Good evening and welcome to the City Council, Norman Utilities Authority, Norman Municipal Authority, and Norman Tax Increment Finance Authority meeting of March tenth, twenty twenty-six.

Madam Clerk, will you call the roll?

Council Member Gandisberry.

Council Member Peacock.

Council Member Grant.

Councilmember No Fire.

Council Member Hinkle?

Here.

Council Member Blochett.

Here.

Council Member Dixon.

Mayor Holman.

And March twenty second through May eighteenth as Green Norman Eco Bration in the City of Norman.

Item two is a proclamation proclaiming the month of March 2026 as women's history month in the City of Norman.

Item three is a proclamation proclaiming March 18th, 2026 as public transit professional appreciation day in the city of Norman.

Item 4, a proclamation proclaiming the week of May 3rd through May 9th, 2026 as International Compareness Week in the City of Norman.

I entertain a motion to acknowledge receipt of the proclamations.

Motion.

Second.

Motion on the floor is to acknowledge receipt of the proclamations.

Council members, you may cast your votes.

Whereas Senator Gaylord Nelson created Earth Day to increase environmental awareness and to highlight devastating effects of pollution to our air, water, and soil to the nation.

And whereas 22 million Americans celebrated the first Earth Day on April 22nd, 1970.

Whereas the City of Norman Parks and Recreation, Utilities, and Public Works Department have planned a series of events to celebrate this important milestone and provide Norman residents an opportunity to get involved.

And whereas Wednesday, April 22nd, 2026 marks the 55th anniversary of Earth Day.

And whereas March 22nd through May 18th is recognized as Green Norman EcoBration with free activities to be held at various locations across the city.

And whereas the 23rd annual Earth Day Festival will be held in Andrews Park on Sunday, April 26, 2026, from noon to 5 p.m.

And whereas we encourage the community to come be part of these free public events and learn new things about the world around us.

Now therefore I, mayor of the City of Norman, Oklahoma, do hereby proclaim Wednesday, April 22nd, 2026 as Earth Day, and March 22nd through May 18th, 2026 as Green Norman EcoBration in the City of Norman, and encourage our citizens to make a difference in our community to think, reduce, reuse, recycle, replenish, restore, refresh, replant, rebuild, repurpose, and respect.

Passed and approved this 10th day of March 2026.

Thank you.

Yes.

Come over here, Katrina.

One, two, six.

Yeah.

One, one, T.

You know I'm gonna make weird faces.

Sorry.

Chair side, you want to do that.

All right.

No, it's gonna be this side, so we can look at you.

I just want to say thank you, first of all, to the mayor and the council.

Thank you for this proclamation.

It means so much.

And with that, I'm gonna introduce Katrina Boatler.

She's one of our environmental compliance specialists.

And amazing.

And she's gonna accept this proclamation.

And please listen to what she has to say and come out to the events.

Green Norman.org.

Come out.

All right.

Thank you.

Thank you, Michelle.

So first off, thank you to the Honorable Mayor and Council for this proclamation.

Uh it truly means a great deal to the incredible city staff, community partners, and volunteers who all make this possible.

What I appreciate the most about this proclamation is that it recognizes something that we see every day in Norman.

And that's caring for our environment is truly a community effort.

This year marks the 56th anniversary of Earth Day when 22 million Americans stood up and said that the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the land we share are worth protecting.

And that's the same spirit that is still alive right here in Norman.

It shows up when a neighbor plants native flowers and learns that they're not just making their yard more beautiful, but they're also helping improve our water quality and supporting pollinators.

It shows up when students to our facilities and realize that our infrastructure isn't just pipes and pavement.

It's a promise we make to keep to take care of our community.

And it shows up when neighbors come together for a cleanup, a workshop, or even a festival.

Because in Norman, we don't just talk about caring for the environment.

We roll up those sleeves and we do something about it.

That's what Green Norman Eco Braation is all about.

From March 22nd through May 16th, we will host events all across the city, including tours, workshops, volunteer opportunities, and our 26th 26th annual Earth Day Festival at Reeves Park on April 26.

Yes, 26.

This year's Earth Day theme is our power, our planet.

To me, that means every one of us has the power to protect and improve the place we call home.

And when we come together as a community, those small actions add up to something even larger.

And that's something Norman does really incredibly well.

So my invitation is simple.

Come out this spring.

Come to a workshop, join a cleanup, visit the festival, bring your friends, your neighbors, your family.

Because when a community shows up for the environment, it's really showing up for each one of us and the city.

So thank you, and we hope to see every one of you out there.

All right.

Whereas we proudly recognize that women of all races, nationalities, and cultures have always played a critical role in history and have made historic contributions to the growth and strength of our nation in countless recorded and unrecorded ways.

And whereas the 2026 theme of women's history month is leading the change, women shaping a sustainable future.

And whereas the 20th century made way for the recognition of women's achievements in March of 1980, President Jimmy Carter signed the first presidential proclamation celebrating Women's History Week.

Whereas we acknowledge the contributions of brave women who continue to lobby for equity and made the way for the 1987 joint resolution of the United States Congress declaring the entire month of March as Women's History Month.

Whereas in Norman, we are proud of the rich value for diversity and gender equity through local organizations such as Women in Action for All, Latinas win women in Norman, University of Oklahoma Women's and Gender Studies, and Women's Resource Center, among others.

And whereas we honor and recognize all women who contribute day to day to enrich our community through their work in arts, sports, science, politics, and education professionals, frontline workers, caretakers and mothers, and aunts and grandmothers as women greatly contribute to the healing and hope of our homes and country.

Now, therefore, I, mayor of the city of Norman, Oklahoma, do hereby proclaim the month of March 2026 as women's history month in the city of Norman and invite all citizens to join in celebrating women and their history and the history of their contributions, passed and approved this 10th day, March 2026.

Sure.

I'll keep up the trend of facing the larger group, but I'm very grateful to the City of Norman, to the mayor and the city council for this proclamation, recognizing that all people in our society should have equal rights as well as equal respect for their basic human dignity.

We're grateful to women like Susan B.

Anthony, who was awakened to the need to fight for equal rights when she learned that she was earning only 25% of what her male colleagues were paid for doing the same job as teachers.

We're grateful to Ida B.

Wells Barnett, a black activist who fought for the vote for women alongside white women and declined to participate when white organizers asked women of color to march in the back of the 1913 suffrage parade in Washington, D.C.

We're grateful to Zit Collishaw of the Yankton Dakota Sioux, a survivor of the residential school system that sought to erase Native American cultures.

She worked for women's suffrage, and after the 19th Amendment was passed, worked to mobilize white women to support Native American rights that remained unrecognized.

We're grateful to Fannie Lou Hamer, who experienced forced sterilization through a non-consensual hysterectomy, a common way of controlling the reproduction of women of color, and later organized for voting rights and racial equality in the 1960s, experiencing arrest and being fired from her job and beaten by police, leaving lifelong injuries.

In our current era, we still need these forms of leadership.

We've seen a rollback of women's rights to make their own health care decisions in consultation with their doctors.

We're seeing evidence that leaders in our society have participated in systematic violence against women and girls while propagating the false narrative that trans women and immigrants are the true threat.

And there's an upsurge in rhetoric questioning whether women should continue to have the right to vote.

Up next, uh Will Taylor Johnson with transit.

Yes, there we go.

A proclamation of the mayor of the City of Norman, Oklahoma, proclaiming March 18th, 2026 as public transit professional appreciation day in the City of Norman.

Whereas public transit benefits everyone in the City of Norman by reducing traffic and parking congestion, improving air quality, playing an integral role in economic development, and making our city more accessible to all by getting people where they need to go for medical appointments, school, work, and other essential services.

And whereas the duty of a transit vehicle operator is to safely maneuver transit vehicles through unpredictable traffic and tough weather conditions, while exercising caution and following the laws of the road to maximize the safety of their passengers and serving as upstanding examples of safety, courtesy, discipline, and effective communication as they perform their duties each day.

And whereas the City of Norman fleet transit maintenance staff provide expertise in the preventive maintenance and upkeep of a fleet of buses, vans, and shuttles for the safety of customers, visitors, and the community.

And whereas City of Norman Embark and Via Norman on demand, administrative and support staff provide excellence in customer service and dispatch while working diligently on improvements to the transit system.

And whereas the City of Norman Public Transit Services travel in excess of 622,293 miles and facilitate more than 549,832 passenger trips annually in Norman.

Now therefore I, mayor of the City of Norman, Oklahoma, do hereby proclaim Wednesday, April eight or March 18th, 2026, as public transit professional appreciation day in the City of Norman, and invite members of the public to share their appreciation for these professionals as they make use of public transit services.

Passed and approved this 10th day of March, 2026.

You don't each side?

Well, I'm not gonna buck the trend of turning around, so thank you, Mayor and Council members, for this proclamation.

I think this is the third or fourth year we've done this.

I think this is the third or fourth year we've done this, and I get to always brag about our transit services every month at our community planning and transportation committee meeting, but it's really these folks and the the other staff members they represent that do the work and um we get to brag about all those uh great statistics that you heard about and all those things that we get to reap the benefits from.

So with that, uh I have Annie uh Jamerson, lead fleet driver for uh the via Norman on Demand system that we have here.

I have Jerry Madden, an MBARC bus operator representing that service.

Uh Todd Marino, he's one of our embark route supervisors.

And then uh Sean Lachance is one of our City of Norman fleet mechanics.

I tried to get them to come up here and talk, none of them wanted to, but um these staff members and the others they represent are are the reason that our passengers are able to get to their jobs, education, health care, and other destinations, just like the proclamation said.

Um every day, they're out there driving, maintaining, fueling, cleaning the buses at night, things that you never see, but uh we take for granted for and we're very grateful for.

As the proclamation says, I ask that as you interact with our transit professionals, you just give them a word of encouragement, appreciation.

They do have a tough job.

Um it's hard enough for me to drive down the road and do that safely, but I can't imagine helping somebody get to their destination, um, making sure that they're uh you know monitoring everybody else on the road and all the other things they have to worry about.

So I appreciate the support that we've gotten over the last six or seven years we've operated the system, and I look forward to the future of Transit Norman.

Thank you.

Thank you, guys.

Thank you.

Hi.

Thank you.

Thank you both for being here.

