5 to reduce the front yard setback for development area two from 25 feet to 20 feet.

Council members, you may cast your votes.

To amend the ordinance passes unanimously.

Okay, are there any council questions regarding this item as amended?

I did um Sean.

The so just to be clear, the South Lake edition currently only has one access point, which is off Highway 77.

Um can be a challenge to get in to get out of, that's for sure.

Um, so this addition would provide a new secondary exit and entrance to the South Lake neighborhood off Cedar Lane.

Correct, Mayor, and you see it there.

I don't know if that's too closed in or but uh that's probably the best one, yeah.

Uh yeah, yeah, you see it right there coming south.

And it doesn't show well on screen, but that that street lines up with the with the curb cut for Walmart right across the street.

And it's not anticipated that that is an issue.

No, but I mean we we go through this often with city staff.

Yeah, I like that it's lined up, but yeah.

Yeah, for location of curb cuts and streets that's actually very much pressed upon us that we try to line all those up as much as we can.

Perfect.

And then um the green space, so you showed the parklands part.

Um, do you have any visual of just the total green space that would exist in this uh specifically like um yeah, there we go.

Yeah, where 24th Avenue right of way used to be.

Right.

Um so it will connect, but it'll it'll you have to go around this green space.

Is that correct, Mayor?

And it's green space exhibits on R1 or single family developments are always deceiving because it looks like there's no green.

Obviously, all of those little lots will have significant green space within them.

But what you're talking about, I believe, Mayor, is the green stripe coming up the middle is the 24th Avenue.

And so we will not have the ability for a car, which is I think desirable for a car to go straight up through there.

Instead, they have to route around that block.

That's basically a block of homes with the green space behind them.

And there's still significant utility easements running up through there.

So we can't put homes over that and we keep it as a green space.

I think visually it will be nice, and then you'll see you'll be looking up that green space as you enter off Cedar Lane, but you will not be able to drive up through there.

So homes uh resident people driving in cars will not be able to just zoom straight up through that area, which was intentionally designed to keep that from happening.

So it will connect finally to Cedar Lane, but it will uh be done in a way where people are won't be able to easily just drag race through the middle of the neighborhood.

Exactly to get to Highway 9 or something.

Okay, exactly.

We don't want the drag racing.

They can go to Noble Thunder drivers.

Yeah, we don't want that here.

Okay, thank you.

Okay, this is an opportunity for members of the public to make comments regarding this item as amended.

Remarks should be directed to council only.

Madam Clerk, are there any speakers registered for this item?

Yes, Mayor, we'll start with Stephen Ellis.

Steve Ellis.

Sorry, Steve Ellis, Ward 4.

Uh so I thought that the difference between the way uh that Mr.

Joyce and Mr.

Reger each characterize PUDs and spUS in the last two items was really interesting.

Uh Mr.

Joyce suggested that PUDs help developers, and the result was at least a possible uh upside for the city.

Uh but Mr.

Rieger in his comments on the last uh uh when he gave the presentation suggested that PUDs had been basically replacing other forms of zoning in Oklahoma City, and that at least in the city uh they're making detailed demands of people who are coming up with PUDs.

And so I guess I have a question for the planning department about this particular PUD.

Um, does does the City of Norman do likewise?

Are we making detailed demands to get stuff that we want in a PUD?

Or are we mostly just working with what the developer presents us?

And if we're not making you know particular demands, why not?

And you know, what demands did the city make in this particular instance, or did we just get the PUD application and say, all right, probably pass, so why not do this?

Uh again, what I'm interested in is hearing the discussion about the the good and bad, the trade-off that that the PUD spat and spUD statutes talk about, that it be conducted in public.

So at least when we're presenting it here, uh let's talk about what it is that got asked for, what it is that got provided, and let's see the contours of the trade that the stat you know, the ordinance is supposed to uh or suggest is supposed to happen.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Diana excuse me, Diana Hutzel.

Good evening, Diana Hetzel Ward 5.

So tonight I come to you as the president of the Cedar Lake Estates Homeowners Association, a small neighborhood of 19 acreage homes located directly east of St.

James Park on Cedar Lane.

Several neighbors and I attended the pre-development meeting for this project in July.

At that meeting, we raised concerns about stormwater runoff from the proposed addition to St.

James Park and the impact it could have on our neighborhood.

Our community lake uh holds about 14.5 million gallons of water under normal conditions.

It's retained by a 26-foot-high, 300-foot long earthen dam with a single 24-inch pipe outlet.

Overflow from overflow from the dam drains into Dave Blue Creek, which is part of the Lake Thunderbird watershed.

When Cedar Lake Estates was developed 30 years ago in 1995, Cedar Lane was a two-lane country road in a primarily agricultural area.

Over the years, the surrounding land has rapidly urbanized from rural pasture land to dense multifamily housing and commercial developments.

Cedar Lane is now an expansive four-lane road with bike paths and a drainage system.

The surrounding fields have been replaced by a super Walmart, the 150-acre links apartments, the ongoing Armstrong Bank development, and now the St.

James Park expansion, along with the St.

James Center at commercial development at the southeast corner of Cedar Lane and 24th Avenue, which is a follow-on agenda item tonight.

With each of these projects, stormwater runoff into our lake has increased, yet no mitigation measures have been implemented to address the cumulative impact to our neighborhood.

While I recognize that the St.

James Plat was not modified in response to our July input, I want to formally state our concerns for the public record and urge the city to consider the long-term downstream consequences of continued development in this general area.

In 2017, a routine inspection by the Oklahoma Water Resources Board revealed that increased runoff had caused significant significant leak and structural damage to our dam.

To keep our dam classified as low hazard potential, our HOA was forced to spend more than $56,000 on repairs and upgrades to handle increased flow from the Cedar Lane and the Lynx apartment.

Each of our 19 homeowners paid $3,000 at the time, which is equivalent to 4,800 today.

Even after those upgrades, our system remains vulnerable during torrential rains, runoff from Cedar Lane and the Lynx and existing footprint of St.

James Park frequently overwhelms our lake and dam.

These surges sometimes overtop the emergency spillway on the dam's north end, placing significant structural stress on this aging HOA maintained infrastructure.

I would be remiss not to mention that the Southern Star's high pressure natural gas pipeline runs through the entire 300 feet of our dam, further raising the stakes for maintaining the safety and stability of the structure.

The proposed plat for the St.

James Park edition includes four stormwater discharge points, two on Stonebridge Drive and two on Birmingham Drive that would directly add additional runoff onto Black Lucas Place, then down to our lake.

This will further increase the runoff burden on our dam and lake system.

We are not opposed to thoughtful development, but we strongly urge the city to fully account for the compounding effects of runoff on small established neighborhoods like ours, especially when critical infrastructure such as dams and gas pipelines is at stake.

The city's decision to take over the privately owned Misty Lake Dam in Summit Lakes neighborhood sets a meaningful precedent.

That project demonstrated that the city can recognize when infrastructure, even if privately maintained, poses a broader public safety concern.

A similar consideration could be given to the Cedar Lake Estates Dam, which protects not only our neighborhood, but also the downstream areas, which includes upcoming development areas like Destin Landing, which lies directly in the downstream of our dam.

Thank you for your time and consideration in the safety and sustainability of our existing neighborhoods and your decisions.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Where is she sitting?

Sherylandso of uh properties in Ward 4 and 6.

Um I I frequent this area a lot in my travels throughout the city.

And that intersection at Cedar Lane and Classen is extremely busy.

And I I think further development is only gonna impact the level of traffic and traffic accidents in that area.

I'm I can I'm a concerned person that travels that area all the time.

And uh I think that having more dense population in that area is not gonna help our traffic problems in Norman.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That's all.

Okay.

Are there any final comments from council on this item?

Seeing none, I have a couple.

Um maybe if staff would maybe speak just a little about spuds and PUDs.

Um, I would offer my own perspective that as a council member, I've often been able to advert advocate for things that constituents are asking for that are impacted by a neighboring development, like a masonry wall to divide a you know to block the lights of a parking lot or masonry or how the outside of a building looks that's facing your house or your business.

Um I've often found that spUDs have allowed council members to request developers to include things in a riding that our constituents may be asking for, or that we think would make the project more uh palatable to neighbors around it.

So if you just would briefly talk about our process on SPUDs.

So the applicants submit their application and staff goes through and reviews uh what they're proposing.

We look at a lot of times that they will say maybe they're going to reflect R1 zoning or they're gonna reflect a different zoning.

And so within that PUD or SPUD document, there might be some characteristics that they're pulling from the zoning code.

Um one specific one I can think of is uh one of the items that was on tonight, uh the uh flood business park.

I think originally they had uh did not have the requirement in there for uh fencing on the north side, but as it was reviewed, and and we talked to the applicant to the applicant's representative and everything about their item that was before us.

You know, we asked them to require the fencing instead of saying, you know, well, we might fence it, or we might you know have something in the covenants.

Uh there's other things I you know, I mean you had a whole list of items, but more often I think the applicants and the applicants representatives are reaching out to you because it's your ward and it's your constituents that are going to be calling you and asking you what you can do to help them get what they might need for for their item.

Um I mean, you can ask any of the the representatives that we work with.

I mean, we're constantly you know, calling them, emailing back and forth of things that we see that they might need to add in there.

And sometimes, you know, their their client, that's just not you know in their uh plan, and so that's when we have to work through and figure out what we want to see to get in front of you guys.

And Mr.

Mayor, um along those lines, uh Mr.

Reger did uh spell out accurately the age of our current zoning ordinance, and council recognizes the RFP uh in circulation to provide us an update to our zoning ordinance and our sub-regulations to uh align with the new land use plan adopted by the city council.

We do recognize that the way the zoning ordinance will be drafted in this next iteration will provide flexibility.

Um it we I envision the opportunity to have more flexibility built into zoning and less need for the development community to come back for uh nuances.

Staff is also keenly aware of council's stated goals and objectives and precedence council has set with the adoption of the accessory dwelling unit ordinance and council's ongoing conversation regarding um lot size variability.

Council wants more than just an 8,000 square foot residential lot for a single family home.

Uh we recognized in what was proposed in this particular development, smaller lots also have the uh potential for an impact on affordability, which we know is one of council's uh stated goals and objectives to increase the availability of affordable housing.

So those are all known uh quantities when staff is working uh with uh the development community, and I think council in Norman is probably far more active in conversations with the development community when a piece of vacant land uh comes up.

There are conversations and we have initial meetings and pre-planning meetings and and absolutely uh uh reach out to council members whose wards are impacted to get your input directly to make sure Norman winds up with the best possible product, the highest and best use from your perspective.

