In August 2020, a team of Edmond City Council members, municipal employees and local residents began the process of formulating a long-term development plan for the city.
The result was the East Edmond 2050 plan (embedded below), which is based on input from a number of workshops and 2,896 citizen surveys. The plan was officially adopted by the City Council on Monday, March 28.
“Everyone get their energizer batteries, because this is just the beginning,” Mayor Darrell Davis said moments before councilmembers voted. “The work is getting ready to start now. The real work is getting ready to start.”
East Edmond 2050 sets the city’s strategy for future development to accommodate the 40,000 new residents that are projected to call Edmond home between now and 2050. It includes 16,200 new homes and 8 million square feet of new commercial area.
The plan was originally intended to guide growth and development in east Edmond and along the Interstate 35 corridor, referred to in the plan as the “east Edmond study area.” But at the March 28 council meeting, Ken Bryan — an Edmond city planner and the project manager for East Edmond 2050 — said it eventually developed into a city-wide plan.
“As we worked through the planning process and we looked at different development patterns in this portion of the city that became known as east Edmond, it became apparent that activity needed to occur on the west side of Edmond as well,” Bryan said. “So you’ll see what we have, in fact, is a city-wide plan, as opposed to just an east Edmond plan.”
The plan lists five major themes that emerged during its development:
- Preservation/protection of forested area.
- Preservation/protection of rural area.
- Ample opportunity for open recreation and space.
- Preference for mixed use vs. single-use development.
- Preference for strong fiscal performance and responsible use of public resources.
Areas of emphasis were established for each side of Edmond, Bryan said. On the west side, the plan prioritizes further development in the South Broadway corridor and downtown. On the east side — in addition to growth along I-35 — the plan prioritizes the construction of walkable, mixed use “villages,” while maintaining open space and the rural character of the area.
The city worked with consultants — led by Halff Associates, Inc. and sub-consultant Urban3 — who initially presented the city with five alternative broad plans for the project, but the general sentiment was that none of the scenarios captured what Edmond citizens want for the future of their community.
This feedback was then incorporated into the creation of a “preferred scenario,” in which overarching initiatives, with related action items, were identified to implement the overall plan:
- Preserve and restore the Cross Timbers forest.
- Update the Cross Timbers database.
- Update the city’s development codes.
- Update zoning, subdivision and draining ordinances.
- Establish criteria for density bonuses.
- Incorporate use of transfer of development rights.
- Modernize the city’s approach and role in the development process.
- Encourage use of conservation easements.
- Create fiscal checklist for development proposals.
- Explore assessment districts for new “place types.”
- Create a real property or real estate division.
- Create partnerships to establish conservation/mitigation banks.
- Create a fiscally resilient balance between costs, charges, benefits, and value.
- Explore the feasibility of establishing a public safety district.
- Explore the use of development impact fees.
- Explore the feasibility of implementing utility rates based on location and site-specific characteristics.
- Explore the feasibility of a street maintenance fee.
- Explore the feasibility of a roadway utility fee.
- Explore the feasibility of implementing service adjustments based on level of service.
- Establish a maintenance and monitoring process for the plan.
- Update the city’s comprehensive plan, Edmond Plan 2018.
- Revisit the East Edmond 2050 preferred scenario every five years.
Residents can sign up to receive updates on the plan as it proceeds through the implementation phase.
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Read the East Edmond 2050 Plan
