By John Dobberstein, Editor
A special “overlay district” that will help guide city leaders on the redevelopment of New Orleans Square in south Broken Arrow will be discussed Thursday during a public hearing.
The hearing is slated for 5:30 p.m. at the Broken Arrow City Council Chambers, 220 S. 1st St. and it will be a joint session of the Broken Arrow Planning Commission and Citizens Advisory Committee for New Orleans Square.
Those interested in reviewing the overlay district document can click here to download the report.
The city says this overlay provides new zoning intended to guide the future growth of the area surrounding the intersection of New Orleans and Elm, which was dubbed “New Orleans Square” last year.
The overlay was prepared to encourage redevelopment in and around the existing shopping centers in the area, along with other nearby underutilized land.
The code also responds to the proposed landscape and intersection improvement project, including new landscaping and pedestrian improvements at the intersection.
The city says the overlay is intended to foster new residential and mixed-use development with more predictable results and a higher-quality public realm “by prescribing the physical form of buildings and addressing the relationship between building facades and the public realm, the form and mass of buildings in relation to one another, and the scale and types of streets and blocks.”
Kimley-Horn, a planning and design engineering firm from Oklahoma City, aided city planners and the Advisory Committee with creating and refining the overlay district.
If recommendation is given to proceed with the overlay district, it will go before the Broken Arrow City Council for final approval.
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