OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Norman City Council Special Meeting – August 18, 2026: Pedestrian Safety and Public Safety Funding Committee

Public Meetings & Live-Streams — Tuesday, August 18, 2026
BodyNorman, Oklahoma
SessionPublic Meetings & Live-Streams
DateTuesday, August 18, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 54:52

Transcript — Verbatim
0:00

So we'll go ahead and get started with the city council special meeting for Tuesday, August 18th, 2026.

0:08

We have three items on the agenda.

0:09

The first one is discussion regarding the placement of pedestrian of pedestrian crossings at the Robin Hill Public School.

0:18

We have Scott Sturritz, Public Works Director here to have that conversation with us.

0:24

Absolutely.

0:25

Good evening.

0:26

Daryl asked me to come tonight and just kind of give it a little brief overview because there's a lot of concern and a lot of importance on this issue, so we wanted to make sure that we all were going the same direction.

0:37

I'm going to start off with initially what was requested here by the school was rumble strips, not a crosswalk.

0:43

So they reached out in May, I believe, and we went out there, did some evaluation that reached back out in July, and we're finally able to coordinate just a few weeks ago to go out there and look at it.

0:56

This is a 50-mile-an-hour roadway.

0:58

Rumble strips are really not a good solution at all on a 50-mile-an-hour roadway.

1:04

You know what they sound like on the highway, that's what they'd sound like here all day long.

1:08

So that was not a good choice.

1:10

So when city staff went out there, they met with the school administrator, I believe it was the superintendent, and they also met with the security officer and started looking at what options were available.

1:22

City staff proposed some solutions.

1:26

Basically, they put in some extra crossing signs, which was an interesting use of those, but they're at other schools and lots of locations.

1:33

And then they offered up using cones to kind of create temporary pathway across that would be highly visible to drivers coming into the school zone.

1:43

So that was kind of where that went.

1:45

And then after that, after that discussion, we felt that everybody had good communication on that, and that was what was initiated.

1:52

And then the request was made to come in and put in crosswalks.

1:55

At that point, we started looking at what crosswalks were if they were appropriate or not.

2:00

We certainly agree with use of crosswalks.

2:03

We think crosswalks are a good thing.

2:05

We always prefer them at a signalize or at a stop condition because it's always a safer condition.

2:11

A lot of places where we put those in, we wind up putting in some kind of cross stop control or at least additional warning lights and other items.

2:19

In this case, this has a few extra little items.

2:22

I just kind of want to put point some of those out.

2:24

First off, it's a 50 mile an hour roadway when it's not a school zone.

2:29

And even the Federal Highway Administration says you do not do mid-block crosswalks on a 50-mile-an-hour street.

2:35

Our own policy that we have, and the written policy was in the memo that was sent out.

2:39

Actually, says above 40.

2:41

Well, it says the 85th percentile of the speed above 40.

2:45

50 mile an hour roadway, the 85th percentile is going to be well above 40, if not above 50 sometimes.

2:54

Also, it gets close to the top of the hill.

2:56

You kind of start coming over hill and you come down back down into it.

2:59

Lots of concerns with it not being stop controlled with with children utilizing it.

3:04

Um kind of a weird placement on where it is.

3:06

You can kind of see it's the black box there.

3:08

I got to kind of point it out.

3:10

You can see it goes from a driveway to the middle of a big drop-off area, which adds a lot of ambiguity as to how they're supposed to travel, where they're supposed to go.

3:19

Um really raises a lot of concerns when we're looking at it from a children's use area and parents who are dropping kids off and finishing their coffee or anything else.

3:30

We always want to try to separate those two because it's always a bad uh it can be a dangerous situation.

3:36

Um, and then the other thing that really impacted the decision making on this was how many of you can tell me where deer crossing signs are that you routinely pay attention to.

3:44

Reason for that is because we get accustomed to that sign being there and no deer.

3:48

The same thing typically happens when you put down these uh crosswalks and places where there's not always pedestrians, you kind of just start ignoring it.

3:56

So there's a lot of concern just here on the safety from staff, um, and we felt and because of these reasons, uh a crosswalk at this location really is not the best alternative.

4:08

Uh so again, we are we ordered the we worked with the school, uh, reported it back.

4:13

Um, I believe they started using those, and we but we did agree that we'd continue to monitor, we we'd continue to take their feedback and that we want to continue to work towards solutions.

4:25

Ultimately, the best solution would be something like you see here, and I'll walk you through this because there's a lot of line work there.

4:32

Uh, but basically the solution would be to add sidewalks down to the this the stop controlled intersection, which would be the safe safest place for that pedestrian crossing.

4:43

Um, so as you start, we'll start on the south side there at that driveway.

4:48

We would put in a sidewalk because there are some extreme grade changes there.

4:53

We'd have to build a retaining wall so that we could get the sidewalk at an ADA standard.

5:00

We would take it down to the intersection where you see the continental crosswalks striped there on the east side of that intersection across the street and then back to the schoolyard, and we'd have to do some few things there, add some curbing just because again, there's a little roll there.

5:12

We'd have to make it to where it was good for the uh the students, and this would be ADA accessible.