Okay, a proclamation of the mayor of the city of Norman, Oklahoma, proclaiming the week of May 3rd through May 9th, 2026 as international compost awareness week in the city of Norman.

Whereas composting returns organic resources to the soil, restores soil health, and supports the essential role soil plays in the carbon cycle.

And whereas the use of finished compost is a proven method to grow healthy food, conserve water during drought, reduce erosion and non-point source pollution, decrease reliance on chemical fertilizers, and improve resiliency during extreme weather events.

And whereas organic materials such as yard trimmings, food scraps, biosolids, and agricultural byproducts can be converted into beneficial compost, reducing landfill waste and supporting sustainable resource recovery.

And whereas communities, public works professionals, farmers, gardeners, and residents can positively impact clean water, climate resilience, and local economies through composting programs that create green jobs and strengthen infrastructure.

And whereas International Compost Awareness Week is a public education initiative highlighting the importance of composting and the 2026 theme, compost, feed the soil that feeds us, emphasizes the connection between healthy soil, nutritious food, and thriving communities.

Now, therefore, I, mayor of the city of Norman, Oklahoma, do hereby proclaim May 3rd through May 9th, 2026 as compost awareness week in the city of Norman, and encourage all residents to recognize the value of composting in sustaining healthy soil, healthy food, and healthy community.

Passed and approved this 10th day of March 2026.

Absolutely.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Hello, hello, good evening.

Um, and thank you, Mayor and Council, for for the proclamation.

Umasa, just a little bit about us.

We do um compost education and advocacy.

Um we host workshops throughout the year.

We have an annual compost festival, which is the Saturday of ICA, May 9th.

It's at Scissortail Park, so I hope to see you guys there.

We'll also have events throughout the week, like workshops and lunch and learns, tours.

What else?

A cooking, a cooking class with me at the well.

Yes.

Yes.

This is Lisa.

She is our Oklahoma's official ICO coordinator, and she serves on the education committee of Okasa, and she's fabulous.

And yeah, we also do an annual conference in the fall.

And we have a membership program that helps fund our programming.

If you'd like to join.

And we uh what was the other thing?

Um we're gonna be composting and recycling at the finish line of the marathon, and we need volunteers, so you guys should come out and help.

Um we have social media um that you can follow at OK Composts on all the outlets.

Um yeah, what I miss, Lisa.

I don't think you missed anything.

Okay, thanks, Lyon.

All right, just a point of information too.

There is a tornado watch.

City staff is keeping an eye on that.

Um, and will keep us posted if that changes.

Um, and if we need to uh do anything about it, but right now it looks like it's fine.

So we'll continue the meeting as long as we can.

Um up next is council announcements, and we'll start in ward one.

Hello, ward one.

Uh just one announcement, one thing, CCFI for the fundraiser.

Great organization, does a lot of great things in our community and everything, especially for our infants.

Other than that, that's it.

All right, ward two.

No announcements for word two.

Thank you.

Ward three.

Uh good evening, Norman.

Ward three.

Just a couple things.

Um less than a month away from uh voting on five propositions.

There was a mailer that was sent out.

It's a good place to start as far as education and uh has QR codes for more information as far as those five propositions.

I recommend you read it.

And then there's also uh a flyer that's out there too that you can grab and it'll help direct you to places where you can get some more education on those five propositions.

The last thing I want to talk about is finally the Oklahoma Ethics Commission uh has finally uh fielded an interim temporary system for campaign finance reports.

Uh that system will probably be in effect for the next 12 to 15 weeks until the Guardian system is up and running.

Uh, I've submitted my paperwork and uh it's been spinning for a little while now, 12 different forms.

We have over 3,000 uh individuals that they have to process through that system, and so as they get processed, they were they're reviewed and then they're uploaded into the system for public review.

That's all I have.

Thank you.

Ward four.

Yes.

Good evening, ward for City of Norman.

Thank you all for joining us.

I also want to echo the mayor's sentiments on us being in a tornado watch.

Um ironically, Friday looks to be great weather, so I hope if you make it out to downtown and art walk, we have that coming up.

Um, in the interest of keeping it short, because we have a long meeting.

That's it for me.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Ward five.

Good evening, Norman and Ward 5 specifically.

Uh, the only thing I want to do is be the dead horse and tell you that April 7th, please go vote.

You have several things on the ballot as well as in Ward 5, we have a runoff between two qualified candidates.

And I would love for you to get out there and vote and make it to where more than 15% of registered voters actually vote this time around.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Ward six.

I'd like to say thank you to the Center for Children and Families for their hands in hearts luncheon.

Councilmember Gansbury and I were there.

Uh they do a lot for our community for children who've experienced trauma.

Also um families who are going through a hard time.

There's they host our boys and girls club.

There's a lot of amazing things that happen there.

Also on March 28th, the Norman PTA Council is hosting Suite Symphony, which is the chocolate festival.

Um so save your date for that if you're a chocolate lover.

Also, this year they are enlisting student musicians to perform.

So if you have a student musician who would like to perform with an ensemble or a solo, uh any range from choir orchestra band, uh they're taking applications, and then the students get free chocolate tastings as a thank you.

So that's all for me.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Ward seven.

Um yes, hello, uh, ward seven and Norman residents.

Um I just have a few things um on Tuesday, March 24th.

Um, the OU Spring Pow Wow is happening at Oklahoma Museum of Natural History on Chautauqua.

And I wanted to go ahead and put on your radar that exactly a month from today, the medieval fair um in Norman will be happening at Reeves Park.

And then, like Michelle had mentioned, I also wanted to put on your radar um April 26th, that the Earth Day Festival will be happening.

So a lot going on in um ward seven.

So I hope to see you all there.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Ward eight.

Uh no announcements for ward eight tonight.

All right.

And I would just also remind everyone about voting on April 7th on five ballot items.

A lot of information as Councilmember Bruce mentioned that's available.

And then just a reminder to everybody that this Friday at 5 p.m.

is the deadline if you need to update your voter registration.

If you're not registered to vote and you need to get it, then this Friday by 5 p.m.

Cleveland County Election Board um website or in person if you want.

Um, but make sure that your voter registration is up to date.

And if if you're not registered, uh make sure that you are so that you can participate.

Um in my experience and many of ours up here, local elections are often decided by very few votes, and sometimes uh within a dozen or so, the decision can be made.

So definitely encourage you all to take advantage of this this uh opportunity and freedom we have and make sure you exercise your right to vote.

And then also just wanted to uh remind everybody there is a I believe a ward five candidate forum tomorrow um evening six o'clock, six to eight.

And so would encourage anybody, ward five residents for sure, but you know the decisions that we make up here if impact everybody in the city.

So um I would encourage you if you're interested in that uh race and what the candidates have to say about the issues.

Um would encourage you to attend that or tune in.

And with that, we will move on to the consent docket, and this item is placed on the agenda so that the city council by unanimous consent can designate those routine agenda items that they wish to be approved or acknowledged by one motion.

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

Staff recommends that item five through nineteen be placed on the consent docket.

I'll entertain a motion to place items five through nineteen on the consent docket.

Motion second.

Motion on the floor is to place items five through nineteen on the consent docket.

Council members, you may cast your votes.

All votes have been cast in the motion to place items five through nineteen on the consent docket passes unanimously.

I'll entertain a motion to approve the consent docket.

Motion 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 docket.

Council members, you may cast your vote.

All votes have been cast in the motion to approve the consent docket passes unanimously.

All right, non-consent docket.

I would like to recognize councilmember Peacock for an announcement regarding item 20.

Thank you.

Uh yes, regarding item number 20 and pursuant to section 2-103D of the city's code.

I intend to recuse from the discussion and the vote on this item because I have an actual conflict since I have worked professionally on this project.

However, I intend to make the presentation, the presentation tonight in my capacity as the architect of record for the project.

I'll entertain a motion to allow council member Peacock to abstain from item 20.

Motion.

Second.

The motion on the floor is to allow councilmember Peacock to abstain from item 20.

Council members, you may cast your vote.

And the motion to allow Councilmember Peacock to abstain from item 20 passes unanimously.

Okay, item 20, consideration of ordinance 0-2526-40, amending the code of the city of Norman as to remove property located at 1107 through 1111 Chautauqua Avenue and 601 through 615 Hoover Street and 1010 through 1030 College Avenue from the R1 single family dwelling district and R3 multifamily dwelling district and place same in a 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?

And there is.

Just a little background on this project.

Originally we had submitted a uh much more scaled down version of this project.

It was originally just on 1107 and 1111 Chautauqua there.

You can see the green parcel highlighted on the left side of the screen.

When we presented this project at Planning Commission, we received a number of resident concerns regarding it.

Originally it was a 24-unit project.

It only had 21 parking spaces, and so that was a point of contention.

It had a single access point onto Chautauqua.

It was utilizing residential parley cart polycart trash service.

It had a greatly reduced setbacks at Chautauqua, three-story height at Chautauqua, and it had a maximum 85% impervious coverage.

So in an effort to address several of those resident concerns, we pulled that project from consideration and it submitted a revised project, which included 601 and 609 Hoover as well as 1010 College Avenue.

You can see that the Chautauqua properties are zoned R1 existing, and the Hoover and College properties are existing zone R3.

Here's what that zoning map looks like from a kind of a more regional perspective.

On the right, you'll see the AIM Norman 2045 future land use is uh designated as urban medium.

That's east of Chautauqua's urban medium and west of Chautauqua's urban light.

That distinction is important to note as we go forward.

One thing I want to point out on these green parcels, um R3 zoning means that all those parcels could go three stories by right without coming to City Council for special approval.

So another important consideration to keep in mind.

So what is urban medium?

It's the land use category in AM2045 that designates uh this area to receive uh medium intensity with opportunities for more intense master plan developments.

Uh it states that three-story buildings are common and developments may go up to four stories.

Higher intensity multi-unit residential housing would be allowed.

Parking is secondary to the movement of people and the visibility of destinations and lower intensity residue residential uses are not appropriate.

So it's hard to see from the audience perspective, but on this slide, um you can see on the southwest quadrant, um, basically south of Lindsay, east west of Chautauqua, that is all the urban light designation, and then north of Lindsay, east of Chautauqua, uh you can see that orangish color.

That's the urban medium.

So that's the area that allows the the P the points that I just outlined on the previous slide.

