A preliminary land use plan for the upcoming Peoria Avenue bus rapid transit route says the city may want to change how a lot of the land is zoned.
The plan was developed during a survey period that included six public workshops, three walking tours and two days of focus groups.
Much of the land along the route is zoned for commercial use. Duncan Associates' Kirk Bishop said that allows flexibility for future economic development the rapid transit route should encourage.
"It's not that the existing zoning is an impediment to that, but it allows such a wide range of, kind of, physical forms of development that there could be instances where something would go in, in a station area that's not conducive to the type of environment that we're trying to create," Bishop said.
Development efforts will focus on seven enhanced station areas along the roughly 12-mile route.
"The bus rapid transit itself, as a route, has the opportunity to incentivize economic development along Peoria Avenue, but pieces have to be in place to actually help with that economic development," said City Planner Jennifer Gates.
Changing from commercial to mixed-use zoning — a new category in Tulsa's updated zoning code — could better guarantee walkable development with higher density to help make the bus line a success. The city can lead that charge, or developers could be encouraged to initiate zoning changes.
"The normal rezoning fees, you know, could be reduced or waived — as a possibility. These are just conceptual things," Bishop said. "In some communities where the time it takes to do these types of rezoning is lengthy, communities have offered kind of an expedited process."
Bishop said it could also be as simple as telling land owners how a zoning change could benefit their bottom line.
The Peoria Avenue bus rapid transit route is currently slated to start running in 2021, though Tulsa Transit is looking for ways to start service in 2019.