Thank you.

Um and then uh Sean, would you mind talk or maybe addressing the issues brought up about storage concern too when I saw this um was the known issues that have occurred in the Cedar Lake addition and the dam there and that this development is proposing to drain into that uh neighborhood who's already been having issues with that, so if you would maybe speak about that.

I will, and I'll uh in just a moment ask Anthony Hanley of uh Crafton Toll to come up and just his slide, but I want to just briefly touch on it first.

Uh we understand the neighborhood to the lower right is is what was talked about.

Uh first, just make sure that you're aware that this development drains several different ways, and you see a green line there, it basically drains two different directions.

So not all of this is draining over to that neighborhood by any stretch.

It is one area of it, the lower right area only that is draining over there.

But it's important to note that we're certainly cognizant of their concerns, and city staff, I do believe also was very cognizant of their concerns when they reviewed our stormwater master or stormwater plans that Anthony prepared.

We have to meet your code, your code as to platting.

Stormwater is all about platting and how we engineer it through your code.

We have to do that properly.

Um and this does drain into that area.

Any applicant has the right to continue to drain into the historic area that they drained into so long as they do it properly, and so long as they do that through proper engineering and techniques that you approve and you put forth through your engineering design criteria.

We have done that, and I'm not aware of anything that suggests otherwise.

So I will have Anthony come up and talk a little bit about this slide and tell you a little more about the specifics of the drainage on that lower edge.

Go ahead.

Yeah.

Good evening, Council members.

Anthony Han with Craft and Toll Associates.

Excuse me.

Um, as you can see, as Sean said, that we've got runoff that runs to the west and to the east.

Um we've got some to the South Lake Edition, some to the uh Cedar Lake edition.

Um in the design, we were aware that this could be an issue historically of our site, about 21 acres drained to the east.

Um further consideration of you know taking stormwater that way, we reduce that by six acres.

So we're taking an additional six acres to the west.

Um, in addition to we did an additional analysis of where our runoff would basically discharge into that that East Lake, and we showed that we were less than historic flow.

And in addition to you can see we have four different low points.

So what we're trying to do is excuse me, is limit the amount of runoff to one point.

So we've broke it up into four sections to limit the amount of runoff to those existing culverts.

Okay, thank you.

And um if city staff had anything further they would want to add about the Cedar Lake Dam or anything like that, if you had comments.

Good evening, Scott Sturge, Director of Public Works.

Uh, this dam, uh, we actually uh participated a little bit in trying to help them get that fixed.

Uh it was a serious issue, they did have some damage on it.

Um this dam, we also is destined landing was being developed.

We became very worried about this becoming a high hazard dam.

It is not currently.

So, because of that, we made them do extra work.

They did an inundation map to show that no structures be inundated, and it would not force a stand to become a hazard dam.

So, as we look at uh at different developments, whether coming on, whether they're going to impact an existing structure or a future structure, we do look at those items, and this is one of those that we did spend quite a bit of time looking at.

Uh, in the end, we were very satisfied with that solution that because they'd gotten out of that area, and the when we say an inundation map, that is if that dam were to fail, what area would be covered with water?

So that's what an inundation map is, and that's what determines or helps determine the high hazard dam classification.

So, in this case, it's not high hazard dam.

We made sure that it wasn't a high hazard dam.

And you know, we certainly want to work with our property owners to make sure that our dams don't get into that case because it takes a lot of extra effort and time uh and costs.

Uh, so that's why in this case that we did those those those items.

I'd also just like to say that there is a requirement that they provide that the developers provide a preliminary drainage analysis with these plans, and they do have to show that the they have to do a calculation using our engineering design criteria that shows what the existing runoff is prior to development, and they cannot exceed that post-development.

So we make sure that the develop that the developed state of that area will not exceed what is existing to try to help uh those adjacent neighborhoods, it's something we take very seriously, and then when they get to the final plat stage, I'll have to resubmit that specific area with a lot more detail and show us that in fact that they are meeting that requirement.

And should this um this project should this development be approved?

City staff continue to monitor if as it's developed out how it's impacting this area, especially with dust and landing and all that stuff.

Well, we typically don't go out and do post inspections.

We do do uh post inspections on on detention ponds periodically, but we don't go back out and and check and assess what's happened afterwards because in effect at a certain point it kind of becomes private owner to private owner.

Uh so we we wouldn't be going out and doing periodic examinations of that, but certainly if there were concerns, we'd be willing to look into those and work with the property owners.

Okay, thank you.

Okay.

Is there any final comment from council based on all that?

Okay.

I'll entertain a motion to adopt or reject the see.

The motion on the floor is to adopt the ordinance as amended on second reading section by section.

Council members, you may cast your vote.

All votes have been cast in the motion to adopt the ordinance upon second reading as amended, passes unanimously.

I'll entertain a motion to adopt or reject the ordinance as amended on final reading as a whole.

Motion.

Second.

The motion on the floor is to adopt the ordinance as amended on final reading as a whole.

Council members, you may have been cast and the motion to adopt the ordinance upon final reading as amended passes unanimously.

Item number 26, a preliminary plat for St.

James Park edition, a planned unit development generally located one quarter mile east of Class and Boulevard on the north side of Cedar Lane.

I'll undertain a motion to approve or reject the preliminary plat.

Second.

Are there any further council questions regarding this item?

Seeing no Madam Clerk, are there any further public comments regarding this item?

Um we have Stephen Ellis.

Okay.

And Cheryl Andenzo.

And any further comment, final comment from anybody in the audience about this item.

Okay.

All right.

And are there any final comments from council on this item?

Seeing none.

The motion on the floor is to is to approve the preliminary plat.

Council members, you may cast your vote.

All votes have been to approve the preliminary plates unanimously.

Item 27, a preliminary plat for St.

James Center, Section 2, located at the southwest corner of the intersection of Cedar Lane Road and 24th Avenue Southeast.

I'll entertain a motion to approve or reject the preliminary plat.

Is there a representative of the applicant to make a presentation?

So this is uh for some of the newer council members.

This is just a plat, a preliminary plat.

And a preliminary plat is just your consideration approval or or a consideration of a uh subdivision of land.

Basically, a plat is subdivision of land, and what you are looking at when you're doing these things is to make sure that we have met the subdivision regulations of the city of Norman.

And basically that is our role here to make sure the engineers who do these things have uh have designed it to meet your subdivision regulations.

What we're talking about tonight is an item that uh in fact, these are so sort of ministerial routine, they go through consent docket at plan commission.

They're not even discussed, and so this comes to you with unanimous consent docket approval at Planning Commission.

Uh, it is right behind the Walmart Super Center, it is just south of what you've just approved.

Thank you very much for St.

James Park.

This is basically an area of land right behind the Walmart Super Center.

It's already zoned C2.

There is no change in use, no change in zoning.

This is just a preliminary plat.

But part of this land will probably be used by the land to the south, the large development happening to the south where there is a large another super center happening.

Uh part of this land will likely be utilized with that land for some drainage issues, and so we're platting it so that that can happen, so that that can be a part of that uh development in a collaboration effort.

So it is a simple preliminary plat.

You see it there, five lots, sort of three across the bottom, two across the top.

That's the proposal tonight.

Uh I think it uh you can see it in context here.

Uh it's 5.77 acres, four commercial lots, and a drainage area, which is on the southern end.

Uh no zoning change.

Staff recommends approval of the preliminary plat for St.

James Center Section 2, and I'll leave it that short and simple.

So if any questions, I'm happy to answer.

And the engineer is here if you have any questions about how they subdivided it and proposed it.

Thank you very much.

Yes, we'll start with Stephen Ellis.

Diana Hudzel.

Diane Hatzel Ward 5 back again just because this is pretty close to our neighborhood.

Um I'd like to add, so the development includes 19,000 square feet of commercial space and a large amount of impermeable surface from the proposed parking lot, which appears to include about 112 parking spaces.

And I saw the detent what appears to be detention at the south end, but my curiosity is is how flow is on the north side of that and what impact that is that flows into Cedar Lane that goes down into the drains that eventually end up in our in our uh neighborhood.

And then I also wanted to ask about traffic implications.

So if we um if you look at the development, it'll add seven 572 vehicles per day on Cedar Lane and another 468 on 24th Avenue Southeast.

The St.

James Park neighborhood, which you just approved, is adding 373 new homes to include also 80 units which are not included in this, but it will increase Cedar Lane traffic by 2,286 vehicle trips per day.

Um and then the links already has 900 apartments and already feeds onto 24th Avenue.

It has two separate entrances there, and most of that traffic flows through the intersection at 24th and Cedar Lane.

Um what I've mentioned doesn't even include the potential traffic from the Armstrong Bank development or the proposed luxury RV park, which is further down 24th Avenue.

So that intersection at 24th and Cedar Lane is already pretty hazardous during peak times, and so um it is on its way to well becoming a major choke point by the time you get all the thing the things built up.

So my question that I ask would ask on that is um is there some time frame that the city feels that they will need to install a traffic signal at the intersection there just to protect um all of the residents and commercial traffic.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Cheryl Andinzo.

Okay.

Okay, that's all speak about this item.

Okay.

Um let's see.

Would the applicant like to address some of the questions in that or all the questions?

Yeah, I think it was just drainage, I believe, Mayor, if that's what you drainage, and then I mean you have your traffic report.

I might ask staff to speak about future traffic control or signals, but you want to talk about the drainage and those.

Sure, happy to.

And the engineer Braden with Graffent Toll is here.

I'll have him to discuss the drainage.

This is uh again, basically in line with the engineering development criteria to the extent we are required to do that.

So Braden, go ahead.

Good evening, uh Council uh Braden Schaefer with Craft and Toll.

Uh this development here is kind of in conjunction with the development that's occurring to the south of this.

Um, and so the the plan for this development is that that southern lot would act as a common area detention pond that will both serve uh the south lot as well as provide detention for the lot directly to the north of it, and then it will overdetain for the remaining three lots that are to the north of that.

Um so the outlet point of that detention pond will travel north up 24th Avenue southeast to an inlet that's already existing there at the at the uh southwest corner uh where essentially all of our storm water is going to be collected and it will all leave in the public storm sewer.

And your traffic data, I mean I don't know if you're the traffic one, but doesn't suggest currently signalization or anything based off this development.

I don't believe it does, Mayor.

I apologize.

I didn't read the traffic report on this one, so uh so I don't believe it did.

I didn't see that.

Um working at staff and don't see that they've suggested our it was included our traffic engineer.

We didn't have any additional requirements.