So what I want to point out is that um west of Chautauqua, you'll see that you know most of the existing zoning is R1, about 90% of the existing zoning is R1.

But east of Chautauqua, um, about 94% of the zoning is already zoned R2, R3, RM6, or commercial, and so already zoned a more intense, more dense residential use, and that is the use that we are actually uh seeking tonight.

Here is a kind of a bird's eye view of what that condition look like looks like again to the west of Chautauqua, you see this the urban light to the east of Chautauqua, you see the urban medium, and it's pretty clear the difference that there are much more dense, uh more heavily parked, larger scale projects to the east of Chautauqua, uh, to the west, those are more you know, single-family homes, one and two-story dwellings.

Uh the color coding on the site here, the blue blue buildings are two floors, yellow buildings are three floors and up, with actually the majority of them being uh three floors already.

So here is the proposed site.

Uh the aerial shows you can see the the two Chautauqua properties that were originally zoned R1, the Hoover properties, and then the college properties.

Here is how those overlay with a little bit of color to kind of help read a little simpler.

And then here is how the site would be developed as our proposal entails.

Um, this would be 108 units.

These are going to be condominiums for sale.

There are either going to be larger one-bedroom or 330 square foot micro units.

We have provided 109 parking spaces uh for the project.

There's 88 on site, 21 on street, and then there are 28 additional parking spots uh included on the far right of the image.

Those are actually provided for the Lambda Kai house because there is a uh property swap going.

The they own the blue parcels on the left side of the page.

They are losing parking because of the Lindsay Street expansion, and so it's a win-win for both to do a property swap, provide parking for them, and it makes our development work by providing an access point for us onto Hoover.

In this scheme, we reduced the impervious coverage from 85% to 79%.

We are providing 40 new trees.

Again, the entrance and exits have been removed from Chautauqua.

That was a big point of contention with the neighbors.

They felt like the traffic impacting Chautauqua was a big negative, and so the only access points are now on Hoover and College.

The existing setbacks are remaining except for at college.

So again, when we had the original project, there was the buildings one, two, three, and four were actually pushed quite close to Chautauqua almost to the sidewalk itself.

And so we backed those up at the request of the neighborhood.

And there's also commercial trash service now instead of the residential polycar service.

So with this scheme, we were able to address a lot of the concerns from the original project.

Not all of them, but uh we felt like the expanded version here really gave us the opportunity to uh tackle those.

One of the requests from the neighbors uh was to provide a six to eight foot solid masonry wall as shown on the red line at the north of the screen there.

Um we looked at this, uh we modeled it, we met with planning staff, we put together renderings, really looked at it from every angle.

Um, ultimately determined that it created too many unsafe conditions because if you think about it, um there's gonna be a lot of blind spots behind that wall, a lot of potential for uh danger in weight for undesirable camping locations.

There's just there are a lot of things that recur by providing that wall and the blind spots that create uh come with it.

So we, as a compromise, proposed a shorter wall.

Um, I don't think that that necessarily met the intent of what the neighbors were after, and so we're still in discussions with them.

I'll say that this piece is still kind of outstanding.

Um I want to honor their wishes and I want to honor their requests and trying to find some sort of common ground solution here.

And so I'll just say that this one is still a little bit of gray area, but um, we have every intent to satisfy their concerns.

I'm just gonna really quick show why that bit tall wall uh was a problem.

Um Norman Police Department follows uh principles called SEPTED, CPTED, that's crime prevention through environmental design.

Um, and it kind of alludes to what I was just saying that you know, landscaping should not create blind spots, uh, walkways and direct press pedestrian traffic should remain on obscured, locate green space so it can be absorbed by nearby houses, design lots to encourage interaction between neighbors, basically a lot of the things that that wall would prevent from happening.

So, again, we felt like it was really appropriate to not provide the law the tall ball, but are um absolutely trying to find some compromise there.

This is what the aerial looks like for more of a 3D presentation.

Uh I want to note that we have met with the neighbors three or four times since that original project was proposed.

One thing you'll see on this image here is that we tiered the heights.

Uh, basically, so the lowest heights are at Chautauqua, those are the two-story elements.

Then you have three-story elements at college, but then the tallest elements of the property are those internal to the site.

So we did that in an effort to step up the height as it got away from the neighborhood and closer to campus.

Uh, going back to that original slide that showed the yellow buildings, uh, we felt like the campus properties already had quite a bit of density and quite a bit of height, and so tiering up towards the university uh made a lot of sense.

Also from those meetings, we determined there was some language that we could put into the spUD that might address some of their comments or some of their concerns.

So there's additional language in the spUD that goes above the uh existing Norman ordinances for noise, outdoor speakers, events, yard parking, yard games, resident-generated litter, and lighting.

Uh, we sent this draft language to the neighbors on 128 of this year, uh requesting feedback, and we did get some.

Uh we got some today, which is a little late in the process to do much with, but we're still committed to trying to find again that common ground on some of the things that are still outstanding.

Another concern for the neighbors was the traffic this development was going to produce.

Uh, we went and hired TEC to do a traffic analysis.

Uh, TEC is the group that you guys see up here every time for every traffic analysis, and so they're kind of the gold standard for these reports uh in this report.

They basically note that this project is only generating generating about 25% of the traffic that would require a full traffic impact analysis.

And so their summary is that no traffic related issues are anticipated, and as a result, no traffic control or geometric roadway improvements are recommended as a result of the proposed development.

We are being very intentional with uh the product that we're bringing to the market.

Uh the idea is that these are geared to the person that has outgrown student roommates, outgrown fraternity life, maybe not ready to set down roots in the suburbs yet, and uh it's kind of that that young professional target that we as a city of Norman really does a poor job of retaining, and the reason I hear a lot of is because it's a lack of housing options.

Um I know when I was this age, I did not want to have roommates anymore, didn't want to live out again on the edge of town in the suburbs.

There wasn't a whole lot for me and Norman, and so I ultimately moved to downtown Oklahoma City.

That is something we are trying to avoid.

Um the other end of the spectrum of this is you know, and I'll be perfectly honest, it's not the target demographic, but it is absolutely a demographic that we think will be interested, and that is um people that have aged out of their large home in the suburbs.

They're no longer interested in maintaining a large home, large yard, all the utilities, all of the maintenance that comes along with it, and they're looking to downsize to a more compact, dense, walkable uh type of development.

So these are the renderings.

Uh on the left is the corner of Chautauqua and Hoover.

That's the southwest corner.

You can see the two-story elements at Chautauqua, and then it tiers up, like I said, from there.

Uh, on the college side, that's the southeast corner, again, the three-story elements at college, and then it tiers up to the basically what we're calling a half story.

It's the fourth floor, but it's only for half of the building behind that, and those are internal to the site again to keep the the most of the height and the um scale to the internal side of the project.

Here is the parking lot view from Hoover.

I apologize that the uh that nighttime rendering doesn't show up very well on the screen.

And I'm really sad that this nighttime rendering doesn't show up well on the screen, but I learned at Planning Commission it shows up great on the screen behind me.

So if you're interested in seeing it, uh it's a beautiful rendering.

This is the view from college.

Uh it shows the alleyway basically between the buildings that create the pedestrian thoroughfare.

Uh the doors for these buildings will open up onto this green alleyway, and so we think it's gonna be a really great active space uh that residents are able to enjoy.

So just a quick summary.

Uh, this is from the staff report.

The development is consistent with the urban medium land use policy.

Uh the height of the proposed development is within the range desired within urban medium areas.

The proposed development is in accordance with AIM water and wastewater utility master plans, and the applicant is proposing a new type of housing that is needed and supported by AIM Norman.

I want to emphasize the needed and supported.

Planning commission voted on this project and they voted unanimous 7-0 to approve it, and we're really very proud of that record.

And uh, with that, I want to open up to questions from you guys.

Thank you.

All right, let's see.

I would like to write recognize councilmember grant for an amendment to subpart 3M.

Is that can you do it a little?

Okay.

Yes, I would like to make an amendment to subpart 3M of the SPUD narrative to prohibit outdoor amplified sound similar to a professional sound system.

Is there a second on that motion?

Okay.

Are there any questions or comments from council regarding this amendment to subpart 3M of the SPUD narrative to prohibit outdoor amplified sound similar to a professional sound system?

Questions from council members?

Sure.

Council Bruce.

Just curious.

So there was an actual sound system in the design.

External okay No, uh those were one of those comments that came in today, and uh it was a point of concern for the neighbors that they didn't want to have large parties and large sound systems as a result of this project.

I think they're dealing with that already with some problem neighbors, and uh so we're trying our best to address those concerns.

And this was actually language provided by the neighbors.

Okay, seeing no further questions from council.

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

Uh well, making comments about the amendment, right?

Correct.

Comments about the amendments specifically.

Yeah, we're gonna take comments on the amendment first before you vote.

Similar to a professional sound system.

Yes, please.

Good evening.

My name is Barbara O'Brien.

I'm at 1124 Chautauqua, right across the street from this project.

And I made a suggestion for this amendment.

I appreciate your considering this amendment.

We currently have parties that happen at the Kappa SIG house with professional sound systems, DJs, professional laser light shows, and a stage.

So we want to avoid any amplified outside noise, particularly those that would be a sound system similar to that.

I don't know what the best language is, but um anyway, you can see we don't want to have another place that might be a place for outside parties.

And they have them in their parking lot, so you might think that this might not happen, but we think a lot of things wouldn't happen in in these areas that do.

So thank you for your consideration.

Thank you.

Yes.

Steve Ellis Ward for uh I want to speak in favor of this amendment.

It seems to me that uh this is the kind of amendment, although maybe not the only one that you should consider that will uh go some way toward uh guaranteeing that the people who uh are the purported target of this uh of this housing unit uh will be the people who are who are moving into this housing unit.

My understanding is that uh, you know the condominium nature of it is likely to to draw uh different people in that particular kind of area, and and my guess that like not recreating an adult frat house would probably be useful, which this amendment goes some way toward.

So I'm I'm in favor.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Hi all.

Should I find Mike Board 5?

Um, I would like to speak in favor of the amendment um as supporting again the way that the folks in that neighborhood would like to live, their safety, their security, and preserving their way of life.

And I think that it absolutely acknowledges that request, that concern, and it honors that way of living.

