Council Approves Land-Use Change and Special Use for Victory Family Church Expansion; Preliminary Plat Also Approved

The Norman City Council unanimously approved a set of companion actions May 27 to allow Victory Family Church to expand its campus: the council amended the city's land use and transportation plan to change a parcel from industrial to institutional, granted a special-use permit allowing a place of worship in an I-1 Light Industrial District, and approved a preliminary plat for a new parking area.

Christian Hagen of Grafton Toll, representing Victory Family Church, told the council the church plans to expand its auditorium by roughly 50,000 square feet and add about 3,000 seats. Hagen said the expansion will reduce existing parking in the short term and that the proposed new parking area is designed to tie into existing detention infrastructure: the site is served by a chain of retention/detention ponds to the south and east, and staff and the applicant proposed a bioswale and additional inlet structures to improve filtration and handle stormwater. Hagen said there will be sidewalks along the Flood Avenue frontage and two entrances on 20th Avenue Northwest; preliminary landscape plans show numerous canopy trees within parking islands and perimeter planting.

On the zoning items, planning commission recommended approval and council adopted the resolution and ordinances unanimously. The preliminary plat was approved by unanimous vote as well; the applicant and staff said the design provides pedestrian connectivity and preserves a buffer (about 100 feet noted in the discussion) between the parking edge and the water-quality zone of an adjacent pond.