5:18

Um we we do believe that this is safe.

5:21

This is our this is the long-term best preferred alternative.

5:25

Um so this is what we would be working towards.

5:28

We did work up a cost estimate and rank it like we do all sidewalk projects.

5:33

Uh the estimate on this one comes in right around 100,000.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Public Safety████████████████████████24%
Capital Improvements█████████████████████21%
Engineering And Infrastructure████████████████████20%
Transportation Safety███████████████████19%
Technology and Innovation████4%
Grant Funding███3%
Community Engagement███3%
Emergency Management███3%
Public Transportation███3%
Summary of Proceedings

Norman City Council Special Meeting – August 18, 2026

The Norman City Council held a special meeting on Tuesday, August 18, 2026, to discuss pedestrian crossings at Robin Hill Public School and a proposed ad hoc committee to review police and fire department needs. No consent calendar or public comments were on the agenda. The meeting concluded with a motion to enter executive session to discuss litigation and a potential property sale.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • No public comments or testimony were presented during the open portion of the meeting.

Discussion Items

Item 1: Pedestrian Crossing at Robin Hill Public School

  • Scott Sturritz, Public Works Director, presented staff’s analysis. He explained that the school initially requested rumble strips, which were deemed unsuitable on a 50-mph roadway due to noise and safety concerns. City staff instead installed additional crossing signs and provided cones to create a temporary highly-visible path. The school then requested a crosswalk, but staff recommended against it because:
    • The roadway is 50 mph (school zone reduces to 25 mph), and the Federal Highway Administration advises against mid-block crosswalks above 40 mph.
    • The location is near the crest of a hill, and the 85th percentile speed is well above 40 mph.
    • The crossing would connect a driveway to a drop-off area, creating ambiguity and potential dangers from distracted parents.
    • Over‑familiarity with signs (like deer crossing signs) may cause drivers to ignore them.
  • Long-term proposed solution: Install a sidewalk and ADA‑accessible route from the south driveway down to the stop‑controlled intersection at 48th Avenue, with a continental crosswalk. Estimated cost: ~$100,000. This project ranked 43rd out of 52 sidewalk projects due to lack of sidewalk connectivity.
  • Councilmember Green asked about grant eligibility (e.g., ACOG’s Schools and Arterials program). Mr. Sturritz confirmed the project would qualify, typically an 80/20 split, and could be funded with about one year of ACOG funding (typically $100,000–$120,000). Councilmember Green expressed interest in exploring grants and potential school/church partnerships.
  • Councilmember Steele suggested partnering with the school to reduce costs and asked for a breakdown of sidewalk projects connected to schools. Councilmember Kirby noted heavy traffic growth in the area and observed drivers running the stop sign; he supported the sidewalk solution and asked about extending the 40 mph zone east of the school. He also asked whether the school could request flashing school‑zone lights during after‑hour events.
  • Councilmember Gansbury thanked staff for quick action and requested the sidewalk project be prioritized and moved up the list. He asked about lowering the speed limit without a study; City Attorney noted that deviating from the MUTCD could waive liability under the Tort Claims Act.
  • Councilmember Bruce asked about the stop sign at 48th and Franklin; staff confirmed they painted new stop bars to increase visibility. Councilmember Dixon inquired about parking patterns (mostly staff and buses at the church).
  • Councilmember McGrant supported the sidewalk project and requested speed studies on Franklin Road and evaluation of flashing lights for school events. He also asked staff to provide school‑specific rankings within the sidewalk program.
  • Mayor and council consensus: Direct staff to gather ranking data for schools, evaluate speed study options, investigate grant opportunities, and report back at a future study session.

Item 2: Ad Hoc Committee on Police/Fire Needs Assessment and Funding Strategies

  • Mayor opened discussion on creating a 9‑member committee (one per ward plus an at‑large member) to review the Matrix study for fire and the forthcoming police space‑needs assessment, and to recommend funding strategies (e.g., bonds, sales tax, or combination). The committee would also consider related public safety needs such as IT/cybersecurity, animal welfare expansion, and emergency management.
  • Councilmembers discussed scope:
    • Councilmember Grant supported including evolution of emergency management and animal welfare departments.
    • Councilmember Steele preferred focusing first on capital improvements (e.g., fire station 11) so facilities are ready when staffing funding becomes available.
    • Councilmember Gansbury emphasized letting the committee study the data thoroughly before rushing to recommendations, and requested regular updates via pre‑council conferences.
    • Councilmember Birch cautioned against diluting the committee’s focus with IT policy, but agreed capital needs and staffing for IT could be included.
    • City Manager noted that a bond for IT infrastructure could be included in a general obligation bond, and that the committee’s work could align with the potential expiration of existing public safety sales tax and transit tax decisions (One Transit vote possibly in February 2027).
  • Mayor proposed appointing the committee on September 8, 2026, with an anticipated one‑year term meeting monthly (more if needed). Applications remain open until Monday, August 24, 2026.
  • Councilmember asked about ballot timelines; staff will provide a list of available election dates. Committee would ideally deliver a recommendation by December 2026 to target an April 2027 ballot, though June 2027 is also possible.