So thank you very much.

And I'd like to again support that amendment.

Thank you.

Marguerite Larson, Ward 6.

Uh I think the amendment is great.

I'm in favor of it.

My only question is if there is still negotiations going on with the inhabitants in this area, I find it difficult to be able to make a decision until everything has been finalized with the habitants.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any other comment about the amendment on this item?

Okay.

Yes, please approach.

Hello, I'm Sarah Wallace.

Some of you know me well because of this noise issue.

So I'm absolutely in favor of this amendment.

And the reason is because my house.

In my house, inside.

So this is what goes on at the Capas of the House.

This was two weeks ago, Saturday, when Helen Grey didn't come by, because this is why we want ordinances.

We want to make sure that we've got protection against this continuing to occur.

So I'm in favor of the amendment.

Thank you.

Okay.

Um comments, questions from council on the amendment part.

Councilmember Bruce.

So how does it work?

I mean, uh, is it just for this building?

I mean, you didn't design one, you're not putting something in where you can flip a switch and you got professional music coming out throughout the parking lot, all this stuff.

So how how does that work?

I mean, if I if I buy condominium in there.

Yeah.

Can't have a party downstairs outside.

Turn on my boom box.

I'm just uh mechanics behind it.

You could try to have a party.

It's in a 330 square foot room.

Probably not gonna be a great party.

Yeah.

Um I think there's a lot of there.

But this is one of them, and so keeping large production style sound systems out of the property, I think it's a very attainable goal.

So I'm thinking it's the contract, the sales contract would be something that contracts in hey.

Right.

Okay.

Okay.

Exactly.

All right, any further comments, questions from council on the amendments.

Not seeing any, okay.

And got that the motion on the floor is to amend subpart 3M of the Spud narrative to prohibit outdoor amplified sound similar to a professional sound system.

Council members, you may cast your votes.

And the motion to amend subpart 3M of the SPUD narrative to prohibit outdoor amplified sound similar to a professional sound system passes unanimously.

And back to the back to the main motion on the floor, which is to adopt the ordinance on second reading as amended.

Well, let's do public comment first.

So we're doing a vote on the amendment though.

Yeah, let's see.

Right, we already have a motion on the floor.

So this is a vote.

This is the public comment part for the web form.

But you've opened it up to the floor.

Okay.

We didn't vote on whether okay, we did no.

Got it.

We're good.

Okay.

Yes.

Council comments first.

All right.

Sorry, trying to get out of order.

Any can't questions or comments from council for the applicant.

All right.

Councilmember Grant.

Yes.

Um, I was curious about stormwater and how that will be handled on site.

I go back a few slides here so I can show you the site plan.

Uh so you'll see in the parking lot some dashed lines there.

Um, those are infiltration trenches, and so those are underground trenches that have the roof drains all piped into them, and so the parking lot, stormwater, as well as the roof drain stormwater will all be piped into that central collection system and then discharged into the stormwater system.

Okay, thank you.

That was my only question from the presentation.

Councilmember Blodgett.

Um, yes, uh, hello.

Um, so this is in uh ward seven, so I feel uh I should speak up about it.

Um I have a my concern is is that if we all up here voted no on this and killed this project completely, that wouldn't stop development from happening there.

So my concern is is that um if development did happen there and this project was gone and development still happened there, um I would be really concerned um in if they would work with the neighbors as much as Mr.

Peacock has.

And I um I doubt that that would happen.

And so I appreciate how much he has tried to work with the neighbors.

And um, so I so for that reason I will be voting yes on this.

Thank you.

Okay, any other council members questions or anything for it up to you if you want to and then if you want to come off with this sheet since it's been amended, yes.

Yeah, we'll go with the people that signed up and then okay.

All right, this is an opportunity for members of the public to comment on the uh proposal as amended, and we have a list of people that signed up, and uh so we'll start with that.

Stephen Ellis.

Hi, Stephen Ellis Ward 4.

Um, so I'm on my spud soapbock soapbox again.

Uh remember that the way the spud uh ordinance is written, uh spuds are supposed to be trades of a certain sort, right?

There are legal exceptions provided to the developer in return for stuff that's exceptional, stuff that the city wants, stuff that the city needs.

And I'm still not sure what the value proposition is for the city here.

Um, and in particular, the the one that I've seen people talk about is density, but it seems like we're gonna get density here no matter what happens.

I mean, I think it's important uh what council member bloggett said that uh this is not gonna sit fallow if this project doesn't go in.

We're gonna see something developed there, and we're gonna see something relatively high density because people don't want to have R1 housing there.

So, and and that's possible, right?

Under the current zoning.

So it's probably going to happen.

But what looks like is going up right now is a form of a student housing project.

I know we've been uh talking about that briefly here, but it doesn't seem like someone who had graduated college and still wanted to enjoy Norman, but didn't want to live in a college area anymore, is gonna move basically to Greek Row, right?

That's very, very implausible.

That's not where you're gonna go if you want to enjoy broader Norman.

Um what's likely to happen is that we'll there will be a few pretty wealthy college students who move in.

Nothing against that.

They can have nice housing if they want to, but it's probably more likely that those are going to become what I would call football flats, right?

People are going to buy them their condos, and uh they'll use them on the weekends when OU has a home game, and they're gonna end up being something like short-term rentals.

Other than that, they're gonna sit empty.

So my suggestion is that this is gonna be the place where people go for homecoming to relive their college experiences rather than something else.

And given that that's likely to be the case, or so I would claim.

I mean, there's something I certainly think you guys should investigate before you vote.

Um, I I think we should think about whether or not that's the sort of highest and best use of that land when we've got a lot of housing needs uh in this city.

So um my suggestion, if if you want this to go through and you think it will work on its original form, is make it part of the spUD that they can't be short-term rentals.

And you know, if I'm wrong and the place fills up, that'll be exactly right.

If I'm right and it's likely to turn out to be football flats plus short-term rentals, uh, I think that would probably not be great for the city.

So maybe you want to consider amending this uh to not allow short-term rentals on these places.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Marguerite Larson.

Well, I actually didn't think about the short-term rentals, but that seems pretty smart because that's been a problem for housing in Norman anyway, where people would just buy the house and then they rent it out and it's short-term.

And so I think um I think that's a good idea.

I think you all ought to think about that.

Thank you.

Luigi Povani.

Um, I fully second the point.

Uh which Bavani, what for?

Um, I fully second the point on short-term rental.

They are uh plague.

That's carving our neighborhood.

They're uh shutter rentals are bad neighbors, our houses that are empty most of the time.

They're houses that not bringing it out of the trash, they're not keeping an eye on what's going on in the neighborhood.

They you don't have a neighbor.

You have someone that comes in and out, and you never know what happens.

It's a problem.

I wish we had we would raise the fees, we will raise the fines on all that, but that's a different conversation.

My main issue with this project is we can build more density without tearing down the little cute houses that make Norman Norman.

How much of the character of this town we have to lose to developers?

To people that don't live here, they're not part of the community, and they will destroy anything that's beautiful and characteristic and livable of this town to make a buck because they don't live in this community, they do not care.

So we can make density in a million different ways, and destroying the character of our town is maybe the worst one of that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Fred Schmidt.

I will ask everyone to please hold your applause for or against.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members.

My name is Fred Schmidt.

I'm a Norman resident and member of the University Lutheran Church.

We live right across the street from this proposed project.

I'm here to express the concerns of our congregation in regard to the proposed development on College Avenue.

Our church members, along with neighborhood residents, have displayed a concerned interest in this project because it is literally in our backyard.

University Lutheran Representatives along with Nort uh neighborhood residents attended the pre-development meeting on January 22nd, the commission meeting on the February 12th.

And uh we were informed in both of those meetings that the presentation to the city council would be early March, which we believed would be the first reading.

Uh we recently discovered that the project was on the agenda on the February 24th City Council for its first reading, which we were not aware was taking place.

The protocol presented in city documents indicates that after a planning commission, here's request for zoning, it's forwarded to all of you at the city council approximately three weeks later.

In this case, it actually happened 12 days later, which threw us all off guard.

The church and neighborhood have been clearly uh engaged and actively engaged in reviewing the project with a sincere desire to seek solutions that will benefit all the parties.

We have not had the opportunity to discuss the project with the developer and architect, who have indicated they are open to discussing modifications, and we're glad that they have a listening ear tonight.

Uh we've been actively pursuing the opportunity, but a meeting has not taken place, at least not with the church.

The final version of the SPUD narrative uh outlining zoning regulations for the development became available as an attachment to your packet this evening.

Uh our cursory review of the narrative since downloading just this past Sunday has raised several concerns.

Uh we're concerned about the opportunity to present our reservations to the council, along with the opportunity to have meaningful discussion with the developer in regard to this project.

So, in order to allow productive discussion towards meaningful solutions, we're seeking a way to allow time for discussion.

Uh as an alternative to postponement, uh, we respectfully request the opportunity to discuss an amendment to the spud narrative with the developer and the architect for presentation to the next council meeting.

Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you.

Uh good evening, Mayor and City Council members.

My name is Joe Grabowski, 715 Elmwood Drive, and I represent concerned residents uh adjacent to the proposed development.

That uh the issue I wanted to bring up is parking.

Parking for the residents of 1008 units in this project.

The proposal is worse myself to seem that the appropriate parking is provided or that it will be available, and that tenants in the smaller units will not need or want vehicles.

However, allocations for parking are still numerically problematic, not only for the neighborhood church and church, but also for the prospective residents of the complex.

Well, we can expect some pro prospective residents in the smaller units will not have or want vehicles.

It is also likely that some, as in couples or other multiple occupants in both the smaller and or larger units, will have more than one vehicles.

And keeping the space unit need of one to one or greater.

Also, there's some accommodation of parking spaces for for visitors or temporary guests.

That the lot B parking mansion is actually dedicated priority for fraternity use and will only have radically be available to residents of the property.

This leaves much lower than a one-to-one ratio of parking spaces to unit numbers, certainly over the majority window, over the major windows of time.

Actually, it's 8.8 to 1, meaning that one in five residents would need to be occupied by tenants with no need for a vehicle, but still not accommodating units and occupants having more than one vehicle or spaces for guests.

As local residents, as locals and members of the church can attest, street parking on college is already heavily used and would be difficult to uh legitimate claim as additional parking.

