Commission recommends approval for paver parking at north Wylie Post Park

The Downtown Design Commission on May 15 recommended approval of design plans for the north side of Wylie Post Park and recommended that the Board of Adjustment grant a variance permitting brick pavers to be used for two new parking areas.

Laura Griggs of the Planning Department told commissioners that most of the park renovation work was approved administratively but the proposed use of pavers for two parking lots required the commission’s recommendation because it implicates the city’s paving rules and a variance from the Board of Adjustment. "The public works director has signed off on the pavers and so we typically defer to them as far as the construction type for parking lots," Griggs said.

Jeff Evans, the project designer with PDG, said the north-side parking and an adjacent multiuse event area will match brick paver patterns used on the south side of Wylie Post Park. He described other park features, including an amphitheater, a USS Oklahoma memorial, playgrounds, plazas and pavilions.

A commissioner moved to recommend approval of the application on the basis that the project complies with the Downtown Design District zoning ordinance, conditioned on the applicant obtaining the variance from the Board of Adjustment from the regulation requiring hard-surface pavement for parking lots. The motion was seconded and passed.

The commission’s action forwards the pavers variance to the Board of Adjustment for final consideration; staff noted public works has already signed the project packet and that construction on other park components is underway.