Council signals support to pursue land swap with Norman Public Schools to relocate Northeast Lions playground

Good evening and welcome to the city council special meeting of Tuesday, 03/18/2025. 2 items on the agenda. The first of these is discussion regarding the exchange of a portion of land in Woods Lawn Park near Adams Elementary School and a portion of land in the Twelfth Avenue Recreation Center property for a connecting piece to of land to Northeast Lions Park and Eisenhower Elementary School.

Council members at the March 18 special meeting gave staff informal approval to pursue a proposed land exchange with Norman Public Schools that would transfer roughly 2.502 acres in the north end of High Meadows into city parkland and, in return, convey roughly 0.87 acres of city-owned property to the school district. The swap is intended to relocate the existing Northeast Lions playground to a more visible, street-facing site and to connect High Meadows to Northeast Lions Park.

The move responds to longstanding concerns about the playground’s low visibility and repeated vandalism at its current location, parks staff said. The proposal would consolidate several adjacent parcels: the city would include the east half of the Twelfth Avenue Recreation Center back lot and a small portion of Woodlawn Park among the properties discussed for transfer or exchange. Parks staff told council the north end of High Meadows is owned by Norman Public Schools and already contains a school-built playground that sits partially on city property; staff said it would make sense for the school to own the entire area containing that playground.

Staff showed an overhead plan and described possible layouts. The presentation said Twelfth Avenue property has previously been identified in the city’s 2009 park master plan as a potential future site for a new or renovated recreation center; staff used a recently built, roughly 34,000-square-foot recreation center in Oklahoma City as an illustrative example to show there would still be room for a rec center on the Twelfth Avenue site after any partial exchange. Parks staff also said the Twelfth Avenue site previously included a parcel that was once school property and was exchanged several years ago for tennis-court land elsewhere.

Parks staff said existing pickleball courts at Twelfth Avenue would remain city property for the foreseeable future. The parks presentation noted drainage work the city recently completed near Woodlawn Park and said the school district would likely take on maintenance of the drainage features that serve the playground area. Staff also described an existing shelter and pedestrian bridge that would remain with the park and said a walking path could be added or shortened to link the relocated playground to the Twelfth Avenue parking lot, depending on tree removal or species in the path corridor.

Parks staff answered council questions about the park pond’s depth (estimated about 12 to 15 feet) and noted the pond is among several city ponds designated for close-to-home fishing. Staff said Norman Public Schools representatives had contacted the city about expanding parking near Eisenhower Elementary School, and that the parcel under discussion near Twelfth Avenue had been identified as an area that could help with that parking need.

Council members did not take a formal vote on the land exchange at the special meeting. After discussion, council members gave staff a nonbinding thumbs-up to move forward. Parks staff said they already have the parcels surveyed and plan to present formal documentation and a staff action item to the Park Board before returning to the council; staff estimated a survey and Park Board submittal within 30 to 45 days.

Staff emphasized that formal conveyance requires documentation and future approvals by the Park Board and the council; the meeting record shows no ordinance or resolution was introduced or adopted at this session.