That uh for the residents of the complex.

That means that only 88 spaces of off-street parking are actually dedicated uh to the development that has 108 dwelling units.

Uh, this is an inadequate number of parking spaces that will create parking problems and further exasperate the on-street parking problem that overflows in the neighborhood and adjacent church parking lots.

Uh, these are among the issues that we would like to further discuss with the developer.

We believe that it is in the interest of the city also to evaluate the adequacy of parking and the negative impact it will have on the neighborhood and people in the complex.

I would not expect the city or planning commission to want to face after the fact uh comments like the project was not well planned, or did how did this get them, how did this get done or worse?

Uh so seeing the current circumstance that this is projected as a second read, I think we are seeking a way to allow time for discussion.

While postponement is still an option as an alternative postponement, we respectfully request the opportunity to discuss amendments to the SPUD narrative with the development with the developer and architect for presentation at the next council meeting.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Sorry, I can't read this.

Sandra Long Creek.

Sorry.

I can't really read it.

You could just state your name for the record.

This is Oklahoma, so it's Sandra Long Cryer.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council members.

My name is Sandra Longcrier, I'm a Norman resident, and I'm also here representing two of the concerns of our church, University Lutheran Church and Student Center at 914 Elm Avenue.

With this project, we have two concerns, in particular the height of the buildings and the density, which also affects the parking, as previously stated.

Our goal is to bring a solution to these concerns for consideration tonight.

We all, including you, are making assumptions based on the information provided by the developer and government reports regarding our Norman citizens.

First, when you look at the plan's assumption regarding the number of cars for this many residents, it shows a lack of adequate parking.

This is based on the reading of the 2024 five-year American community survey that the U.S.

Census Bureau does, and that data shows for Norman, which considers the number of workers in a one-bedroom unit, the rate of fully remote work, and the rate by which journey to work is done by non-car trips.

And assuming that none of the residents who live in this space use a car without the necessity for work, the number of cars generated is 109 for this 108 unit complex.

88 off-street spaces have been proposed.

So to solve the parking problem, you either reduce the number of units and residents to reduce the number of parking spaces reserved for them, or you find more reserved parking.

Also, let's talk about the height of many of the units for this transitional district between the university and the residential area west of Chautauqua.

The highest building elevations are at three stories today.

This proposal exceeds that.

Because of the relative areas of the proposed units, this would be the most dense residential use in the area.

Removing the fourth story will eliminate the height concern and make a significant impact on the density and parking issues without requiring the developer to significantly alter their plan.

This would eliminate nine of the 108 proposed units and get them very close to the one parking space per unit mark, which likely is still an undercount of what is needed since the residents' target is young professionals, few of which are likely to bike to work.

We have available tonight the data supporting these claims and respectfully request a floor amendment of the SPUD narrative to enable no greater than three stories and no greater than 99 units.

This enables the project to continue without a full site plan revision and is a minimum necessary to alleviate the height concern and reduce the impacts on density and parking.

Thank you for attention and consideration.

Thank you.

Doug Bowden.

My name is Doug Bowden, and I'm a Norman resident, and I go to University Lutheran Church also.

The City of Norman is challenged with the management of stormwater runoff.

The proposed project density exceeds any maximum site density allowed, and that's the ratio of total buildings to square footage to land area, creating a very densely populated site.

But of greater concern is the percentage of impervious ground being proposed that also exceeds the maximum allowed in a multifamily development.

This excessive impervious area will create far greater stormwater runoff than the site has historically experienced.

The Elm Avenue, which is a block away in Lindsay already floods.

If we have any more water going in there, it's going to be even worse.

And in lieu of the detention pond with a controlled rate of discharge, this project is proposing trenches that rely on water percolating into what we all know is predominantly clay soil.

This approach to stormwater runoff should be tested in advance of the proceedings to construct permanent permitting to avoid any costly design changes and delays.

Therefore, we respectfully request that time is allowed for soil testing to determine whether water percolation is sufficient to handle stormwater in that area with the quantity of impervious gram.

We asked for time to discuss this item with the developer and architect with the results being presented at the next council meeting.

Thank you.

Sarah Wallace.

As you all, many of you all know this is a very emotional issue for us.

It's very difficult for me to speak about this because this has been my family's home for a couple of decades, as well as many of the other residents.

So moving forward, I want to just make a note that the neighborhood we have gotten together with a developer and Mr.

Peacock.

However, the statement that we've had the opportunity to add language is not fully true.

We had an opportunity to meet the res of us as neighbors in the church Sunday, so that we could propose the language that they would put into the spUD language or into the spUD for the covenants restrictions within this development.

I think that's important to state because what you're going to hear from all of us is just asking for the opportunity to be able to put some of these things into the covenants and restrictions of this development.

And that's where what we know is happening is our neighborhood understands that development is a part of a growing city.

We are very aware.

We also deal with a lot more than other parts of Norman because of that growth and the shifts that have occurred between short-term rentals and condominiums, et cetera, but within our developments or our neighborhoods, we are used to dealing with amplified music and large gatherings that spill into the streets, parking congestion, OU parking.

We all know this is a part of living around campus that we are well aware of and that we choose to continue dealing with instead of selling our homes, moving other places.

Again, what we're looking for is just to be able to have some opportunity to put into what this development, what we need for the city to be able to enforce as far as a good neighborhood standard of living together in a medium density to a smaller or residential neighborhood.

I forgot what the language is here.

Again, we're asking for just simple safeguards to be included in this project for the covenants, and also in that language, the enforcement of those covenants and/or the city ordinances that help prevent things like the amplified music, etc.

Um, again, taking these steps now is what we're asking for.

We just want that opportunity.

So if we could continue working with the developer, we realize this is coming to a vote, but if we could continue working with that developer in that language with that SPUD so that we can have some of these uh concerns addressed.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Barbara O'Brien.

Good evening, and thank you for listening to my concerns.

City Council members and Mayor Holman.

My name is Barbara O'Brien.

My husband and I reside at 1124 Chautauqua, located on the corner of Chautauqua and Hoover.

We are the only resident that lives across the street, directly across the street from this project, that are not renters, short-term rentals.

So we are a family that lives across the street.

I also represent him with my remarks.

We have owned this property for 40 years, and could not have anticipated that in 2026, we would experience party houses across the street, hosting gatherings with live bands and speakers, attended by hundreds of people most weekends, which have nice weather.

The fraternity house across the street, hosting parties, also with hundreds of people attending, with a stage professional sound system that plays music, causing our windows to shake and us to have to put our TV up to the level of volume of 90 to be able to hear.

And apartments being built across the street.

We have raised our children in our 96-year-old home, and now we get to host our six grandchildren at Busy and Granddad's house.

Yes, we could move, but we love living near campus in our wonderful home.

We just do not like the behavior of some of our neighbors, which has deteriorated greatly over the last six years.

Unless you have lived in this area, which I know Mayor Holman has, you cannot fully appreciate the experiences that we have endured.

So please put yourself in our shoes when making your decision and understand why we are not happy with 108 or more people with their cars and noise and everything else that springs moving in across the street for the profit of a few.

A big concern we have is the noise.

While you are marketing this as a residence for young professionals and owner occupied, you really have no way of controlling that.

If the spud allows short-term rentals, I believe students will reside here, and with students come noise and other nuisances.

The current spUD allows for speakers under certain conditions and certain times.

We request no outdoor speakers.

Thank you for approving that amendment.

And I also suggest making this stronger by including the no professional sound systems, light shows, or DJs or anything similar.

I am a strong prevent proponent of prevention being the best solution.

I suggest city council and the mayor can city consider changing city ordinance and processes to prevent the situations that lead to disturbing the peace and to the nuisance behavior.

These processes could also be changed to ensure a stronger response to acute situations.

The neighbors and the Lutheran church members will join you in working out some solutions.

Perhaps we can get the university involved as well.

I appreciate the willingness of the developer and the architect to work with us and our council member Helen Grant to talk with us.

But we were understanding we were under the understanding that tonight would be the first reading of our agenda item.

That's why none of us showed up for the first reading of this item two weeks ago.

We didn't know this was gonna be that much to this button here, the developer and architecture for presentation.

That uh was the time.

Thank you very much.

John Kaufman.

Good evening.

Uh John Kaufman, 725 Hoover Street.

Lived there for 26 years with my wife, raising my kids there.

Um over the years, we've seen the neighborhood get louder and louder, traffic getting worse and worse, especially as Chautauqua backs up, people start using Hoover as the way to get around the Lindsay backup.

So as I see that happening, it's it's not something I can't deal with, but adding 108 residents there who will be driving their cars.

You know, coming out of Hoover, going across the street, or coming around Hoover to get to the other side of Chautauqua, there's going to be a pretty big uh traffic jam on Hoover.

And we've got speed bumps there and everything else, but people speak to there constantly.

Also, parking is a big issue I have.

We already gave up our side of the street, which is the north side of the street, um, for eight to five, no parking Monday through Friday.

So if I have friends come over, if I have people need to work on my house, they have to park on the other side of the street if there's a space available or take a risk of getting a ticket.

So now that's going to be even worse because now they're gonna line up there on the south side of Hoover, and they do that now.

They go to class and they leave at five o'clock.

But what happened before was people would park there and leave them for two days, three days, and of course we can call and have their cars towed, but that you know sometimes works, sometimes it doesn't.

It just still have to take an action to get the car off the street.

Now, this project will have impact.

Um kind of a thing that you know, you have more people, you got more problems.

I understand progress has to happen.

Well, we really need some safeguards against what's going to happen there, and it will be young people, yes, but it I can't imagine anybody that's got a degree wanting to stay there and work in the city or somewhere else in Norman in an area that's packed with kids constantly.

I just don't see that.

Anyway, that's here and on there.

But uh my main concern is the fact that there will be a lot more congestion right there.

And having the wall in front of the Chautauqua side of the thing is we've got to have something there to keep the kids from coming in and going through the alley there or what will be the separation of the buildings.

Because I tell you what, on a Saturday night, there is herds of people coming and going, and they find whatever place they can do to make a shortcut to the party, wherever the party is.

Coming up, Hoover from my side, coming from the from the towers.

It's kind now that's not a big deal, you know, but you're again you're adding a hundred people.

And I guarantee it they're gonna be going to somebody's parties.