Key Outcomes

Pedestrian Crossing at Robin Hill School

  • No formal vote taken; council directed staff to:
    • Provide the school‑specific ranking of sidewalk projects in the Schools and Arterials program.
    • Conduct speed studies on Franklin Road to evaluate lowering the speed limit.
    • Explore whether the school can activate flashing lights for after‑hour events.
    • Investigate grant opportunities and potential cost‑sharing with the school and church.
    • Report back at a future study session for possible inclusion in the sidewalk program.

Ad Hoc Committee on Public Safety Needs & Funding

  • Council agreed to create a 9‑member ad hoc committee (one from each ward plus one at‑large) to review fire and police needs assessments and recommend funding strategies, including bonds, sales tax, and other options. The committee will also consider IT, animal welfare, and emergency management capital needs.
  • Applications for committee seats will remain open until Monday, August 24, 2026, at 5:00 PM. Council will review applicants and potentially appoint the committee at the September 8, 2026, meeting.
  • The committee is expected to meet monthly for approximately one year, with regular updates to council via pre‑council conferences.

Executive Session

  • The council voted to adjourn the special meeting and convene into executive session under Oklahoma statutes to discuss potential litigation regarding right‑of‑way acquisition for the 36th Avenue/Flood Project Phase 3 and the possible sale of real property at 668 East Lindsay Street. No further action was taken in open session.

Meeting Transcript

So we'll go ahead and get started with the city council special meeting for Tuesday, August 18th, 2026. We have three items on the agenda. The first one is discussion regarding the placement of pedestrian of pedestrian crossings at the Robin Hill Public School. We have Scott Sturritz, Public Works Director here to have that conversation with us. Absolutely. Good evening. Daryl asked me to come tonight and just kind of give it a little brief overview because there's a lot of concern and a lot of importance on this issue, so we wanted to make sure that we all were going the same direction. I'm going to start off with initially what was requested here by the school was rumble strips, not a crosswalk. So they reached out in May, I believe, and we went out there, did some evaluation that reached back out in July, and we're finally able to coordinate just a few weeks ago to go out there and look at it. This is a 50-mile-an-hour roadway. Rumble strips are really not a good solution at all on a 50-mile-an-hour roadway. You know what they sound like on the highway, that's what they'd sound like here all day long. So that was not a good choice. So when city staff went out there, they met with the school administrator, I believe it was the superintendent, and they also met with the security officer and started looking at what options were available. City staff proposed some solutions. Basically, they put in some extra crossing signs, which was an interesting use of those, but they're at other schools and lots of locations. And then they offered up using cones to kind of create temporary pathway across that would be highly visible to drivers coming into the school zone. So that was kind of where that went. And then after that, after that discussion, we felt that everybody had good communication on that, and that was what was initiated. And then the request was made to come in and put in crosswalks. At that point, we started looking at what crosswalks were if they were appropriate or not. We certainly agree with use of crosswalks. We think crosswalks are a good thing. We always prefer them at a signalize or at a stop condition because it's always a safer condition. A lot of places where we put those in, we wind up putting in some kind of cross stop control or at least additional warning lights and other items. In this case, this has a few extra little items. I just kind of want to put point some of those out. First off, it's a 50 mile an hour roadway when it's not a school zone. And even the Federal Highway Administration says you do not do mid-block crosswalks on a 50-mile-an-hour street. Our own policy that we have, and the written policy was in the memo that was sent out. Actually, says above 40. Well, it says the 85th percentile of the speed above 40. 50 mile an hour roadway, the 85th percentile is going to be well above 40, if not above 50 sometimes. Also, it gets close to the top of the hill. You kind of start coming over hill and you come down back down into it. Lots of concerns with it not being stop controlled with with children utilizing it. Um kind of a weird placement on where it is. You can kind of see it's the black box there. I got to kind of point it out. You can see it goes from a driveway to the middle of a big drop-off area, which adds a lot of ambiguity as to how they're supposed to travel, where they're supposed to go. Um really raises a lot of concerns when we're looking at it from a children's use area and parents who are dropping kids off and finishing their coffee or anything else. We always want to try to separate those two because it's always a bad uh it can be a dangerous situation. Um, and then the other thing that really impacted the decision making on this was how many of you can tell me where deer crossing signs are that you routinely pay attention to. Reason for that is because we get accustomed to that sign being there and no deer. The same thing typically happens when you put down these uh crosswalks and places where there's not always pedestrians, you kind of just start ignoring it. So there's a lot of concern just here on the safety from staff, um, and we felt and because of these reasons, uh a crosswalk at this location really is not the best alternative. Uh so again, we are we ordered the we worked with the school, uh, reported it back. Um, I believe they started using those, and we but we did agree that we'd continue to monitor, we we'd continue to take their feedback and that we want to continue to work towards solutions. Ultimately, the best solution would be something like you see here, and I'll walk you through this because there's a lot of line work there. Uh, but basically the solution would be to add sidewalks down to the this the stop controlled intersection, which would be the safe safest place for that pedestrian crossing.

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