Yeah, we didn't have any additional traffic requirements, but I'm not sure to the answer to when the counts would come for a traffic light.

I have no idea.

So destined landing is the can kind of the controlling uh development in this area, being as it was such a long-range development, it kind of established what all the intersections, how they would need to be improved over time, and from that study we determined traffic impact fees to collect from all these developments.

So the two tonight, uh the other ones that were referenced along uh south of the Walmart and everything have all contributed traffic impact fees towards those developments or those improvements.

And currently city staff is not seeing the a traffic signal or control devices not yet, but we're gonna we're gonna keep an eye on that.

Okay, thank you, Dave.

All right.

Um did that.

Are there any final comments from council on this item?

Seeing none.

The motion on the floor to is to approve the preliminary plat.

Council members, you may cast your vote.

Okay.

Item 28.

An ordinance rezoning property located at 5451 Hutner Drive from PUD Planned Unit Development to I-1 Light Industrial District.

I'll entertain a motion to adopt or reject the ordinance on second reading, section by section.

Motion.

Second.

Is there a representative of the applicant to make a presentation?

Good evening.

Mitchell Moore with Johnson Associates, one east Sheridan Avenue in Oklahoma City.

This one's a little bit different than what you've seen tonight.

We're actually taking this out of a PUD and uh doing a straight I-1 rezone.

Um the existing PUD uh allows for industrial uses.

However, the site plan associated with that PUD uh was for all R V lots.

Um we've got I1 to the north and to the south of our proposed development.

Uh and you're uh it's bordered by the railroad tracks to the east, so we thought the straight I-1 uh would be an appropriate use here.

Uh six uh industrial lots.

We do have detention on site.

Um we've got the uh conceptual site plan.

Um we do not have it's a speculative project, so we don't have users for this yet.

Um so that could change, but the the lot sizes and shapes will stay the same.

Uh we've got an engineer here uh from the project, and happy to answer any questions.

Are there any thank you?

Are there any council questions regarding this item?

Seeing none.

This is an opportunity for members of the public to make comments regarding this item.

Remarks should be directed to council only.

Madam Clerk, are there any speakers registered for this item?

Stephen Ellis.

Steve Ellis, word for uh this one's interesting because we're moving away from a PUD.

And one of the things that seems like we're moving away from this PUD for is because the PUD locks us into something very particular.

Um I don't know whether that's appropriate in this particular kind of case, but I I wonder how that interacts with the general narrative about PUDs that we've been hearing tonight, how they increase flexibility and and uh allow for you know extra special situations.

Uh in you know, since in since there's a PUD going away tonight, what are we losing by changing this back to I2?

Or did we only change it uh a PUD that allowed I2 stuff before so somebody could do something special?

So I I I do think uh it's it's uh it's been a very interesting night learning about PUDs.

So uh, you know, I I'd be interested in hearing what uh the city staff had to say about what what are we losing by moving this to I2 an obsolescent zoning code, I suppose, uh and away from the pub that we already adopted.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Cheryl Ann Danceau.

Okay.

That's all.

Okay.

Any further comment from anybody in the audience about this item?

Okay.

Um the applicant, would you mind um answering your process why you would uh go not go why you wouldn't ask for a different PUD based specifically on the project you're wanting to do?

Why are you asking for just a regular rezoning instead of sure?

So our client uh envisions envisions this as an industrial park.

Um the previous PUD allowed for all I-1 uses.

Um like we said it just locked into that very specific site plan that was um all kind of RV lots, and so um since this is a speculative project and we don't know who our users are gonna be, we can't lock into a very specific building footprint or anything like that because those things could change a little bit.

Uh however, all of those will meet all code uh requirements in the I1 district.

Okay, thank you.

Thanks.

And would staff anything have anything to add about I recall that project, I remember voting for it and uh the RV park, which never happened.

So I think that I could probably answer that question is that you're not trying to build an R V park.

So okay, thank you.

Um are there any final comments from council on this item?

Okay.

The motion on the floor is to approve the preliminary plat.

Council members, you may cast your vote.

Wait a minute.

Oh, that was on the wrong way.

Yeah, we're done.

Okay, the motion on the floor is to adopt the ordinance on second reading section by section.

Council members, you may cast your vote.

All votes have been cast and the motion to adopt the ordinance on second reading passes unanimously.

I'll entertain a motion to adopt or reject the ordinance on final reading as a whole.

Motion.

Second.

The motion on the floor is to adopt the ordinance on final reading as a whole.

Council members, you may cast your votes.

Adopt the ordinance upon final reading passes unanimously.

Item 29, a preliminary plat for Hootner Drive, Hootner Industrial Park, a replat of lot two block one, value place edition, generally located one half mile south of Indian Hills Road on the east side of York Drive.

I'll entertain a motion to approve or reject the preliminary plat.

Motion.

Second.

This is a companion item to the previous item.

Are there any further council questions regarding this item?

Seeing none.

Stephen Ellis.

Uh Cynthia Rogers.

And Cheryline Denzel.

And are there any further comments or final comments from anybody else in the audience?

Okay.

Are there any final comments from council?

Seeing none.

The motion on the floor is to approve the preliminary plat.

Council members, you may cast your vote.

All votes have been cast, and the motion to approve the preliminary plat passes unanimously.

Okay.

Item 30, an ordinance rezoning property located at 3250 West Robinson Street from C1 local commercial district to C2 General Commercial District with special use for a bar, lounge, or tavern.

I'll entertain a motion to adopt or reject the ordinance on second reading section by section.

Motion.

Second.

Is there a representative from the of the applicant to make a presentation?

Members, my name is Luke Greenfield.

I uh I'm director of operations at Cruis and Auto Spa.

I'm coming before you again uh to request a rezoning to allow special use to allow us to apply for our able license to sell beer and wine at 3250 West Robinson, not liquor.

Our new location will hopefully be up and running by early January, and we'd like to be able to serve beer and wine inside our customer waiting area while they wait.

Two years ago for the same thing at our main street location at Maine and Barrie.

It's been a great success, and customers are always happy when they can enjoy a beer while they're waiting on their car.

Um we will be serving in the customer center only, uh not exterior or in the wash areas.

Um thank you for your time.

If you got any questions, let me know.

Are there any council questions regarding this?

Council Dixon and then get uh yes, sir.

I was just gonna ask you have have there been any issues uh with you know, no, we set a drink uh maximum at three drinks, and we have yet to have to cut anyone off yet.

Okay, so yeah, we can't go in there and just see how many beers we can drink before our cars ready.

No, we we have a maximum of three.

Okay, thank you.

Council for Gansbury.

Just for clarification, only for those that might not already know how you operate.

Um do you allow anybody to take any to-go drinks with them?

No, we do not allow to go drinks at all.

It's that's like any restaurant or movie theater.

Um the signs are posted on the doors, no alcohol beyond this point.

Perfect.

Okay.

Okay.

This is an opportunity.

Thank you.

This is an opportunity for members in public to make comments regarding this item.

Remarks should be directed to council only.

Madam Clerk, are there any speakers registered for this item?

Stephen Ellis, Cynthia Rogers, Cheryl Ann Dinso.

Are there any final comments from anybody in the audience about this item?

Are there any final comments from council about this item?

The motion on the floor is to adopt the ordinance on second reading, section by section.

Council members, you may cast your vote.

All votes have been cast, and the motion to adopt the ordinance upon second reading passes unanimously.

I'll entertain a motion to adopt or reject the ordinance on final reading as a whole.

Motion.

Second.

The motion on the floor is to adopt the ordinance on final reading as a whole.

Council members, you may cast your votes.

Item 31, an ordinance amending sections 20-1008 license required through 20-1013 outside sales of Article 20-X food services and appendix A, City of Norman fee schedule to implement changes consistent with new state laws relating to the licensure regulation, inspection of mobile food establishments, and mobile food preparation vehicles, and providing an effective date of November 1st, 2025.

I'll entertain a motion to adopt or reject the ordinance on second reading section by section.

Motion.

Second.

I will recognize Beth Makela, assistant city attorney to make a presentation.

Thank you, Mayor, and hello, council members.

I'm here to talk about O 2526-10.

I do have a presentation.

It's in there.

It's in there.

See if I can find it.

Okay.

So we have a presentation.

I was here before you in a conference on I got ahead of it on September 2nd, and we talked about this, but I did want to run through it because there's been just a little bit of a tweet.

Here we go.

Um okay, so this all originates from House Bill 1076 and actually one other House bill that I'll discuss as well.

Um I see I left off the word department, but this uh concerns the Oklahoma Health Department state regulations regarding uh food establishments, and specifically these are amendments are about food uh mobile food establishments.

It has both amendatory provisions and brand new provisions to address the licensure issues.

Um but essentially what it boils down to is um what has been described as a streamlining of the process that kind of focuses a municipality's ability to license really on determining that they've complied with state requirements.

And so that is going to shift our license provisions a bit.

Um and I wanted to talk about exactly what that looks like.

So what we have in the state law is a definition of mobile food vendor, and we're going to tie that in so that we're sure that we are acting consistently.

Um we already had general rules in our um license regarding operations, but this state law does establish very specific ones that are actually in line what we have already.

Um they address safety issues, general nuisance behaviors, waste disposal, um, and of course, display of certifications and licenses and otherwise compliance with state law.

Um where they are allowed to operate is also specifically addressed, and that's going to be as it always was for municipal property, and that's where we allow it.

And for other private property, that's going to be as allowed by zoning, except that they are allowed to operate in residential areas under very specific parameters, and that's when they are advised invited by a resident or residence to serve that resident and their guests, and they are not located on that particular property more than 12 days a year.

I envision this as snow cone trucks for birthday parties or something along those lines.

And so here's the definition of mobile food establishment.

Um it's pretty similar to how we were operating.

I will note that the 12-hour uh limit was already in our own code.

I tweaked the language a bit to again to make sure that we're mirroring the state law.

Um but essentially a food truck is readily movable.

That's the most important part.

There are other new definitions that tie into mobile food establishment and mobile push push cart, which is manual, not vehicular.

There's mobile retail food, which the difference there is pre-packaged, so think ice cream truck and mobile food vendor includes all three of those different types of establishments as well as food vending vehicle is going to refer to the vehicles in those uh situations as well.

So that's how it ties together.

And this bill specifically said what we can do.

Uh we can restrict noise within certain distances.

We can uh restrict and regulate operations in public parks and require a permit for that.

I am going to talk about that a little bit because we discussed on the second an idea for a park permit that we had penciled in, but since that time we decided that it would be more efficient to add that with other amendments that are coming forward potentially for parking, and this will give uh the parks department and other staff time to implement software and other items that will kind of coincide with that.

