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SUBMISSION OF THE ANNUAL REPORT OF THE NORMAN 2025 LAND USE AND TRANSPORTATION PLAN
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BACKGROUND: Since the 1997 adoption of the Norman 2020 Land Use and Transportation Plan (NORMAN 2020), and its successor, the Norman 2025 Land Use and Transportation Plan (NORMAN 2025), adopted in 2004, the Planning and Community Development Department staff has produced an annual report on the status of development in the City of Norman. This year’s report summarizes development activity for calendar year 2019. Staff provides this annual report to Planning Commission and City Council members to allow comparison of the pace of growth anticipated by the land use plan and its companion document Norman 2025 Land Demand Analysis (Land Demand) to the actual rate of development that has occurred in the community.
This report consists of five sections. Each section describes different aspects of development and planning that occurred in the City of Norman during 2019. Sections begin with a narrative that is followed, where applicable, by maps and tables that include statistical summaries of the amount, type, and location of development and construction in Norman for calendar year 2019. Several tables include information dating back five years. These tables put the current year’s development into a temporal context and illustrate trends and changes that have occurred in recent years.
DISCUSSION:
CONSTRUCTION
The value of construction permitted during this year was $249.6 million. The overall value of construction is up $26.9 million from 2018. Both commercial and residential construction saw gains, with commercial construction increasing by $24 million and residential construction increasing $3 million. As in 2018, publicly funded construction accounted for less of the total than might be expected with many of the planned Norman Forward projects still on hold. The majority of the key nonresidential projects were privately funded.
The total value of residential construction increased by $3 million over the previous year, led by a $6 million increase in single-family permits. The total value of single-family houses permitted in 2019 was $119.4 million with average value of the individual unit decreasing to $275,000, which is down $10,000 from 2018. The current value is in line with mid $270,000s per unit that was the value from 2015-2017. The value of duplexes permitted increased by almost $3 million and additions and alterations were up slightly. The only area that decreased significantly was multi-family housing, which was down $6 million. The total number of single-family permits was the most in the last five years, which may signal a return to a housing mix that is similar to the pre-housing crisis market.
The majority (86%) of all residential units were constructed in the Current Urban Service Area. Units constructed in the Suburban Residential and Country Residential Growth Areas account for the other 14%. The largest numbers of single-family units were permitted in Ward 6 followed by Wards 5 and 8.
LAND USE PLAN AND ZONING AMENDMENTS
The City of Norman processed six applications for amendments to the Norman 2025 Land Use and Transportation Plan in 2019. The largest amendment in 2019 was a 70-acre request to allow for building the City’s Emergency Operation Center and future use by the Norman Utilities Department. There was one service/growth area amendment in 2019.
The City of Norman acted on 21 applications for rezoning during calendar year 2019. The City of Norman had several large rezoning requests. The largest area rezoned was 147 acres for Ruby Grant Park, which rezoned from A-2, Rural Agricultural District, to PL, Park Land District. The second largest rezoning is the site of the Emergency Operations Center, seventy acres of land was rezoned from A-2 to A-1 with Special Use for Municipal Use and Park Land. Some of the area will be reserved for future use by the Utility Department. The third largest was 26 acres from A-2 to I-1 with Special use for municipal uses on North Base.
PLATTING AND SUBDIVISION
In 2019 the City processed 10 Preliminary Plats totaling approximately 411 acres and including 215 lots. Nine Final Plats were approved in 2019 totaling about 88 acres and including 167 lots. All but one final platted lot were in the Current Urban Service Area.
COMPREHENSIVE PLAN UPDATE
The preparation of PlanNorman was suspended in early 2018. The consultant’s last action was drafting a revised version of the plan based on comments received from the Steering Committee in December 2017. That draft was available in January 2018 and remains available on the city website.
CONSIDERATION: Staff presents the Annual 2019 Status Report on Development and the Norman 2025 Plan for your review and information.