Commission OKs resurfacing at 718 W. Main with landscaping, ADA and parking conditions

The Downtown Design Review Commission on Thursday approved an application to resurface a private parking lot at 718 West Main Street, subject to conditions requiring minimum parking-space dimensions, drive-aisle widths, ADA spaces and installation of street trees or other landscaping to meet the code’s point requirement.

Staff said the lot—immediately south of the police station and long used as a private staging and employee parking area—qualifies as an existing surface parking facility and that resurfacing exceeding 500 square feet triggers minimum landscaping requirements. Laura Griggs, city planning staff, told the commission the code requires “one point of landscaping for every 200 square feet of the development area” and recommended solutions that would avoid ripping out the existing pavement while meeting the landscaping point total.

Griggs said the Downtown Oklahoma City Partnership (DOKC) is finalizing a proposal to replace missing or dead street trees in the downtown Business Improvement District but that the DOKC proposal did not include a partnership with the police department. Ryan Concha, senior project manager in Public Works, told commissioners the work is funded with unlisted 2017 GO bond funds that must be spent by May to meet IRS obligations. “We have to have them spent by May,” Concha said, explaining the timeline pressure.

The commission’s approval requires the applicant to meet minimum parking standards spelled out in the staff report (regular spaces 8.5 feet by 18 feet; ADA spaces 11 feet by 18 feet with a 5-foot clear aisle; and a minimum two-way drive aisle of 24 feet, plus at least one ADA space per 25 parking spaces). The motion also required installation of landscaping and street trees at the corner between the fence and the sidewalk and street trees along Main Street between the sidewalk and the curb, with details to be worked out with staff. Commissioner Copeland seconded the motion; the motion passed.

The staff report noted alternatives to in-ground irrigation and allowed use of landscaping “points” on adjacent lots if the applicant could not meet all requirements on the subject parcel. Griggs said staff supports requiring the minimum landscaping and offered flexibility on how the points are achieved.

The approval applies only to the resurfacing proposal as presented; any future redevelopment would be reviewed against downtown design regulations and could require additional permits.

Votes at a glance: the application identified in the record as DTCA-25-000009R1, 718 West Main Street, was approved with the staff conditions described above.