And this will give the parks department and other staff time to implement software and other items that will kind of coincide with that.

So that's been removed, and I'll talk a bit more about that in a minute.

We can also restrict situations where ingress and egress are going to cause potential harm or safety issues.

We can develop permits for metered parking, and that's another item that I understand will be coming back for discussion.

Of course, we can investigate food board illness issues.

We are we are permitted to report violations of the act to the health department as well as issue citations and take other actions that are consistent with state and local laws that are consistent with this act.

And finally, we can adopt our own consistent regulations as long as those address specific public health or safety risks.

And so here are some things that the law says that we specifically cannot do.

We cannot prevent operation where they are complying with the state licensure and other state laws.

And that's important because if they aren't complying with that, then we need to be ready to address that.

For instance, if we have someone that shows up at a food or at a festival without a sticker indicating passing the state inspection, we are going to be able to take action on that because they have not operated in compliance with those laws.

We can't regulate their relationship with commercial food or retail establishments.

We also can't require certain vehicular equipment for the food truck.

We cannot limit the number of licenses.

Municipalities cannot require fingerprinting bonds that name the municipality or additional insurance coverage where it is not on a city property or at a city event.

In the situations where our interests are implicated, we can require that additional insurance coverage, and that has been added to our licensure as a part of this amendment.

We are allowed non-intrusive spot inspections at mass gatherings under this, so that's going to allow our personnel to get on site and view and make sure that these situations are going to be safe.

And finally, we cannot charge fees for the licenses that cover more than just the administrative cost of issuance.

So we do have some tweaks to our amounts of licenses right now that are going to make all of them kind of in line with each other.

Although I do understand that some of the updates to our license fees are a bit overdue, and we might be looking at those more globally soon as well.

But that will just be separate.

And this is the other House bill I mentioned.

This one states that as of November 1st, food trucks are essentially subject to the state fire marshal as far as inspections.

They are within their jurisdiction.

So that is going to be a change.

We are trying to coordinate as well as we can to plan on what that's going to look like.

But essentially, our fire personnel is not going to be doing inspections, rather, they are going to be looking to ensure that they have passed their state inspection.

But of course, on site at mass gatherings, there will be non-intrusive spot inspections to also make sure that everything looks safe.

This is pretty much in line with House Bill 1076.

And the last real provision is that we cannot enact a safety code that is going to be different than anything enacted on a state level unless we were within a larger county, which we are not quite to that threshold.

Then again, House Bill 1076 does also say that we really can't touch anything unless it's related to fire or safety issues.

And so here is a summary of what we done.

As I said, our our regulations were really pretty much in line with the spirit.

My apologies.

With the spirit of what was in the state law.

And so we really just tweaked it to ensure facial consistency and compliance.

So we have added um an annual license as well as the temporary that was formerly issued only for mobile food vehicle, mobile food vendors.

They now have the option of doing temporary or annual, and that's going to align more with their state licenses and presumably with their fire marshal inspections.

Um we are recognizing the categories recognized by the state again for consistency, and we've added the additional insured provisions, and we, as I've said, I we're going to pause the park event permit only long enough to get everything else in place so that when it rolls out, it will be able to work seamlessly.

Um and we've written the ordinance to be effective November 1st with everything else.

So with that, does anyone have any questions?

I did have one for you, Beth.

Um any reason you know of for the like what difference is it if a county has more than 400,000 people versus less when it comes to a regular I know that's a legislature issue, but I just wasn't sure if you might have any insight on that.

I don't that is certainly where it happened.

Um I I I couldn't I couldn't say a motivation for it.

I'm sorry, you know.

Seems arbitrary to me, but anyway, okay.

Thank you.

Um there any council questions regarding this item.

Seeing none, this is an opportunity for members of the public to make comments regarding this item.

Remarks should be directed to council only.

Madam Clerk, are there any speakers registered for this item?

Stephen Ellis.

Steve Ellis Ward 4.

I just wanted to say I'm sorry y'all got preempted again.

It happens way too often in the state of Oklahoma.

You know, we should be able to figure out our own considerations for our own special circumstances.

So, you know, it's it's not fun, but uh you know, I'm in favor of not getting in any more trouble with the state than we have to, so pass this baby.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Paul Wilson.

I'm good.

Okay.

Cynthia Rogers.

And Cheryl Ann Denso.

Um I grew up in a much more populated place, and um every single restaurant in the city of New York has a A, B, C or D sign on their door or window, indicating where they uh they fall within the guidelines of the State Health Department.

And it is I find it very interesting that um in this state we're finally getting around to really looking out after the um health and safety of individuals in regards to food handling.

Um along that same line, um, I question the uh arbitrary um food that's being left out for people to get sick on our streets, and um I know there's service providers here that is supported by this council that regularly encourage people to just cook something and hand it out.

Um to my knowledge, all food should be cooked that's being given to the public in a commercial kitchen that is regulated by the State Health Department.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Are there any other comments from the audience on this item?

Seeing none.

Any final comments from council on this item?

Seeing none.

The motion on the floor is to adopt the ordinance on second reading section by section.

Council members, you may cast your vote.

All votes have been cast the ordinance upon second reading, passes unanimously.

I'll entertain a motion to adopt or reject the ordinance on final reading as a whole.

Motion second.

The motion on the floor is to adopt the ordinance on final reading as a whole.

Council members, you may cast your votes.

All votes have been cast, and the motion to adopt the ordinance upon final reading passes unanimously.

Item 32.

An ordinance amending section 2-301 to remove mention of Norman Election Commission repealing Article 10-11 titled Campaign Disclosures and Contributors Contributions and Expenditures of the Code of the City of Norman.

I'll entertain a motion to adopt or reject the ordinance on second reading section by section.

So moved.

Second.

I'll recognize Catherine Walker, Assistant City Attorney to make a presentation.

Years ago, there was not a lot of legislation at the state level regulating how municipalities could oversee local elections.

That changed in 2014 with the adoption of the municipal campaign finance and financial disclosure act, and our role in overseeing elections really was reduced at that time.

We kept the Norman Election Commission and they received reports from candidates for office and committees and met and went over those reports, but they didn't really have any enforcement authority after the adoption of that act.

This year, with the adoption of Senate Bill 890, the legislature went a step further, and now they've eliminated the clerk's role in receiving those reports.

Those will all now be filed with the ethics commission, which will of course affect all of you if you run again and any other candidate for office.

It's really going to change the system quite a bit.

So what we're leaving in the ordinance is the filing fee for municipal office that's currently paid at the election board and then remitted to the city.

But really, the rest of it is being repealed because it is no longer applicable with the adoption of this act.

So that impacts both Section 2-301, which is where we list all of our boards and commissions, and then Article 10-2, which really dealt with the role of the clerk and the role of the election commission in reviewing the reports that we received.

With that, I'd be happy to answer any questions.

The adoption timeline for this ordinance will bring us into compliance with the new law in time for November 1st.

Thank you.

Are there any council questions regarding this item seeing none?

This is an opportunity for members of the public to make comments regarding this item.

Remarks should be directed to council only.

Madam Clerk, are there any speakers registered for this item?

Stephen Ellis.

Steve Ellis Ward 4.

Uh apologies for appearing quite so often, but uh I knew I was going to be here anyway, so I looked at that agenda and kind of had views on a bunch of the stuff.

I was wondering, I I wasn't very clear about what the state regulation was on Norman just keeping that information on Norman candidates ourselves.

Uh I think it would be I I don't think this got preempted, but I could be wrong.

I didn't quite understand what the state law said.

But I think it would still be a good idea if wherever things are officially stored for Norman candidates that the Norman City web page still have their campaign expenditure reports be available there just because it's a clearinghouse for people who are primarily interested in uh in Norman politics.

And uh I have my complaints about the city web page, but uh I've actually kind of learned how to use it, so I know where to get that stuff pretty easily, and uh it might help many of us who are interested in those reports to sort of chase them down more easily rather than to go through the very clunky state website.

So if if it's at all possible, uh, and I don't know whether that would be an amendment or something tonight or just something to take up later.

Uh let's try to keep the Norman campaign expenditures on the website just for transparency purposes.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Sorry, falling behind here.

Marguerite Larson.

Marguerite Larson Ward 6.

So uh I basically almost had the same question that Steve Ellis did because right now candidates need to actually show where their funding is coming from and who is making their contributions.

So I was a little confused and concerned as well about the transparency.

If this transparency is going to be going away, because I have an issue with that.

So that was my question.

I just want to make sure that there's still transparency.

Thank you.

Cheryl Andinzo.

I would like to reiterate what the previous speakers have said.

So the more opportunity we have to see in black and white where the money is going and where how the money is coming in and who's doing what for whom.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any final comment from anybody else in the audience on this item?

Okay.

Any final comment from council on this item?

Councilmember Grant?

Oh, yes.

Um, I was gonna recognize City Clerk Brendel Hall to explain that there will be a link.

Uh yes, that's correct.

Um, we will not be able to have them filed here in my office any longer.

They now have to file those through the ethics commission, and it's online that it will be done.

They have a new portal coming out.

Um, I honestly think it's gonna be a lot better for the candidates to be able to just plug in the numbers and it keeps everything calculated.

They will still have to provide the same data that they provide now, but it will be submitted to the ethics commission directly.

We do plan to uh put a link on our website where the normally are so that you can it'll take you to that page directly, and then you'll be able to see those reports.

Thank you.

Councilmember Gansbury.

Yes, just for me personally, if anybody in Ward One ever has any problems or concerns about that, reach out to me.

I will share all my financials at any time with you.

I have nothing to hide there, so thank you.

Thank you.

Any further comments from council?

And I would agree with that same statement, uh, and I think we all would if you wanted to see our campaign finances.

Let us know.

I'll be happy to share that with you.

And uh just to have an expectation that that will be a link on our city website where that's at currently, and folks can just click on that, it'll take you right to the state site where that is located.

So not available yet, but will be okay.

November 1st.

November 1st is when um the law takes effect.

So council members will file their fourth quarter report on this new portal, but you'll be getting some more information about it.

I have some stuff to send out to you as well.

So thank you.

All right, the motion on the floor is to adopt the ordinance on second reading section by section.

Council members, you may cast your vote.

The motion to adopt the ordinance upon second reading passes unanimously.

All right.

I'll entertain a motion to adopt or reject the ordinance on final reading as whole as a whole.

Motion second.

The motion on the floor is to adopt the ordinance on final reading as a whole.

Council members, you may cast your vote.

