Edmond, Oklahoma

Zoning Ordinance
   

For the City of Edmond, a rapidly-growing suburb of Oklahoma City, Duncan Associates is updating the city's existing zoning ordinance. A diagnostic report was prepared that contained several policy questions related to issues such as: tree preservation, administrative versus discretionary site plan approval and alternative dwelling unit types. These questions were consolidated into a survey format and distributed to various stakeholders. Their input will play an important role in drafting the updated ordinance. Currently, many site plan issues are negotiated and decided upon in front of the

City Council rather than with a more technical body such as a Site Plan Review Team. In an effort to utilize more "carrots" than "sticks" the new ordinance will seek to make quality development easier by making site plan approval quicker with fewer steps.This can be accomplished by having clearly defined site design standards that must be met and approved administratively, rather than left for later negotiation. Edmond’s current zoning ordinance had too many out-dated and duplicative permitted uses. Duncan Associates worked to eliminate these obsolete terms, introduce modern ones and consolidate existing uses into "categories." These categories enable the City to regulate similar uses in terms of where they are permitted, as well as their parking and buffering requirements. Several modern word processing techniques will be introduced to the new ordinance to make it easier for the lay person to use including an index, cross-referencing and headers and footers that let the user more easily thumb through the document to find the appropriate section. Throughout the drafting process, a steering committee is providing a "reality check" to make sure that the new ordinance truly meets the specific needs of the community.