So anyway, I appreciate you listening to me drive about things, but uh it is going to have some impact.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Catherine Bowden.

Bowden.

Good evening, Mayor Holman and Council members.

My name is Kathy Bowden.

I'm a Norman resident and a 33-year member of University Lutheran Church.

I've seen this church grow and add on and get bigger, and we haven't any indication on the map behind you where this is, but our parking lot is directly below number seven and eight units and part of number six units.

We are a street's width away from this development.

And I'm here to express some of the concerns our congregation has regarding the proposed condominium development.

There are concerns beyond the physical characteristics of this project that we believe are important to address.

This includes neighborhood noise, security, encroachment by non-residents, and the traffic and parking overflow into the surrounding neighborhood.

And if you think that the people in these condos are not going to come over and park in the spaces in our church parking lot with no regard, you're wrong.

These negative characteristics that affect our neighborhood are a challenge for the city to enforce.

However, they can be brought into alignment with tools like a property owner's agreement, which engages the resident owners of the development to participate in the compliance of these issues and reduces the burden on the city to enforce whatever infractions there are.

This allowable use subjects the development to becoming a combin to become a combination of student and transient housing.

This type of housing inherently comes with greater levels of noise, social gatherings, security issues, and parking infractions.

This allowable use needs to be removed from the spud, the short-term rentals.

While our hope was to have additional time to discuss and resolve issues through postponement of future meeting, we believe that a strong alternative would be to work together towards solutions we can implement through agreed upon goals by allowing an amendment to the SPUD to be our vehicle.

We respectfully request that the opportunity to discuss an amendment to the SPUD with the developer and architect for presentation at the next city council meeting be considered tonight while allowing the project to move forward.

And I invite any of you who think this is a calm neighborhood and adding this many more residents and cars is going to make it even calmer to come over to the church parking lot any afternoon, any spring afternoon where it's beautiful outside and the students are through with classes.

Come over about five o'clock and listen to what happens in the neighborhood.

There's not going to be one senior citizen wanting to be in the condominiums when they see what's going on at the party house, two doors north of where they live.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Shea Finwick.

Hi folks, Shy Fenwick, Ward 5.

Um, I would like to point out um oddly enough, this conversation gives me a great deal of hope.

I live in Ward 5.

We are significantly different in honestly in composition and population and in land use from what we see in the neighborhood we're discussing now.

However, again, I get a great deal of hope from the fact that we have some significant parallels in terms of our concerns.

We are concerned about responsible development.

We are concerned about whether our residents are going to feel safe, be safe, going to be able to live in the way that they choose.

I'm hearing a lot of these concerns in what we're concerned about in Ward 5, and in what folks are concerned about here in Ward 7 as well.

And throughout our city, I think it's one of the greatest strengths that we have these commonalities.

Something that I am concerned about that I'm hearing is that again, that Kappa Sig house, I mean, and bless them, I'm glad they're here.

We're happy to have them in Norman.

However, I did have a friend who lived in that neighborhood with a young daughter, and she did not feel her daughter was safe, and that's why she moved.

And her home is now one of these short-term rentals that these folks are contending with as well.

That does support blight within a neighborhood because you don't have the folks who are making decisions about the property living there and seeing the repercussions of their decisions.

And that's definitely not what we want.

We want involved citizens.

We want folks who deeply care about the community and want to stay here.

I think that's something that, again, that um that our architect uh Mr.

Peacock spoke about.

That is something that we do want to see there.

Um, when you have folks who are young, right, and yes, young professionals, those amazing graduates whom we love, there's a couple of them right behind me right now.

Um, one of the things that they do want, they want that peace and quiet, or they're going to partner up.

If you have a great place to live as a young professional who just graduated from OU or any other university, but probably OU, um, and you're sticking close to home, you know what?

It's an amazing place to be.

You're probably going to have a partner.

That partner will probably have a car.

So now we're dealing with multiple human beings in the same space, multiple vehicles, because you cannot live in Oklahoma consistently without a vehicle.

You need one of those.

Every single one of you has one.

I've got one too.

Actually, we've got two.

Um, so that's something that we do need to consider as well, and our residents are bringing this up.

Um, the other piece of it that I think is kind of critical is that if you are a young person and maybe you're starting off with a young family, right?

Um, maybe that plant family happens with or without your planning, and suddenly you've got a frat house across the street, and you have a brand new baby.

And that is going to affect our occupancy rates in that property.

And again, promote conceivably these short-term rental factors.

So I think that the residents in the neighborhood are bringing up some really valid concerns.

And I appreciate the work you've all done in listening to our developers and again that the architect has done in presenting all of this very thoughtful development work.

I think that additionally, if the developer cannot afford to give these residents a little bit extra time for fiscal considerations, I have cons I have concerns about the soundness of their ability to carry out this development without giving those residents a little bit more time.

Because I think it sounds like they need it.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Cindy Rogers.

Chelsea Gravel.

Chelsea Gravel Ward 4.

Uh, thank you for the opportunity to speak on this.

I've been following this project since a design back.

Um I actually was completely opposed to this project whenever the first design came through.

But whenever I saw the design for this, um, I was really impressed.

I felt like all the neighbors had been heard.

I felt like everything that had gone through had really taken the time to really iron everything out, but apparently I was wrong hearing from the neighbors.

They still aren't happy with everything, which I can understand.

Um the project here feels like it questions the integrity of the neighborhood, like for everybody who's already lived there.

Moving into it, you would think it would be okay, like people coming in knowing that they're gonna be living next to an apartment complex, like I live next to an apartment complex, but it was there whenever I moved in.

So I could understand that would be a little bit of a concern.

Um I can also understand that parking and the lack of parking for particular units might lead to not all the units being rented out, but that is the developer's opportunity and option for his risk of his project, because this is his land, and he should get to develop his land as he sees fit, even if he wants to risk that.

And some of those units might turn into short-term rentals, which I think is wonderful.

I have three just a block from me, and everything I've heard is crazy.

These are the most fantastic neighbors.

Short-term rentals are wonderful neighbors.

They mow their yards, they keep everything clean, they keep their everything picked up, everybody comes out and sprays, they've got gorgeous green grass.

I have numbers whenever I need to contact somebody day or night.

It's unlike any of my other neighbors.

I understand that the lack of parking here, those suits council's um need for us to have less cars.

I know we're gonna go towards taxing those of us that drive, and so I can understand that this supports uh city council of Norman's plans for a future of a driveless city that doesn't have any driving.

Um your job is to simply verify what the legal reasons are to go against this or not.

I can't come up with any legal reason except for the integrity of the neighborhood.

Um I wouldn't want to live in a f in a neighborhood that was a neighborhood and it's specifically a neighborhood and have a new apartment complex come in after I've been living there for as some of these people said 40 years, but I still think that the project's great.

I think the project could suit Norman.

I think that it would be really valuable for the housing situation that Norman's at.

I just don't know if this is the correct location for an apartment complex.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Carlinda Carlinda Gravel, Ward 4, specifically first courthouse neighborhood.

I guess that's special.

Um I feel really bad for the neighbors who have come and spoken tonight about their quality of life being taken away, right?

I know none of you mean to do that, but that is what you do.

You don't mean to, but that's your job.

There's always gonna be someone who has their quality of life taken away when something else different goes in around where they have their life, and that's really what we're talking about.

Now it sounds like short-term rentals are not going over so well where they are, but you see, I'm in a poor neighborhood.

I'm in the poorest neighborhood in the city of Norman.

And if you don't believe me, consult the Oklahoma Historical Society, right?

And we're special.

We had the first courthouse for real.

But it was on the corner, it's on the corner of Gray in Ponca, and it sold in 2024 to an LLC from the original owners.

That was the courthouse, and it's a short-term rental.

Eight rooms and eight bathrooms as of 2024.

How did that happen?

How did that happen?

But I worry because I think it really does matter that neighbors in neighborhoods come, and we tell you how our quality of life is going to be taken away and interfered with with the new zoning.

We've got a lot of new zoning, a lot of new things are happening, and a lot of people don't even know it in the city of Norman.

They don't know this is happening.

So as you consider whose quality of life you're going to take away.

And that is to preserve Norman.

So I beg of you to listen to all the citizens who have spoken.

Mainly those my quality of life will not be taken away from this building.

But many will.

Thank you.

Russell Rice.

Okay.

Sandra or Sandra and Sam.

Sheep.

Sheep.

No?

Okay.

Um that's all Mayor.

All right.

Anyone else who has not spoken on this item that would like to speak on this item as amended.

Yes, please.

Hello, uh, Miami Windler Award 2.

So these are condos.

Uh the people who buy the condos are gonna have to pay property taxes.

What if they all had deed restrictions where uh they had to get the homestead exemption where they have to actually live there and that be their primary residence?

That's an idea to combat the whole short-term rental thing.

And I don't know.

Just an idea.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Please.

I hadn't prepared a speech or but I have some remarks.

I'm Terry Bell, and I live at 1025 Macknamy Street, and we moved to Norman in 1979.

And I've been a member of University Lutheran Church since then.

So the reason for my speaking is because in the last 10 or so years, the houses on Elmwood have gone from being owner-occupied houses to being student rental houses.

So the Elmwood itself is used as a parking lot by the residents and by all the students who are going to OU.

They don't always read the signs, they'll park on the wrong side of the street.

They park driving facing in the wrong direction.

And then the streets that run perpendicular to Elmwood are Franklin Drive and Rosemont, those houses.

I knew people who lived in those houses when I first moved here, but they also have been bought by parents or somebody and turned into student rentals.

So the neighborhood is really packed with student housing.

And the other thing is that our parking lot at University Lutheran, which is on the west side of the church on college, we have people who park there.

They come their fraternity parents or something.

They they honestly think it's a public parking lot.

So the members of the church, even if you're old and decrepit like I am, can't get a parking space during our regular services or other things.

And I just am not happy with this whole thing.

Um I I just urge you to consider it.

And oh, the other comment I had to make, as I said, I'm not prepared for this, is that a long time ago the city hired consultants from Portland, Oregon to do the center city project.

And what they did was put in the three-story box houses that run from west of the railroad tracks along where the well is located.

Those were supposed to be housing for young professionals to live in to make Norman a walkable city while they are student occupied, and they don't have enough parking spaces.