I'll vote that being to adopt the ordinance upon final reading passes unanimously.

Thank you.

And all right.

All right, next item is miscellaneous comments.

This is an opportunity for citizens to address city council due to the open meetings act regulations.

Council is participate in the discussion during miscellaneous comments.

Remarks should be directed to the council as a whole and limited to four minutes or less.

And who do we have seen?

We will start with Audra Abbott.

If you can't pull that down enough, we we can try the cordless if you need to use it.

But fix it for you.

Thank you very much.

Um I'm Audra Abbott.

I'm actually no longer a resident here.

I lived here for about 10 years previously, and my son attends OU here.

My parents live here, and my brother still lives here.

But um, I just wanted to come and speak to the mayor and all of the council members about the importance of uh civil dialogue and being able to speak to one another as if we are all Oklahomans and to be able to say that um sometimes uh if you don't have anything nice to say, maybe you shouldn't stay off social media because it's a place that uh kind of breeds the hateful and violent threatening language to each other.

And to be able to say that sometimes if you don't have anything nice to say, maybe you should stay off social media because it's a place that uh kind of breeds the hateful and violent, threatening language to each other.

And um I am happy to see that um the result of what we had with our grassroots effort.

I'm thankful for all of the support within the community that has backed me because of um things that were said.

And I just wanted to make sure that everyone knows that we still are having an effort with that because we just can't be talking to each other in the ways that we are.

You can't think that someone that disagrees with you is stupid or mentally ill or any of the other above uh things that you could that you might think about them simply because they don't have the same beliefs of you.

Um I'm a Christian, and that's where most of my values come from.

So obviously, um I forgave the statements before I was even asked to be forgiven of the statements because um that's where my heart lies.

But I want everyone in the community to know that we are still definitely pushing forward and making sure that the people that represent us represent everyone, not just the people that voted for them.

Thank you.

Stephen Ellis.

Uh, briefly to start, uh, let's keep fighting the OTA.

Uh, solidarity is really crucial at this time.

We know a lot better what is up for for grabs right now, and I think it's seriously important.

So let's, as a city, keep going.

Let's all be together on that.

Um, and then sort of for the main show here, I just want to say I'm really saddened by the sudden resignation of Ward 3's council member.

Uh, I was deeply disappointed by the social media post that got her into trouble.

But I'm also disappointed by the nature of the pressure she has faced because what happened there was not the main problem with our problem with dialogue in Norman or the US for that matter.

So let me make three points.

The first is that suicide is a very serious issue, so it's harmful to refer to suicide in order to express contempt for someone.

It undermines the kind of society that we want to have, which makes suicide basically a non-option for people.

But secondly, in a combatative context, telling someone to commit suicide is not the same as prompting or aiding in a suicide.

They aren't taking orders from you if you say go away.

So some of the concerns about Montoya's social media post, I think were ill-grounded, and they were ill-grounded in a way that was meant to attack someone.

So, three, if we're serious about suicide prevention, we need to stop dehumanizing people.

And that includes politicians.

I understand former council member Montoya received death threats over this issue.

And the elephant in the room is really the way we generally speak about each other and not just saying admittedly crude things on Facebook.

Uh the third point here is really the most important.

If we want to prevent suicide, we need to stop dehumanizing people, and that's where it gets difficult.

Uh, the gospel of Matthew actually lays out the problem for us.

Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye?

And I think all of us are guilty of that to some extent.

What people seem to have forgotten is that there has been a suicide that was the direct result of a Norman city council meeting.

And it wasn't because someone, either in the audience or the diocese, said, go commit suicide.

What happened was that a young person who was attending the meeting felt so hopeless after his sexual orientation and identity were demonized literally for hours.

I was there on end, but he decided to end his life.

So that young man's name was Zach Harrington.

You can, you know, Google about that if you're not familiar with the situation.

The lesson to learn from our specific context is that speaking about people as though they are worthless, as though they deserve incessant attacks on them, can in fact provoke a suicide.

That sort of dehumanization occurs in this chamber, unfortunately regularly.

Sometimes from the dais, although not so much now, and sometimes from the floor.

And yeah, I'm thinking largely about our treatment of the unhoused, although I think it goes for treatment of immigrants, it goes for treatment of people who are Lib Tards or treatment of people who are maggats or whatever.

I mean, I think we don't treat each other with a lot of respect, but it's not because we tell people essentially to go to hell on Facebook, it's because we denigrate their value to our society, and we all need to be careful about not doing that, even though we're hip deep in it right now.

So let's pay attention to that stuff.

Thank you.

Lane Brown.

Good evening, counsel.

Uh I'm actually not from Norman.

I'm just from Oklahoma, but I figured I would come down because I saw the uh comments that Miss Bree made.

Um, and I really just wanted to talk to her face and tell her how big of an actual coward she was because encouraging someone to um simply put a gun in their mouth and pull the trigger is insane.

Um, and it's actually you you don't have a mental health problem.

Um, you need to seek Jesus Christ.

Um, and if any of you guys think that that was okay, then you probably need to go seek a church.

Um, and then mayor Holman, you were pretty quiet three uh three months ago.

The entire council okay, sorry, sorry, sorry.

Uh sir, you uh were were quiet about this entire situation, uh, and I think that just speaks to your integrity and you know why you shouldn't be mayor.

Um, and then the lady that is sitting next to Miss Bree uh said some vile comments on social media about Charlie Kirk's death, uh which is disgusting.

I mean, the the man went to college campuses, you would be terrified to go to a college campus and debate uh conservatives or or even just people who are Christians, probably, you would just sit there and mind your own business and then go home.

Um, and so call Charlie Kirk was courageous, he was brave, uh you aren't.

So hiding behind your phone and making uh egregious comments on social media about his death is sickening.

Uh and if you think that this just stops with Miss Bree being the entire council better.

Yeah, those are the rules of this chamber.

Okay, that's fine.

The entire council.

Okay.

So if uh if you guys think that this stops with Miss Bree, it doesn't.

So if you guys want to continue to post stuff on social media, I'll drive down here every city council meeting and do what I'm doing until uh the person that I'm not allowed to talk about uh is gone.

And uh we'll find someone to run against her if that's what it takes, or she can cower down like Miss Bree and uh resign.

Thank you, counsel John Scamy Horn.

No, okay.

Uh Paul Wilson.

Uh good evening, council.

It's been a minute since I've been down here.

Um I was gonna talk about the elephant in the room, but I'm not going to.

But what I'm gonna do is we need to go forward with this, learn from this, and actually uh give ourselves everybody up there a code of conduct.

I looked it up.

Every major city in the metro has a code of conduct for their council members, except the city of Norman.

When you are on social media, whether you like it or not, you are not only representing yourself, you are representing the entire city of Norman.

Most people on Facebook on those pages knows exactly who you are.

That you are a city council member or a mayor for the city of Norman.

If you cannot conduct yourselves in an ethical way, you should not be on social media.

You should conduct yourselves on social media just like everybody else and yourselves have to conduct yourselves inside this building with a certain level of decorum and treat everybody with respect.

I have talked to many of you from the dais over social media, and I've had nothing but respectful dialogue.

And then I saw that post.

And then the other post.

Plus, there have been people who have been told, like the lady that was told this, that have actually gone through with the suicide.

Is that what it's gonna take to make you guys get a code of conduct?

Have somebody die from what some one of you say?

How about we get a code of conduct?

It's not hard.

You guys can present it to council.

I'm pretty sure every one of you who have morals will approve it.

Stop being the only city in this uh metro that doesn't have one.

Let's get a code of conduct for you guys.

Every business has one.

I'm sure if an employee came up to you and told you to go yourself, they probably wouldn't have a job very long.

But at this moment, you guys can go on social media and say whatever you want, however you want, with no repercussions.

It's time to end this.

And on top of that, how can we tell our kids not to cyberbully when we have elected officials cyberbullying a resident of the city of Norman?

We don't do as we say, not as we do.

If you guys want it, say what you want to say and mean what and mean it.

I mean, that that kind of speech is not appropriate whatsoever, neither is glorifying somebody who was assassinated for his political beliefs.

There is no room for that anywhere in the state of Oklahoma, anywhere in the United States.

A politically motivated murder.

Thank you.

I don't see Rob Norman.

Okay.

So I think people have all always, I think all of you at some point has gotten out of hand on a Facebook post.

Don't look at me like that girlfriend.

So I am sure that that has happened to every damn one of you in this room.

It you become engulfed in a conversation, it becomes a heated conversation, words come out that you may not mean that you really didn't need to say.

Whatever the case may be, there has been so much hateful, so many threats going on Facebook.

Uh personal threats against Democrats.

I don't see all do anything about that.

Please address what about what about our you're talking about a city council that has the project.

Please just address the council, please.

I'm sorry, what?

Just address the council.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Okay.

Um you all have the prerogative, it's a freedom of speech to say what you need to say, however, you want to say it.

You are an individual.

This is guaranteed by this by the First Amendment, even though the First Amendment is being attacked by our officials.

And I just think that whatever comes out comes out.

There are you're you're there's um, I'm not real happy with all the anti-Semitism, which actually affects me personally, but it is what it is.

People feel the way they feel, and until there's some sort of humanity, um, things aren't gonna change.

But it's it's it's I don't think that you guys, in my opinion, have done anything that I would be ashamed of.

So I feel like you have always acted as individuals personally and on a professional level when you are conducting the city council.

So I I want to um defend you guys.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Diana Hudzel.

Good evening, Diana Hudson Ward 5.

Um, so I have a couple of topics tonight, and one actually originates from this evening.

So I'd like for council to consider possibly changing whatever would need to be changed so that when you have a a uh development that's going on and it's it involves a home or multiple homes within a neighborhood that has a designated HOA that perhaps the notification include the official HOA, which could be determined by the address located on the property tax records, or the HOA bill goes for the property tax.

Um so that would be something that would really help because quite frankly, even with 19 neighbors in my neighborhood, we don't even all talk to each other all the time necessarily, even as small as we are.

So thanks on that.

Um and then uh I just kind of wanted to uh last n or tonight.

I listened to the uh regional transit plan, and I thought it was interesting.

I read all the charts and everything.

I'm really kind of though looking for a drill down of the specific implications for the costs for Norman, the potential benefits for Norman.

I mean, it talked about a lot of wide-ranging, you know, 151,000 new jobs, a million hour reduction drive time and what have you.

And I know that that is across the entire spectrum of central transit, but I kind of like to really know what's going on with Norman specifically as soon as we know that.

Um, and then the last thing I'd like to talk about tonight is about uh the city finance meeting that occurred Thursday, and just the and that actually should have been my first start out because that to me is the most important thing to talk about.

