Were We Listening? Part One
Imagine this "streetwall" along Robinson Avenue without the middle building, replaced insteady by a landscaped entry plaza to the SandRidge headquarters.
So it was a year ago or so that walkability author and expert Jeff Speck was brought to town to tell us how to make our downtown livable again. One of his key recommendations was to stop creating gaps in the urban fabric. So what’s going on since?
- We have the Oklahoma City Community Foundation in the midst of tearing down a second building along NW 10.
- SandRidge Petroleum is proposing interupting the “streetwall” along Robinson – downtown’s longest stretch – and replacing a building with open space. A similar plan is set for Broadway.
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Comments
If you’re really concerned, go to the Downtown Design Review meeting and let them know! These committees bend very easily to public comments…
Minimum heights of streetwalls, setbacks and other issues should be mandated through a specific zoning code for the downtown area and shouldn’t be subject to changes. Bulk and massing…Are these issues not specifically addressed in the zoning for downtown OKC?
We’ve seen from experience with the new chamber headquarters that the downtown urban design standards can be bypassed.
Steve, just tell us a meeting time and date and we’ll be there. I will at least. I just got back into OKC myself and I’ll be here till mid January.
There’s no reason for this to happen. We don’t need to be taking steps backward in density. The CBD is the CBD, and NW Expwy towers are NW Expwy towers. I am not a rabid preservationist, and I understand that for some exceptional cases (rail lines, expressways, massive rezoning/redevelopment projects of blighted areas), sometimes some history must be lost. I don’t however see this as one of these cases. I think we’ve been here once before, and I’d think most people who care about downtown are firm in the belief that we need to preserve and build more urban fabric, not take more of it away. We have precious little of it in comparison to most cities, and I cringe whenever I think of us working to further erase our own history and identity, especially in this case where we have so much open land, surface parking lots, etc for new development it’s crazy. We have MANY blank slates in this city.
There isn’t much less inviting than a harsh streetwall when actually looking at walkability and light/air standards for higher density zoning. Especially when walking down narrow sidewalks and passing seemingly vacant buildings…that being said it doesn’t necessarily mean we should demo existing structures when we already have a downtown that looks like Swiss cheese.
OK.. this Urban Design committee is going to meet this week, but when? That will be my only opportunity to speak to them in person about the SandRidge stuff, because after New Years I go back up to finish my spring semester. Their website got rid of the 09 agenda and put up the 2010 calender already and their “current agenda” on the website is from 2007. Go figure.
http://www.okc.gov/planning/urban_des/index.html
Calenders from previous years suggest it will be towards the end of this week that they meet.
I don’t exactly matter on these issues, but I’d be willing to write a letter to whoever would listen (Urban Design, Sandridge, etc) just as a concerned citizen. I definitely think this side of the argument needs to be heard fully.
I hope the Urban Design committee isn’t meeting on the Sandridge plans this week, I’d like to think the public would have more time after announcement to get engaged. Of course, that might very well not be the case.
not really a big deal …. and when a company that has been a great citizen of OKC wants to enhance its offices to the tune of 300 mil .. we should let them
It is a big deal.
How long would this project take – 2-3 years? In the meantime, Sandridge could get bought out or they could find themselves bankrupt or unable to finance the development due to economic forces outside of their control. It’s not hard to imagine a scenario where the buildings get demolished and another 30 years goes by before anything gets built on the new parking lots.
Also, it’s $100 million from what I understand, not 300.
Does Sandridge have to go through only Downtown Design Review before tearing down anything? Which committees/boards and in what order will they have to go through? Time to mount an opposition.
Someone needs to make sure that Sandridge proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is no earthly way to renovate, restore, or adapt that building before they put in a windy plaza.