So when you drive down, you fall and sims in those streets, the street is just packed with students who are parking in the in the neighborhood now.

And that's happened since this construction went on.

And that's an old neighborhood too, and the older houses have been destroyed, and there's more development going on.

This is north of Boyd and south of Main Street and west of the railroad tracks.

Do you have any comments about this specific development in the region?

I'm just saying I see this specific development being similar to what has already gone in with the previous development in Norman near the well, and there isn't adequate parking there either, and this lot is narrower, so I really don't see how we're going to have parking taken care of for this project.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

Okay.

Questions from council?

Councilmember Grant.

Yes, I have a question, a few questions for the applicants.

Um in the interest of transparency, can we understand the financial issue about uh why we have to vote tonight?

Yes.

Um, so when we decided to forego the original project, uh this would have been back in late December, uh, we put the 1010 college property and the Hoover properties under contract.

Um those had a closing date tied to the planning calendar, and that closing date is actually this Thursday.

Uh we have already received an extension beyond the original 30-day uh closing period, and so we were very transparent about this timeline and the process of the pre-development meeting.

That pre-development meeting occurred on January 22nd.

We sent the draft spUD language to the residents to the neighbors on January 28th, so six days later, and here we are on March 10th with the neighbors claiming they need more time, they haven't had enough time to look at the the language and we feel that we've given ample runway um to get feedback and to accommodate the the feedback.

Um but at this point we're up against our deadline, and so an option to postpone is simply just a non-starter, and I'll be perfectly transparent, it kills the project.

Okay, I appreciate that.

Um, would the developer be open to potential amendments uh in the future, like we've done for other spUS that people have come back and recognized, oh hey, this isn't gonna work, we need to change.

Yeah, um, despite what uh audience member said earlier.

Yeah, um, despite what a audience member said earlier, this developer does live in Norman, has uh invested a lot of capital in Norman and delivered some really great projects, and I think they are um committed to seeing this one be as much of a success as the other ones.

So absolutely uh we are I'm being sincere when I say we want to work with the neighbors, we want to deliver project that we can all be proud of, and um their success is our success.

So we do not want to do something that takes away from the neighborhood as to the you know to the short-term rental comment, um, a development with a bunch of dark windows does not help us, and so we have no intention of making this a pride predominantly short-term rental development.

Um, but that was a use that was allowed in R1 and R3 in the existing base zoning, so we retained it as a right for the owner.

Um which could be changed later if that's the direction.

Uh the other question is by right for the parcels that are zoned R2 and R3 if memory serves.

What could go there as far as height and number of units?

Yes, so uh might be helpful to go back to well, I didn't mean to do that.

Okay.

Um, so uh if you remember the slide with the green properties on it, every one of those green properties, you could get those are all R3 properties, meaning you can do dense multi-family up to three stories by right.

So that means that three-story buildings could be built on those properties without having to come to city council.

They just go apply for the building permit, there's no extra set of eyes.

Um, and the one that is actually already approved for 1010 college, it is 20 six bedroom units.

And so if the neighbors are worried about our proposed development, creating a party or a nuisance house, I can guarantee a development with six bedroom units is absolutely going to be a party house and will create a condition that no one is going to be happy about.

Versus 300 or 600 square foot units.

Absolutely.

But single resident.

Again, I want to stress that that six-bedroom 20 unit project is by right.

They can go do that without special approval.

They can do that without resident input.

Okay.

And I'll just say for short-term rentals and noise noise ordinance, those are things that we as a council can uh choose to change and adopt a different ordinance that better addresses some of these, and it may not actually be something you can enforce through just the spUD.

Um the issues here are outside of this property.

Um so it sounds like for parking solutions, we could come revisit in the future.

Uh, the other part, uh, besides the density and what could exist here, the timeline that we're working with.

Um, when it comes to the stormwater comments, uh, what is the plan?

You said that they would go in the trenches and they would go into uh detainment that's underground.

Yeah.

The uh infiltration trenches is what they are.

So basically it's under ground underground attention storage.

Uh and the audience member who spoke to that, he was correct.

Uh, you do have to prove that the soils percolate, and we do have percolation test that shows this design works and it will take the capacity of the stormwater for the site.

So when you and the developer meet with the concerned residents and the church, you can show them that data.

Okay.

Um, the property owners association, that was a part of the SPUD narrative, and it as I understood it, was left flexible.

Ideally, as I understand it, the developer does not want to be the major property owner because then if there are other property owners, he gets to split the maintenance and the other things that come along with the property owners association, correct?

Correct.

Um, but the flexibility of it is written as such that if it doesn't turn over fast enough and he's the majority holder, he needs to pick the property management company and be able to move.

Yes, that's correct.

Okay, so no shadiness there.

No, no, just uh honestly at this zoning phase.

That's a that's a document and a piece of information that just hasn't gotten put together yet.

That's a little premature for where we're at in the process.

And then I do know, I don't think it ended up in this discussion, but there was talk of using Lloyd Noble as overflow parking, which I know some people don't believe will happen, but for the market you're going after, would that be uh acceptable overflow spot for some of these folks?

Yes.

Uh so I what I'll say is that we reached out to every church, every parking lot, every entity within a probably 10 block radius of this project and see if we could lease spaces from them long term.

Um we even reached out to the Lutheran Church.

Um their answer was the same as everybody else's, and that those spaces are already spoken for.

Uh so we reached out to OU.

Um, they have they told me that I could say this, and so I feel like it's a uh it's far off far enough along the down the road that I have confidence in this being a solution.

Um, but we are working very closely to have some very positive conversations in terms of long-term parking solutions.

The thing they offered up in the short term was that yes, you could have access to Lloyd Noble spaces.

Uh there's actually a shuttle that goes every 10 minutes from Lloyd Noble to campus.

So at worst case scenario for the for the short term short term, um, residents will be able to store their cars at Lloyd Noble until they need them, you know, take the shuttle down and get them, return them to the Lloyd Noble and then shuttle back to the development.

Again, we're trying, I know that people want to pick on the underparked aspect of the project, but I mean, we're really trying to incentivize a type of development where you don't have to own a car, where you've got the choice to either walk, bike, take ride shares, take the bus, take shuttles, you know, take advantage of all the walkability of the area, all the public transit that Norman has to offer, um, potentially with the RTA coming online, being able to commute to Oklahoma City and Edmund without a car.

And so um we're really leaning into that, and that is what the AIM Norman 2045 really contemplates.

Um, I think one of my bullet points in the original comments was parking is secondary.

I mean, that parking is not the focus of this area and of the aim plan.

And so we're again just trying to lean into that as best as possible.

And I would say too, that we have a parking study in the works with our pro housing grants, um, which there will be opportunity for the public to comment on as we work through that process.

Um also that to the issue of the noise and the developer potentially being an ally in neighborhood manners.

Um he's seen the videos of the parties.

He is not about that.

No, uh, this developer actually lives three blocks south of this development on Chautauqua.

So he will be driving by it every day.

Um has to do live with these neighbors uh as neighbors, and so does not want to create any kind of condition where there's animosity and where there's bad blood that prohibits any kind of partnership and any kind of collaboration to occur in the future.

Okay.

Those are my questions.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

Josh Hinkle.

Council Mr Hinkle.

Uh a couple of quick questions for you.

One, um, just knowing how the market really does dictate itself and what could potentially go here with the uh pushback of the neighbors.

Has the developer hinted that there would be some sort of homeowners association or condo owners association that may be better suited for policing the problems that we are concerned about more than us changing a spud amendment to something that we really can enforce versus saying if you're going to be a resident of this building, then you can't use it for short-term rentals.

If you're gonna be a resident of this building, then we do have to maintain certain levels of noise pollution management, that type of stuff.

Absolutely.

Um so the strategy with this project is we're gonna actually do a pre-sale to kind of determine what the market viability for is for each type of unit.

Uh and then once we've determined that, we're gonna decide whether we'll be doing a property's association, a POA, or just hiring a property management company to essentially fulfill that function.

Okay.

That's all for me.

Okay, council member Gansbury, and then Councilman Bruce is trying to push the button.

Council Mr.

Gansbury, yeah.

Hearing the concerns of the citizens, especially in seeing and hearing the video of your house and what you have to live with there and everything like that.

I have a question for City Manager Darrell and everything.

I'm not specifically for sure what our noise ordinances for SWATES fraternities, but just for their peace of mind and their standard of life, is there any way we could reach out to Chief Foster and at least have that discussion of there's is there anything at all Norman PD can do?

If not, who do we need to go to with the university to make sure that they don't have to live in that situation anymore?

Um I know in the last um set of circumstances where a fraternity got out of hand, uh the police department made several visits, they were shut down earlier than the permit they had requested.

They'll come back at some point in the not too distant future seeking another permit, and they may be unsuccessful in receiving a permit after this particular incident.

We recognize in student housing like that uh next school year, you could be looking at an entirely different population in that housing unit, uh, but happy to work with a university.

Well, I think I think the lady's video that she has never thing, you know, especially if Chief Foster's been given that gives us more than enough to at least go and try to enforce something and try to help with their situation on that side for sure.

Absolutely.

And Councilmember Gansbury, to that point, uh that was actually one of the big bold comments that I received today that um if we could make the request of PD to actually lean more into the enforcement and uh when I when we have identified a problem house or a nuisance house, really uh make sure that they are not able to continue with that nuisance.

And so I think enforcement ramping that effort up, um just making sure that when there is a complaint called, uh we address it one time and you know, we're able to move on down the road and not as one of the audience members uh alluded to, get used to hearing the re the neighbors' names because they call and make complaints so much.

Like that's not a position that the city wants to be in, and quite frankly, that's not a position that this developer wants to be in.

So thank you.

Councilmember Bruce.

Uh Mr.

Uh Peacock.

So if I'm fortunate enough to have the money to buy a condo, and uh Am I buying a parking slot too?

Am I so I buy a unit?

That's my slot.

We are there's a couple strategies we're considering.

Uh one being first to market gets the parking spaces.

So if you are the first to we're gonna do a pre-sale, we're gonna advertise it all at the same time.

If you're one of the first persons to buy a unit, that comes with a parking space.

Another strategy would be to um have the micro units not come with a parking space.

So you're gonna go into it knowing again, it's a very small unit.

You're you're after a certain lifestyle if you live in that unit, and we think that's a a car-free life lifestyle potentially.