Um I I'd like to respectfully request that again that um the city post all of the information on the finance meeting that you guys get for the rest of us, because quite frankly, when I'm sitting there on my computer watching and typing and and everything, it's hard for me to go, okay.

Line 13 is what?

Line fit, and so since we don't have that, but I'd appreciate that.

But um last Thursday's finance meeting committee meeting, um, you know, the city reviewed its year-end numbers for 2025 and projections for the new year.

And um while many council members are present, not or but many residents weren't at that meeting even virtually.

I looked, I think there were 85 people that have actually even viewed that meeting since then.

And to me, there are serious concerns.

FY25 ended with a 5.8 million dollar deficit to the general fund, which pays for course services like road repairs, emergency 911, fire police.

I mean, all of the the city salaries and everything.

Um and and the city had to basically draw down from its reserves to to pay for that shortfall.

This year, the shortfall is projected to be $7.2 million even higher, um, leaving the general fund with just um 1.3 million above the mandated required reserve by next summer.

Um our sales tax, which is our main revenue stream, is flat and actually came in 1.8 million dollars below estimates last year.

And so I think we're really we're at a critical moment and it's been talked about for several years, and unfortunately, our state is one of those we're at the mercy of sales tax use tax, and we don't get property tax, and quite frankly, it'll be out of the cold dud hands of anybody in the county that'll give you any of that money.

So we have to live with what we have.

So I'd really request that um that we we really attempt to grow our sales tax base, you know, that we we because if we don't, we're gonna have to spend with that which within our means, which means we'll have to take significant cuts, which is gonna be really challenging because we're already under you guys are understaffed, the city needs services, nobody wants to see you know cuts to services.

And so I don't think you've made the decision yet, but I I would implore you to work with the Cleveland County Economic Development Committee and other like organizations to try and bring new jobs to Norman and tax journey businesses to Norman and then reach out to other municipalities who have successfully gone through situations like we've gone through and find out what their lessons learned were and and so my my key thing though is please don't wait thinking that this situation is gonna go away because it's not based upon the trend of sales tax revenue and everything in our state.

So I hope you'll discuss this openly in the community be invited to end of the participation because these decisions help all of us and affect all of us.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh Joseph Love.

Joseph Love, uh Ward 1.

I'll keep this brief.

Um, you know, to echo what some of the other folks were talking about here tonight.

Um, we are a community.

Uh and we look to certain people as our community leaders.

Um particularly those in uh our schools and uh at the college.

We have um we have um roughly about 300 members that were part of Charlie Kirk's organization that were uh very very um distraught at what had the events that's taken place over the last couple weeks.

We have um we have um roughly about 300 members that were part of Charlie Kirk's organization that were uh very very um distraught at what had the events that's taken place over the last couple weeks, and um you know, some of the things that were said uh regarding that particular event um were very disheartening uh to many of the youth in our community, particularly um my own daughter and my own son took it very, very hard.

Um not not what was said there, but this this the general uh what happened and just how some of the community tolerated uh certain behavior.

Uh so the one thing that I really want to say just is this the city uh apparently addressed this issue, and I don't know if it came from the city council or if it was someone else that wrote it.

It's uh it just says the City of Norman.

Uh it was listed on the city's web page uh under news.

The City of Norman as a municipal corporation does not support actions or behaviors that encourage harm.

That was the most relevant uh part of the news story that was there.

And I just want to implore you guys to know that uh that's not enough.

Um I think silence and accept uh is is taken as acceptance by some people when we've actually had a killing that's happened in the last couple weeks uh because somebody thought that was the right thing to do.

Uh we've had people speak um tonight that seem to think calls for suicide are okay.

And I just think we need to be clear about the message that we're giving what's okay and what's not.

And you know, I'm not looking at uh I'm not looking at saying we remove somebody or we kick somebody off, but we want to say that we want to hold our council, our leadership, to a higher standard, just to a standard of one that is safe and uh healthy for our community.

And with that I'll give it to the next person.

Thank you.

Cynthia Rogers.

Good evening, Cynthia Rogers, Ward 4.

Finally accepted the invitation.

Um there's a lot to say.

First, I just want to thank all of you for serving and for all the grief you get because you can't make everybody happy all the time.

I also want to express my uh commitment to free speech.

Um not that we should be uh threatening people, but you as council people are also individuals, and like me at the university, I'm entitled to my opinions about things.

Um I don't always speak on behalf of my employer.

In fact, most of the times I'm not speaking on behalf of my employer.

Um I think that's something we have to hold precious as we are careful about our words.

I think it's unfortunate that one incident, you know, probably two minutes worth of Facebook posts um gave rise to what we are seeing tonight, and um losing what I think is one of the smartest council people, no offense to you guys, but she she really knew the the financial numbers.

Um so I think that's a loss for council in that respect.

Also, I wanted to reiterate that we need to talk about the budget.

Um also, in case you didn't make the TIFF meeting, there's a poor apparently four million dollars sitting in that fund that we can't spend even though we really need it, because we tied it up with a TIFF that didn't really work out the way it was supposed to.

Um I'm not gonna say I told you so, but I am gonna say I told you so because I did tell you so, and you can go back and look in 2006 when I predicted exactly that would happen with a sales tax TIFF for retail.

Um I wasn't the only one.

Also, I would like to say if the talk about PUDs tonight was very interesting, because on the one hand, well, we're using PUDs because our zoning is behind, but we're also not using those PUS to address the stormwater problems at a meeting I went to, I don't know, I go to a lot of meetings.

They were talking about how as we develop more, we're gonna get more and more into the fringe areas, and as we're putting more of this just the same, we just keep doing the same thing over and over and over.

These, you know, little single family homes or big single family homes that create a lot of runoff, that create a lot of problems for existing infrastructure in the town, and we haven't caught up with that.

Um I know the Raft Ellis is study is coming out soon, which will tell us a lot about finances.

One of the reasons we can't keep up that our expenditures rise faster than our revenues, partly it's our our sales tax base, but partly it's because growth does not pay for itself in this town.

We've known that for a long time.

So we add more infrastructure, more stuff we have to maintain, more roads we have to build.

Um, and that puts that that damages our ability to keep up.

So I hope we can think about those things, and again, I appreciate all of you, and um let's just all try to be kind.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Rachel um Rachel Berkey, I'm sorry.

Mayumi Wendler Hello, um, excuse me, Miami Windler Award 2.

Okay, so I have several things that were in the monthly uh report that was on consent tonight.

Uh page 13.

Sales tax uh we're down 469,513 uh from our budget number.

Uh general fund revenue is down 2,757,540, and then our expenses are up by 1,528,610.

So now I understand you know we can't control uh the sales tax or revenues generally, but we spent an extra 1.5 million dollars in I guess that was August.

So what's that about?

Um was it for?

Why was it not in the budget?

Uh next thing on page 18.

There's this little yellow chunk uh about building permits and licenses.

Um this is like planning department stuff, and there's a note saying that the new system went in uh it was installed in November 2023, and they haven't figured out how to get those numbers from the new system into this report.

It's been almost two years.

What's the holdup with that?

Um page 23.

The traffic counter is broken for like the the drive up utility bills, uh the I guess the drop box, and then the drive up thing.

Um how much would it cost to fix that or get a new one so that we could have you know those numbers in reflected in the report individually versus well it says it's broken, so that's kind of silly.

Um so the the PUD thing, I also found that interesting.

So I looked more into the zoning um policies of the city that I went to for vacation this summer, and they maintain the origin zoning for each what would be a PUT or a SPUD.

So if it was originally an R1, then they would say it's R1 dash number, and in that dash number, there would be they list that specifically in their zoning.

This, you know, these are all of the amendments to the normal R1, and then another one would be R1-2, and so that would be the next, the second one that was modified from the the base zoning.

Um I don't know if that's any better or worse than PUD or SPUD, but when you look at the map and you see a PUT or a spUD, I don't know what that means.

What was that originally?

You know, was it an R1?

Was it an A one or whatever, or A2 or whatever the zone numbers are?

Um I don't know, it I just feel like transparency.

I know we can look these things up, but how easy is it to look those things up?

Um, because we'd have to like go through all the the meeting minutes, right?

Unless there's another way.

Uh let's see, I have 25 seconds left.

Okay.

The internet is full of trolls, and mental health is important.

That's it.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Robin Strader.

My name is Robin Strader.

I'm a resident of Warfive.

Um first off, I want to uh with Paul, he was saying that we needed a code of conduct or code.

We actually Norman does.

We have a code of ethics that council needs to follow.

I would suggest that all the council members go and find those code of ethics and read them and use them.

In one of the sections, Section B duties, members of the council shall conduct themselves so as to bring credit upon the city, setting an example of good ethical conduct for all citizens of the community.

Doesn't say your democratic supporters, doesn't say you're Republican supporters.

And I, for one, am going to be watching, and I'm going to hold you to those ethics.

Norman has an ethics committee.

I have no problem to that committee and holding each and every one of you responsible for every citizen in Norman, not just your ward or your ward or your ward.

Every citizen of Norman will be watching you after what happened this last week.

They're all ready.

Norman needs to be brought together as a whole and stop with the division.

Go read your code of ethics.

Thank you.

Zach Butler.

Jeanette Coker.

Jeanette Coker, Ward 4.

Some of you may be wondering what's all the fuss about.

People get shot every day.

Well, I am feeling both hurt, sad, outraged, so many things.

Two people on it that have used words that are inappropriate for someone who has been elected to represent citizens in their ward.

One council person got mad and was very vile in her responses.

She expressed opinions that were inappropriate and absurdly untimely.

At least you would understand why I am so angry when you call him grotesque, a cog in the death machine who was popped, a grifting narcissist who spewed hate.

A replaceable footnote.

Thank you.

Bill Trackus.

Chelsea Gravel.

Chelsea Gravel Ward 4.

It's been a minute, quite a minute since I've had to see you.

Um I think we all agree that we want a good place to live, that we want a good Norman, that we want a good place to have families and friends, and we want an educated environment to all spend our time.

We don't want to be represented by people that bring shame and dishonor on our community.

We are now known for this across our entire nation.

This is something that is being spoken about as an absolute disgrace to one of our own.

Regardless of who it is, every life matters.

We are all important, and none of us should ever be spoken to in this manner.

But right now in our community, in our state, in our country, we all disagree.

We all cannot see eye to eye.

Yes, I do disagree and think that someone should not be on the far extreme of their political view and be on counsel.

You should be in the middle.

You should be able to represent every single one of the people.

