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RESOLUTION NO. R-1314-123: A RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NORMAN, OKLAHOMA, AMENDING THE NORMAN 2025 LAND USE AND TRANSPORTATION PLAN SO AS TO PLACE PART OF THE NORTHEAST QUARTER OF SECTION 16, TOWNSHIP 8 NORTH, RANGE 2 WEST OF THE INDIAN MERIDIAN, NORMAN, CLEVELAND COUNTY, OKLAHOMA, IN THE COMMERCIAL DESIGNATION AND REMOVE THE SAME FROM THE LOW DENSITY RESIDENTIAL DESIGNATION, CONTAINING APPROXIMATELY 30.07 ACRES, AND TO PLACE A PART OF THE PROPERTY IN THE COMMERCIAL DESIGNATION AND CURRENT URBAN SERVICE AREA AND REMOVE THE SAME FROM THE MIXED USE/SPECIAL PLANNING AREA 7 DESIGNATION AND FUTURE URBAN SERVICE AREA, CONTAINING APPROXIMATELY 2.18 ACRES. (SOUTHEAST CORNER OF CEDAR LANE ROAD AND CLASSEN BOULEVARD)
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SUMMARY OF REQUEST: The applicant’s representative submitted an application to rezone and amend the NORMAN 2025 Land Use and Transportation Plan from Low Density Residential Designation to Commercial Designation and from Mixed Use/Special Planning Area 7 and Future Urban Service Area (FUSA) to Commercial Designation and Current Urban Service Area (CUSA) on a property located at the southeast corner of Classen Boulevard and Cedar Lane Road extending to 24th Avenue S.E. This property was zoned I-1, Light Industrial District in 1967 and 1968. The rezoning request is to change from I-1, Light Industrial District to C-2, General Commercial District.
The subject area, approximately 32 acres total, was designated on the Norman COMPLAN, adopted March of 1981, as Industrial and Industrial Reserve; these two designations are Current Urban Service Area (CUSA) and Future Urban Service Area (FUSA), respectively. The NORMAN 2020 Plan, adopted March of 1997, designated the area as Low Density Residential, with both CUSA and FUSA designations, and a portion as Industrial FUSA. In 2004, the NORMAN 2020 Plan was updated with the NORMAN 2025 Plan. With that update, this area was designated once again as Low Density Residential, however, the FUSA designation was removed and the entire Low Density Residential designation was considered CUSA. The Industrial FUSA Designation was changed to Mixed Use and included in a Special Planning Area, SPA 7. This new proposal for Mixed Use/SPA 7 was designated as FUSA.
SPA 7 was established to create a unified overall master development plan for that specific area. The goal of the overall plan is: “to bring in mutually supportive uses in the area; address design relationships and connections to the planned/adjacent residential areas; design of the site such as landscaping, signage and buildings and assure appropriate ingress and egress to mitigate the potential traffic impacts on Classen Boulevard”. While this development is only taking in a small portion of SPA 7, this proposal meets the general goals of the conditions set forth in SPA 7. The commercial uses will create jobs and promote commercial/tax based uses for the area. The access points for the development have connection points to the adjacent lots within the development, managing the ingress/egress off Classen, an important element to the guidelines of SPA 7. While there is not a residential component to this development this is not to say the remaining, southern portion of SPA 7 won’t propose residential uses in the future. Previously, The Links/The Greens, a multi-family development to the east of this request, located on the east side of 24th Avenue S.E., removed approximately 30 acres from the SPA 7 for their use in the development of the apartments and golf course.
The 2025 Plan identifies two criteria that must be examined before a land use change is approved.
1. There has been a change in circumstances resulting from development of the properties in the general vicinity which suggests that the proposed change will not be contrary to the public interest.
In recent years there have been several developments, both residential and commercial, in this general area.
To the north are Southlake Addition, St. James Park Addition, and Cedar Lake Estates; all three are single-family additions. There are two apartment complexes, Renaissance and Chapel Ridge north of the single-family additions. Renaissance Apartments has 228 units, with one, two and three bedroom units. Chapel Ridge Apartments has 144 units, with one, two and three bedroom units. Southlake Addition has 132 single-family lots. Currently, St. James Park Addition has 176 lots platted and Cedar Lake Estates has sixteen large lot single-family home sites. St. James Park still has the southern portion, adjacent to Cedar Lane Road, to develop so there is a possibility of approximately 489 single-family lots to be platted in the future. There are several new commercial developments north and west of this proposal, along the east and west sides of Classen Boulevard, south of State Highway 9.
To the east are two apartment complexes, The Links and The Greens at Norman. The Links has 528 units, consisting of one and two bedroom units. The Greens at Norman has 396 units, also consisting of one and two bedroom units. This development has a golf course. This course is open to the residents of the apartments as well as to the public, with membership.
Directly south, the land is vacant. There are no proposals or preliminary plats under consideration for development in that area. Further south is a branch of the Astellas facility. This facility was a distribution center that closed and Astellas moved some of their operations into the building.
To the west, across Classen Boulevard, there is a mix of residential and industrial uses. Several of the lots to the west have expanded with soft industrial uses, such as a mini-storage facility and an assembly business for medical gel-packs.
Further west, across the railroad tracks there are numerous single-family developments, some existing and some proposed. The Eagle Cliff Addition final platted 496 single-family lots. The Eagle Cliff South Addition final platted 167 single-family lots, with 101 remaining in the preliminary plat. The Cedar Lane Addition preliminary platted 692 single-family lots. The Monterey Addition preliminary platted 157 single-family lots. Independence Valley final platted 43 single-family lots. There are two student based multi-family developments on the east side of 12th Avenue S.E., north and west of this development proposal, The Grove and The Avenue. The Grove consists of 224 units with 600 beds. The Avenue, currently under construction, consists of 197 units with 704 beds. Both of these facilities are leased by the bed not the unit.
SPA 7 exists on both the west and east sides of 24th Avenue S.E. In 2008 a developer requested a portion of SPA 7, on the east side of 24th Avenue S.E., be removed to allow for a multi-family development. The new designation for that area is Medium Density Residential. There is a portion of SPA 7 remaining south of the multi-family development along the east side of 24th Avenue S.E.
2. There is a determination that the proposed change would not result in adverse land use or adverse traffic impacts to surrounding properties or the vicinity.
The growth within this general area has been substantial, as you can see from the above noted development list. The expansion/improvements to Classen Boulevard, the future expansion of East Cedar Lane Road and signalization at the corner of Classen Boulevard and East Cedar Lane Road are making way for continued development in this area. The access points for the proposal have been reviewed by staff. The access points for the development have been approved while taking into consideration the road designation and traffic flow. The lots are set back off of East Cedar Lane Road helping to eliminate any impacts on the residential component to the north.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION: This area of southeast Norman has grown in recent years. Zoning and land use changes, as well as roadway expansions, have made way for this growth. Staff supports the request to amend the NORMAN 2025 Land Use and Transportation Plan from Low Density Residential Designation to Commercial Designation and from Mixed Use/Special Planning Area 7 and Future Urban Service Area (FUSA) to Commercial Designation and Current Urban Service Area (CUSA). Staff recommends approval of Resolution No. R-1314-123.
Planning Commission, at their June 12, 2014 meeting, unanimously recommended adoption of this resolution by a vote of 9-0.