Tulsans provide input on plan

Tulsa World - September 23rd, 2008

PlaniTulsa's first meeting draws a full house.

An hour into the first citywide workshop on a new comprehensive plan Monday, about half of the 500 participants were either kneeling on their chairs or standing, the better to see the maps of the future they were designing at their tables.

"It's called pent-up demand," City Planner Ed Sharrer said. "People are ready to create a new vision for the city."

It's been about 30 years since Tulsa made a comprehensive update of its comprehensive plan, which provides guidelines for the physical development of the city.

"This is not going to be sitting on a shelf," Mayor Kathy Taylor told the crowd at the meeting, held at the Greenwood Cultural Center. "It's an action plan."

Melanie West hopes so. The 23-year-old north Tulsan heard about PlaniTulsa — the city's process for updating its comprehensive plan — from friends at Langston University-Tulsa, where she's studying to be a teacher.

West's No. 1 priority for north Tulsa?

"A grocery store," she said with a smile. And "just more facilities aimed toward educational resources for our kids."

Trent Fowler, 38, lives in the Renaissance Neighborhood near the University of Tulsa.

"I've lived here all my life, so I want Tulsa's future to be brighter," he said, adding that he'd "like to have some input."

"Plus, I live in a historic neighborhood," Fowler said, "so I kind of want control over that type of thing."

Some control over the future — as much as is possible — is exactly what the workshops are designed to provide.

John Fregonese, the consultant hired by the city to oversee the comprehensive plan update, stressed that point in a brief presentation to participants before they went to work.

"You're king for a day at your table," he said.

The eight to 10 people at each table were asked to choose from one of four broad objectives — trends, economic development, retaining youth, and neighborhood empowerment — to help guide their planning. Then they were free to place stickers marked for specific types of land use, such as residential subdivision, wherever they liked on the 6-by-6-foot maps that were draped over each table.

As the maps filled with colorful stickers, the chairs emptied as people stood to see better what they were creating.

Sara Wiesman, 16, was one of those kneeling on her seat.

"I hope to really expand the historical places like downtown and the places that kids my age don't feel comfortable going to," she said.

At the end of the session, participants at a number of tables were asked to show what they had come up with.

Each table's design will be recorded by Fregonese's company, Fregonese Associates, and used to come up with several development scenarios that Tulsans will be able to comment on in the spring.

Original Article:
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=20080923_16_A9_hPlani594464