So if I know this going in and I'm uh I'm a student, I buy this.

I'm a graduate student, I buy I'm married.

I know I have one slot.

Man, I'm buying that student parking ticket.

I'm parking pass, so I go park in the high rises.

You know, the right.

If I'm uh not a student, I'm I'm looking at overflow and down by the basketball.

Oh, Timberdale.

Yeah.

Yeah, Lloyd Noble.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I'll, you know, I I often I pick on parking a lot.

Um but what I'll say about this development, and I'll use the church as the example.

Um, every people most times want to treate create parking or treat parking as a worst-case scenario.

So they want to provide a parking space for every person that could potentially be at the residence at one time.

Worst case scenario, people are imagining there's gonna be 300 people at this development.

We need to provide 300 parking spaces.

It's the same logic for a church, you know, they expect a thousand people on Easter Sunday, so they build their entire church and their parking lot and their infrastructure around Easter Sunday when the reality is 364 days of the year, it's underutilized.

And so we're trying to be very intentional to that and provide the right-sized amount of parking, not a bloated parking proposal.

And let's say I'm I'm you know, hey, I'm gonna use this thing.

I'm I don't really live here, but I'm using the state, watch games and stuff like that, come in every once in a while.

If I'm a neighbor, if I'm a neighbor and say, hey, that guy's never here.

I'm gonna go talk to that guy about using a slot, it's a parking slot, how much do you want me to pay you to use your slot when you're not here?

Does that make sense?

Absolutely.

Do you see what happening?

Um I think absolutely.

I think if something that is something that an individual will own, and if they choose to sell it or lease it, I think that is their purview.

And council member grant.

Councilmember Grant.

Yes.

Um, I was gonna ask uh the reason because I get in head up about short-term rentals.

Um, what the reason for allowing it is and what conditions the developer may be willing to remove that at a later date.

Sure.

Uh it's kind of like I mentioned earlier, you know, those are uses allowed in the existing R1 and R3 zoning uh for all the properties, and so we didn't feel like it was appropriate to take that right away from the owner.

Um the potential condo owner.

Exactly.

Uh and so we kept those in there, but I I'll acknowledge that yes, and Norman, they have created some problems in some areas, and so I'm absolutely open to creating a set of guidelines and guardrails that keep those at a minimum.

And if they do happen, you know, they happen in a way that the neighbors can feel comfortable with.

Since the developer is not here tonight and this is on the fly, I don't feel it's fair to make an amendment.

But if you would be open to doing that, when we talk about this again.

Yeah, no, I I can't speak for where he's gonna go with that quest request, but uh absolutely well engage him and see if we can find some wiggle room there.

Okay, thank you.

The um the question questions I had were pre- or answered, but currently the uh you mentioned the Lambdicai parking.

So is it for sure in city staff might be able to verify for sure that they're gonna lose the street parking they have on Lindsay Street?

That is their opinion that they they've they're pretty certain that that's going away, and so they're making plans.

And I'm not sure how many there are, like 10 maybe.

I think it's about 10.

Um how many spots are part of the parking lot that is for them?

Uh I believe it's 28.

Um because I know the Yes, 28.

One of the comments or some of the comments from the church about people parking in their lot is that the Lambda Chai fraternity parks in their lot all the time.

At least when I lived on college, that's what happened I observed.

And um, you know, potentially that had them having a dedicated parking might reduce that by having 28.

If they're losing nine, that means they might have 20 additional than what they have right now, so it still wouldn't cover their whole thing, but that's kind of what I was thinking about how many parking spots they were losing versus how many the fraternity gains with this if you knew that.

Uh I think you're uh pretty close.

I think it's close to 10.

I don't have the exact number, but um so they're they'll be gaining 20-ish.

And um since the empty lot was empty already when the current owner bought it, um probably doesn't have any idea of what the impervious surface was before because for those that aren't familiar, there was an apartment complex here before.

Yeah.

Um it had 20 24 units with a mix of one and two bedrooms.

I lived there for two years, and then I moved next door into a house and lived there for 10 years.

So I lived on this block of college for 12 years from 2010 to 2022, and then the person who bought this property before this current applicant bought the house I lived in from the owner and tore it down, bought the apartment complex, tore it down, and they were going to come forward with a project that was based under the existing zoning.

It was going to be a single large building, uh high density.

And um they did the demolition, but then ended up not coming forward with the project.

Um so that was part of my question is if there was any idea of what the historic impervious surface coverage of this area was because it was all covered in concrete for the most part prior.

The apartment complex had a courtyard, but the buildings and then the back of it were right.

I know I remember it had a horseshoe of three buildings, had a gravel lot behind all the buildings, and then a large green space out front.

I mean, I want to say just visually trying to gauge 60 percent impervious coverage, maybe 65.

And so we're at 79 here, and the ordinance allows us to go up to 85 percent.

Okay.

All right.

The rest of my questions were answered.

There were any final comments or questions about from the applicant or the on this.

Any final comments from counsel about this before Councilmember Grant?

Yes.

Um I just want to say that I will be voting yes for the project, but I'm not going anywhere either.

So I expect to be in conversation with the architect and the developer and the neighborhood to continue to make improvements where we can on this.

So we're committed to having those conversations.

Thank you.

Um I would also say just um again, someone that lived on this block for 12 years, I'm very familiar with the uh noise issues from really one particular fraternity that for several years has been the issue.

There's other fraternities and sororities in the area that I never had a problem with the time the whole time I lived there.

Um this was an area I really enjoyed living in.

I really did not want to leave.

It's one of the most upsetting things in my life to lose the house that I lived in.

And I think about it all the time.

It was a really great place to be, especially in the summer because there's nobody around.

So I've I've been wanting to see it become something.

I knew that it being developed by right under the existing zoning could be bring more density, which might be preferable in our overall goal of wanting more housing options in Norman.

Um I felt that someone coming forward with a spUD would give the opportunity to more detail more curate a development to concerns of the surrounding area, uh, that maybe it wouldn't meet every concern or question about it.

Um it can all be a matter of perspective and neighbors.

You know, I had neighbors next to me that were multiple students living together and were not a problem at all.

And then one of those single family houses that's faces Chitonqua, which was right behind my house, uh, one of the worst neighbors I ever had in my whole life lived in one of those houses for one of the school years.

And I've mentioned it before during our our uh our on video, our Zoom council meetings back during COVID, uh, when I was in one of the in my house, the noise from the house back behind me was so loud that the city manager and staff couldn't hear me talking, the windows were uh rattling in my house.

Um, and so uh, and that was a single family house.

They had put a hot tub in the backyard and had a party every night, and sometimes the music would go till literally 4 a.m.

I just it made no sense to how it was even possible.

And so um that was a single family house right there, and then a few years ago, one of the houses was next door was demolished, and a multi-unit um apartment building was constructed by right under the existing zoning.

I'd not sure how many bedrooms in it, I think 10, and the whole backyard was paved over for a parking lot.

And so that house faces Chautauqua as well, and that was done under the existing zoning by right.

So trying to balance what could happen here under the existing zoning versus spUD like this that is more detailed and has more restrictions, although maybe not exactly perfect for what the neighbors want.

But I do think this is the best scenario compared to what could be done that we've seen and that would probably come forward, and that's been part of my motivation for leaning towards supporting it, and uh with the same concerns that council member grant or discussion that council member grant brought up about um future changes to it, I think are a good idea, and I would hope the developer would be open to that.

Um because if it does become a problem, then we'll be back here.

Absolutely.

So anyway, that's my thoughts on it.

I appreciate everybody that spoke tonight and shared your opinions about this, and um I hope that it can turn out to be a really good project if it goes forward, and um that the concerns that everyone has don't end up uh being an issue, but uh we know that some of them likely will.

So that's all the comments I have.

Are there any final comments from council?

Seeing none.

Okay.

All right.

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

We already or do we did that?

We already have a motion.

I know the main motion on the floor, which is to adopt the ordinance on second reading as amended.

Council members, you may cast your votes.

Thank you.

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

Second.

Are there any final comments from council?

Seeing none.

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

Council members, you may cast your votes.

I'll votes have to adopt the ordinance on final reading as amended, passes unanimously.

Thank you very much.

I've had um some requests from council.

The weather may not be intensifying, but it is moving in and it is raining.

Um I've had question about whether this the rest of this meeting until next Tuesday at six o'clock.

Um I'd be willing to entertain any comment on that if there's a desire to do that, or if we want to try to stick it out and go through it.

Councilmember Grant.

Councilmember Grant.

Yeah, I would be willing to entertain a postponement recess.

It would be a recess.

Yes.

With a date certain, which would be next Tuesday.

Um, yeah, I would be happy to make that motion.

Would that be in place?

Would that be in place of our study session?

So would it be at 5 30 or would it be at 6 30?

I was saying six.

So give people time to residents who want to speak, give them time to get here.

So I'd support that.

Council Mr.

Gaines?

I personally would prefer since how everybody's stuck around and everything that we just get the hard thing over with and everything like that and move on and not have to worry about it another week myself, but that's that's on the behalf of everybody else in here.

Now if the sirens go off, that's another situation.

I am trained in tornado though, so I got you.

Okay.

Any other comments or about that?

Councilman Hulk?

Okay.

Okay, do I need to make a motion or anything on that?

We just need to Helen.

Are you making a motion to recess?

Yes, I'd like to make a motion to recess to a date certain of March 17th at 6 p.m.

Okay.

Okay, so the motion on the floor is to recess this meeting and to reconvene March 17th at 6 p.m.

in the chambers.

Yes.

And to clarify the item 21 and 22 and miscellaneous comments would be the only items on that meeting agenda.

Correct.

We cannot add anything else.

Okay.

So council members, you may vote.

We're happy.

Yeah, it's good everyone.

But I have no choice.

Although it's the motion to recess this meeting to March 17th at 6 p.m.

here in the council chambers.

Passes by vote of 8 to 1.

We have councilman member Gandisbury voting again.

This meeting will reconvene next Tuesday.

Thank you, everybody.

Be careful.

I mean heading home.

I have a storm shelter at home.

There's not a storm shelter there.

Second.

And also there are people who've got a drive in the case.

Yes.

Is it the screen command?

Mr.

Ford?

Kind of we follow the city manager.

So maybe