The City of Tulsa will have its own planning commission to consider zoning requests beginning in early September.
The change was initiated when the mayor’s office approached the county commission earlier this year. Changes take effect Sept. 2, ending 73 years of joint city-county planning as the Tulsa Metropolitan Planning Commission permanently adjourns.
Each entity will then be responsible for its own planning.
Tulsa County commissioners approved the changes July 27 and intend to assume responsibility for planning from the Indian Nations Council of Governments effective Jan. 1, according to an Aug. 11 memorandum.
According to county engineer Alex Mills, seven members will serve on Tulsa County’s new planning commission. Each county commissioner will appoint two members from their respective districts while the commissioner or their designee serve as the seventh.
Meetings will be at 1:30 p.m. on the second Wednesday of every month at Tulsa County Headquarters at 218 W. 6th St., Room 132.
Mills indicated there will be no significant changes to reviews or interactions.
All nine city councilors voted for the change at their Aug. 5 meeting. The measure passed with an emergency clause, meaning it would go into effect immediately.
People serving on the 11-member joint board were previously appointed by both the city and the county. Going forward, members of the city’s planning commission will be nominated by the mayor, subject to confirmation by the city council.
The number of members on the city’s planning commission will also be reduced to nine. The mayor or his designee will be an ex-officio member of the commission and will be entitled to vote.
Susan Miller, director of the city’s planning department, said the joint city-county planning commission followed different rules under state statute. The nine-member commission will focus “only on planning and zoning matters within the city limits of Tulsa.”
Despite changes, Miller predicts very little difference in how applicants will interact with the new commission versus TMAPC.
“Because the statutes differ, some procedural matters will look slightly different, but the applicants and members of the public coming to the planning commission will see no changes in their process,” Miller said. “The same planning staff will continue to assist applicants and members of the public, both at the City of Tulsa and at the county.”
All information needed to work with the new planning commission is available at tulsaplanning.org, she added.
The Aug. 19 meeting was the final day for cases submitted to the old commission, Miller said, adding the committee will hold a brief meeting Sept. 2 to approve meeting minutes before adjourning permanently.
Following that brief meeting, Miller said, the new city planning commission will hold its first meeting.
Members of the city’s urban and economic development committee heard from potential planning commission members at their Aug. 19 meeting.
After a brief question and answer session, District 4 Councilor Laura Bellis, who chairs the committee, indicated appointments would be voted upon at the council’s regular meeting Wednesday.
Earlier this year, Tulsa Documenters learned the city and county ended another joint effort. In April, commissioners agreed to dissolve the Tulsa Area Emergency Management Agency, formally ending the joint city-county structure that coordinated disaster response across the area.
Kevin Blair is a Tulsa Documenter and freelance contributor to the Tulsa Flyer.
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