We should not know where you stand on different topics.

You can be held accountable for what you say online.

Those words are in public forever.

This I am so humiliated by my community for this.

She addressed a citizen in here with words that maybe some of us have muttered, but did we text them out?

Probably at one point.

Did we erase them because nobody should tell somebody to do these things?

Yeah, we don't send things like that.

That is how we've ended up in a community in a government system that we are now in because you think that a far extreme Republican and a far extreme liberal democrat cannot see eye to eye.

But what they do see eye to eye on is that they want a loving community to be themselves in and to accept others.

And this was not accepting of one point of view.

What was this over?

The number of people that showed up to a protest.

Montoya, or hold on.

A the argument was between two individuals on Facebook.

They were arguing over if thousands of people showed up to a protest, that in the photographs, there was maybe a hundred people, not even 14 people were in the photographs.

That's what they were arguing about.

This was the first thing that Montoya said.

This was the first thing that was stated to the person that was already actively talking on a thread.

God, we are talking about Facebook at a council meeting.

This is this is the most ridiculous thing.

I would actually ask that all of you would just watch a more council meeting.

They don't go on and on trying to become famous.

They don't chit-chat and talk.

They bring up a comment, they vote, they move on, because you are no more important than any of us.

But we have chosen to put our faith in your hands for you to represent all of us, all of you, not just my council member, but all of you.

And it doesn't matter that one of the council members or two of them or all of you say something disgraceful.

We've had other council members that are not here tonight say extremely unappealing and disgusting things to citizens.

You're here to represent me, to represent a normal citizen in the government.

I actually have a voice because I can come here and talk to you.

I can send an email, I can have a meeting, and any of you would be happy to hear from me, or not happy, but you you would listen.

But not like this.

This is wrong, like dirty wrong, and to not have a statement or an apology to citizens.

Carlinda Gravel.

And you know what they're saying?

They're not talking about the two council members.

They're talking about Norman.

Did you know that?

People on camera, people in the audience, they're talking about Norman.

Don't go to Norman.

This is what their council members represent.

This is what they're saying about a political person, a political party, a political view.

Don't go to Norman, and we're losing momentum over there.

So I don't know who's responsible for trying to help save us on social media because it's not looking good at all.

And what looks worse is that you all know me from the very beginning because I have been chased around by Facebook by two of you.

Two of you.

One of you got in your car, ran down to the park, took a picture to discredit my picture, and immediately posted on Facebook just to discredit what I was saying.

Just to discredit what I was saying.

Two of you committed libel against me, had an attorney reach out.

I said, No, I'm not interested in suing.

I want things better in my city, not worse.

I don't know.

But this thing.

So I saw this thing on June 18th.

I wasn't hearing Norman.

I was on a trip.

And I saw it, and I went, This can't be true.

This isn't true.

So I went to the word pages where they were posted on private word pages.

And then I went to the original thread.

The original comment thread, thousand comments, went through them, and I went, What?

This was the first time Montoya even intercepted herself in the comment thread.

That was all she said was what you saw.

There was no more before, no more after.

That was it.

But it was enough.

So what did I do?

I didn't know what to do.

Did I want to blast this?

No.

I reached out to you.

And you all know that every head of this department in this city and every single one of you on June 19th at 11 in the morning received an email from me, Carlinda Gravel, telling you and giving you a screenshot of that.

And by 6.06 p.m.

that evening, the comments had been fully removed.

Hidden, gone forever, no, but hidden.

And nobody said anything to us.

And nobody would verify it.

And I asked for you to.

I said, someone reach back out to me.

What are we supposed to do about this?

But you didn't.

You hid it and you tried to keep it hidden until another council member said what she said.

I have one minute 17 seconds.

It's not enough.

We have a code of ethics that we follow here in the city of Norman.

We tried to make it into a book.

We have a draft.

It was never published.

We have a code of ethics.

This is against our code of ethics.

We can reach out and file an ethics violation with the state.

Okay.

As citizens, we have the opportunity.

We can file an ethics violation of any violation.

We'll post what the ethics are for city council members of the city of Norman.

There are a code of ethics.

There is a place to file an ethics violation.

Comments being removed is actually an open records violation.

We can actually submit that to our attorney general, Drummond, because and he could either look into that.

Putting a gun in your mouth and pulling a trigger is not protected speech.

That's not that's not speech that's protected.

That is incitement speech.

That is putting a vein, that is all stirring someone to incite violence or to encourage violence.

That is not protected speech.

That is a violation.

So we'll put together and we'll post how to file a ethics violation and report to Drummond.

Thank you.

Cheryl And so Antenzo, properties in Ward 4 and 6.

And I would just like to remind counsel, like I have before, that Norman is always watching.

We're a community of smart people, right?

IP addresses are just like DNA.

It will track your ass down.

And if you think you're gonna get by with something, I got news for you.

So watch your P's and Q's, folks.

And we're tired of the clown show.

Are there any final comment from anybody in the audience who has not spoken a miscellaneous comment?

Janet Heichel award three.

This is the first time I've ever spoken from this podium, but I feel at home here.

And I've I've watched you mature over the years.

And I want to say tonight that you listened.

I didn't see any eye rolling.

I didn't see any sneering.

And I appreciate that.

I have seen this room when people were not listened to.

And therefore they came back and spoke again and spoke again and spoke again because they weren't listened to.

And I appreciate the growth that has taken place in this behind this dais.

And I want to encourage you all to continue to listen, to respect.

Yes, you're an individual, but you also have ethics.

When I was a teacher, I couldn't get online and talk hoochie coup, you know, or whatever.

I had to be professional inside and outside because that's the role I took on.

I encourage you all to watch your drinking prior to the meetings, and come in here sober minded when you come to this podium, when you come to the dais, and make these decisions based on skills, based on research, not on an agenda, but what is best for Norman.

And I appreciate the growth in the room that I saw tonight.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any other comment from anybody that has not spoken yet.

I'd like to say positive.

I'm glad to see that the Don't Blow It initiative is working.

I hope people are picking up their grass, their clippings, and helping the stormwater.

What I would suggest to council and the mayor that this be taken in a step further.

Because I don't think it's just the residents that we need to be watching.

I think it's the commercial lawn care folks that are doing not only residential but commercial properties.

Because that's where when you drive down the streets, you see them just like I did on the way here down Robinson Street, blowing everything out in the street.

No one's probably looking into it, I'm assuming, and I would implore you to do that.

I'd say to put some regulations in place so that they can be watched and they can be taken care of and make sure that they are going to respect what you're asking the residents to do.

On a final note, I will say, and I agree with everybody that's been saying tonight is there is a code of ethics, and I'd like to see everybody taking that very serious because when you're elected, there's a responsibility that comes along with it.

And that responsibility means you have certain things you have to think of.

And I'd employ you all not to make the repugnant remarks that I've seen.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Okay.

Please come forward if you have anybody who has not spoken yet.

My name is Bill Trigus, Ward 5.

I'd like to, as a veteran of the United States Navy, I took an oath.

And that oath I have not ever been relieved of.

One nation under God.

Indivisible.

With liberty and justice for all.

Don't deserve to be on this council.

I also want to point out that I came here to address the ill remarks of a certain city council member.

And there's been others here that have addressed it more adequately than I could.

And that I personally hold you responsible, Mr.

Mayor, as the chief executive over the council, that you have not publicly came out and been vocal against these remarks.

You represent Ward 5.

Not just a city council member for Ward 5.

You represent all wards.

All the all the people in Norman.

And you sitting there and not making any public remarks.

Tells me that you don't care.

That's all I gotta say.

Thank you.

Hello, my name is Teresa Borham, Ward 4.

And what I want to say is that I totally agree that you're representing everybody within your wards.

When I ran, I knocked on everybody's door.

I didn't just knock on the party, the people that I believe belonged in my party.

I knocked on everybody's door because I was going to represent everybody.

That's your job.

It is not your job to represent only the people who believe what you believe.

Somehow you gotta find a middle ground.

And we've been told for years now that speech is violence.

And now we're being told, but it's just freedom of speech.

You can say things like this, as long as you belong to my party, it's not okay.

I don't believe speech is violence, but I also don't believe that you should be encouraging people to hurt themselves.

And you certainly don't need to be celebrating the death of an individual.

I don't care if you believe what they believe, you um condemn what they believe.

It doesn't matter.

It's not up to you to play judge, jury, and executioner.

It's not up to you to decide the fate of somebody else that just you don't believe in what they believe in, that they should die.

So you can't go from one extreme to the other.

You can't go saying that speech is violence, and then suddenly it's not as long as what I'm saying is you know, against the person that I don't agree with them.

So please, from what I understand, there is a code of ethics for the City of Norman employees, but you guys are not subject to it.

I agree with the gentleman that said earlier that you guys need to have a code of ethics that you have to, you know, abide by because you do represent every single person in your ward and in this city, not just the people who think like you, not just the people of your party affiliation.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, seeing no further comments from anyone.

There are any final comments from council members.

Okay, I want to acknowledge Councilmember Montoya's resignation.

It is for the best that she is taking time to work on herself and hasn't apologized.

However, Councilmember Montoya's choice of words in a news comment section with a Tulsa resident were disingenuously conflated with my conversation with a Norman Ward 4 resident.

These conversations happened three months apart.

I have never called for self-harm.

And my public record shows quite the opposite.

When Next Benedict, a public school student in Owasso took his life, it sent waves of grief and outrage globally.

And I'm the only council member to have marched with OU students when they held their own Namsk Benedict Memorial.

I have dressed in the past the legacy and documentary about Zach Harrington, who in 2010 took his life after a very disgraceful council meeting where former council members and the audience alike made disparaging comments about the LGBTQ community.

I have regularly mentioned mental health resources in my council announcements, and I have done the work in my private life to of supporting suicidal people getting admitted into hospitals.

And just this past spring, I talked from this very dais about the 14-person group chat that worked very hard to get a friend struggling with alcoholism and mental health into a hospital and into rehab.

I can't speak for other council members and their relationships to each other.

But more than one council member, past and present, in a time of crisis, has reached out to me and I've offered sympathies, support, and resources, like how best to connect to therapy and what types of services like telehealth, make that more accessible.

Um I tell people to get therapy, it's not an oh bless your heart.

It is a serious recommendation made without condescension, because I know talking to trained professionals makes a world of difference in someone's quality of life and potential longevity.

Maintaining one's mental health will aid in emotional regulation, allow a person to grow past painful and self-sabotaging tendencies, and find meaningful success in their professional and personal lives.

And if you did not know before now, you cannot claim in ignorance any longer.

Title 21, Crimes and Punishments, State Statute 21-1176, use of electronic communication device to threaten, intimidate, or harass a peace officer, public official, medical provider, or crime victim, whoever with the intent to threaten, intimidate, or harass, or facilitate another to threaten, intimidate, or harass, uses an electronic communication device knowingly to publish or post otherwise, make publicly available personal identified identifiable information of a peace officer, public official, election official, medical care provider, or a crime victim, and as a result, places that peace officer, public official, election official, medical care provider, or a crime victim in a reasonable fear of death or serious bodily injury, shall upon conviction be guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for a term not to exceed six months, or by fine not to exceed $1,000, or by both.

Such fine and imprisonment.

Upon conviction for a second or subsequent violation, the person shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail for a term not to exceed one year, and by fine not to exceed $2,000, or by both, such fine and imprisonment.

Of note, personally identifiable information means information which can identified an individual, including but not limited to name, birth date, place of birth, mother's made and name, biometric records, social security number, official state or government issued driver's license, or identification number, government passport number, employer or taxpayer identification number, or any information that is linked or linkable to an individual, such as medical, educational, financial, or employment information.

Thank you.

This is embarrassing.

What about your comment?

Please, your past miscellaneous comments for the public.

We are doing final council announcements.

Councilman Dean's mayor.

This is part of miscellaneous comments.

All right, first and foremost, I think, as I'd want everybody to do in Ward 1, hopefully, and the rest of Norman Knight and the thing is the de-escalation destructor of the health system that I always tell my guys and gals, our nurses there when we're dealing with the high stress situation is one, let's all take a breath.

Let's just breathe in and breathe out.

And right now, I'm gonna say my personal feelings, no attachment to others on the panel and their opinions.

I promised when I ran for this seat that I was always tell my truth as I know it and my feelings as I know them, because I think that's the right thing for the people that trust me with their vote.

So we can discuss it, you can call me, we can contact me.

I'll be more than glad to sit down with anybody after I talk about this and everything.

But as I hope that we've all realized by now, mental health is a big topic for me personally.

Okay.

And one, I would like to thank the speaker that spoke.

And thank you for being here tonight.

Being able to help start the conversations that needed to be had.

But more like you know that I'm just glad that you did not act upon them.

Because we'd be having a whole different conversation if that would have been the case.

And so it is serious when just saying stuff can affect somebody.

I deal with people every day that are there because somebody said something to them that pushed them to that point.

I deal with people every day that are there because somebody said something to them that pushed them to that point, but at the same time that we're asking, and Lord forbid with my seat, we all know what ethics is, you know, and everything, um, with our ethics violation of the last person, but I'm more than ready to sign up for an ethics conduct code in FN.

Already have to follow one every day of my life with all my other stuff that I do, so it's no problem there.

But I think that also as citizens of Norman, and to really develop, and the thing that I've always loved about Norman, and the things I've always taught my adoptive boys about Norman that I love more than anything, the reason why I serve, is because I truly believe in what I call the Norman way.

The Norman way is that guy down the street giving free haircuts.

That's the normal way, you know.

Us being able to have a conversation tonight is part of the normal way, but all of us in this room, like some even mentioned, you know, we all have said things here or there, different context, different this or that, you know, that we may or may not have regretted later on.

But I think as not just council, but as a society in Norman, we can just do better with the rhetoric that we're all saying and doing on our social media posts and everything like that, and try to come together as a community in that aspect to show our kids how to use social media, to show our schools the importance, also when we mess up and have a failure, be able to honestly talk about it and say, this is why you don't do this.

It could have repercussions over here.

So I just ask that as a city, we just kind of remember what we really try to envision ourselves as the Norman way.

We're town of growth.

We are the town of character, like every town in character, you're gonna have a couple here or there that you know you don't like that day, but that's what I call family, you know.

And for the gentleman that's not from the town and everything like that, I take real offense to the way he talked to my CEO over here and everything, he's the whole reason why I ran.

I mean, the guy to me is Mr.

Norman, and this is a learning process for all of us, you know, and everything, but the dude leads us in a great direction, and has a lot of things to help our community with and all that stuff like that, also.

So I just say let's all all take a breath tonight, be glad you were here.

I hope everybody comes out for regular agenda meeting moments because it was nice seeing people in the audience tonight.

But let's all just take a moment.

Thanks.

Councilman.

Yeah, uh, thanks everybody for coming out tonight.

Um those of you that had the courage to come up and uh tell us what you thought, either way, one way or the other.

Um, I know it's not easy.

Uh, did see some fresh faces tonight.

That's always fun.

Um regarding the the resignation tonight.

I I think that's a is the right thing to do for the city of Norman.

Um it couldn't have been easy uh for her to make that decision.

Um, but we have to we have to move on in a positive way.

We have to heal up from uh the wounds that were caused by that.

Um the speakers mentioned, you know, we have to stop dehuman dehumanizing each other.

Um that's spot on.

Um, you know, if if you disagree with somebody and you just keep if if everybody that disagrees with you is a fascist or a bigot or a racist, um, and you say it loud enough and long enough, well, someone's just gonna see that person.

Well, that's not a that's not a person.

That that's that's a bigot.

Um it's it's not a father, it's not a son, it's not a daughter, it's not a mother, it's not a friend, it's not a neighbor.

Um you've essentially dehumanized them like the other speaker mentioned earlier.

Um, we have to stop that.

We have to move forward.

Um we should be an inclusive community.

Um, and this diocese 100% should be inclusive.

Um just there's just no room in Norman for people that want to advocate harm, uh, either self-harm or um harm by other people to others.

It's just there that's not welcome in the city of Norman.

It just isn't, it can't be.

Um, and I hope we can kind of take everything we've heard tonight, put it let's heal up, let's be positive going forward, and I I don't care.

Um I help people out with issues and other wards.

Um, it doesn't bother me.

Um I mean uh I represent everyone, everyone.

I don't care if you were a max donor to uh an opponent.

Um it just doesn't matter.

These are nonpartisan seats.

And I take that very, very serious.

And I think a lot of the other council members up here do too.

These are 100% nonpartisan seats.

Um the the cliche is potholes don't care if a Republican or Democrat fixes them, they just want to get fixed.

And that's the and I think we we we do ourselves a huge disservice whenever we bring national politics into city issues.

It's just there's there's no place for that in city politics.

It causes nothing but problems, and I hope we can all stick to that going forward.

Um I'll do my best.

Um, and if I'm not, please call me out.

Um please call me out quickly.

Um, and that's it for me.

Thank you.

This is many of just a lot of what my colleagues have said, what many of you have said tonight about the current state of discourse in the United States, globally, if you will.

Um the term I think Councilman Dixon referring to is othering, looking at everybody else as something other than a human being, and it's easy to dehumanize someone if you don't if you just think of them as another.

It's easy to say hurtful things to them if that's the way you look at them.

And recently, um, after the Charlie Kirk assassination, I did speak out and commented about the discourse in our country and the hateful rhetoric that comes from the top levels of leadership in this country, and how that affects all of us and what that's done to us, and the fact that there are people out there who stand to benefit from our division.

They see it as an opportunity to seize on and gain followers on YouTube or social media.

There are people who stand to make money, millions of dollars, off of our division and our fighting with each other.

They want this because they can see what it does to us, that it separates us, that it makes us not care about our neighbors.

It can make us not care about loved ones, our family members, because we have this deep divide that is a wedge that has been intentionally driven between us.

And I can't sit up here and say that this is easy.

I've been mayor for three months.

I'm being asked to police the behavior and the speech of a council member that was done before I was mayor.

In our form of government, the mayor is not the chief executive of the city.

The mayor is not the boss of these council members.

They do not answer to me or any mayor.

They answer to the voters and the residents of their wards.

I have no ability to call for or demand any of their resignations.

I have no authority to chastise them or call them out on this dais by name.

It would be improper of me to do so based on our code of conduct and our city charter.

In my 12 years serving on the council, I've served with several council members who have done very questionable actions in their personal life and who have made very disparaging and hateful uh comments towards the public from this dais and on social media.

And what I've experienced in Norman is that the voters have always held them accountable.

Council members who have acted that way or spoken that way have resigned, or they've lost reelection at the next opportunity.

And I know that's not what some of you want to hear, that that's your options, but that is it.

If there are things that these council members say that I say that any of us say or do that does not meet the standards of this community, then we can all be held accountable at the ballot box.

Four council seats are up for election every February.

That's half the council.

We have provisions in our city charter that uh allow for recalls.

If that is an action the public thinks that is deserving and necessary, that is available.

You can also hold us accountable here, like you've done tonight in this chamber.

I've mentioned it many times before that local government in City Hall is the only form of government that has this public podium.

The state capitol and in Washington, D.C., they do not care what you all think.

They don't care what we think.

They have their own agendas, they have their own special interest.

And this right here is the only opportunity.

That's what I love about local government is that the podium allows you all to come up here and tell us what you think.

And your elected body has to face you while you do it.

And so for me, there's a lot I could say, but what's most important to me in this instance is listening to the public, to the residents of Norman, not just those who elected me, but everybody.

Everybody that gets up at this podium and speaks matters to me.

And I do appreciate all of you that got up and spoke and shared your story and your opinion and your expectations for this community.

And so we have a lot of things, we have a lot of challenges in this city.

We're not a small town and we're not a big city.

You all know the challenges that we're facing.

There were mentioned several of them were mentioned tonight.

We have a lot of work to do, and I promise you that the nine of us on this council cannot do it alone.

We do not have all the answers.

And we need the public of Norman to come together if we're going to have any hope of moving forward, that moving this community forward and addressing adequately those issues that we're facing.

So again, I do appreciate you all being here.

I encourage you all to come back to our next council meeting and sit through the zoning changes and all the regular business that we normally deal with that people don't generally find very interesting.

But you are always welcome in this city hall, you are always welcome in Norman, and that is a standard that we have to set even if we don't agree with you.

If you don't agree with us, we are here to listen, and I want to encourage you all to continue being active.

And it absolutely just further iterate the comments of Council Mr Gansbury that we have to set a standard.

We have to lead by example, because if we don't, if elected leaders, us, the governor, the president, everybody does not lead by example, then why should anybody else?

Why should anybody else if the elected leaders aren't?

So anyway, please, everybody, like has been said, before you hit that post button, read what you're saying, think about it, and remember that there's very likely a real person on the other side of that who has all sorts of things in their life that you don't know about and struggles that they're dealing with.

Um I just want to encourage everybody to have grace and understanding of each other.

And with that, I will adjourn this meeting.

Thank you.