Planning commission recommends rezoning of roughly 21-block East Park and Southern Heights area to allow duplexes

ENID, Okla. — The Enid Metropolitan Area Planning Commission voted Jan. 27 to recommend rezoning a roughly 21-block area that includes portions of East Park, Southern Heights and adjacent plats from R2 (single-family) to R4 (two-family/duplex), allowing duplex construction where lots and owners choose to do so.

Planning staff said the rezoning is intended to provide flexibility for property owners and developers to build duplexes without separate spot rezonings. “Since the area is primarily zoned R2, we didn’t want there to be individual little spot zonings of R4 across the neighborhood,” Scott, a planning staff member, said during the hearing. He told commissioners the neighborhood boundaries under consideration run to State (north), Third Street (west), Seventh Street (east) and France (south).

The change would leave non-R2 parcels unchanged; staff said commercial parcels, special-use sites such as Booker T. Washington and Carver Elementary, and existing R7 zoning were excluded from the rezoning proposal. Under current code, R2 allows only single-family dwellings (and uses such as small group homes up to five residents and home occupations), while R4 permits one- and two-family dwellings, accessory living quarters above a garage and group homes up to 10 residents. Staff noted minimum lot-size differences: 6,000 square feet for a single-family home in R2 versus 7,000 square feet for a duplex in R4.

The commission heard public comments both for and against the change. Betty Harrison Littlepage, who identified her residence at 409 East Wabash, said she was concerned about changes to a street she described as a family street and asked how rezoning would affect what neighbors could do on their lots. “So are you rezoning so that individuals could just redo their homes or do their property?” Littlepage asked. Scott answered that existing single-family construction would still be allowed and that property owners who do not want duplexes need not build them.

A city commissioner representing the ward spoke in favor, calling the area long blighted and saying recent infrastructure investments make redevelopment feasible. The commissioner said the city used an Oklahoma Water Resources Board loan for water-main improvements (about $1.8 million was cited by staff for water-main and meter work in the neighborhood) and described developer interest, an Oklahoma Finance Authority review, and a local builder ready to begin construction. “We have investors that are coming to Enid to help us revitalize that land,” the commissioner said.

Staff emphasized the proposal is not for multifamily apartment complexes or commercial redevelopment; the change would simply allow duplexes as an additional option where lot size and other standards are met. Staff also noted the area had been identified in the comprehensive plan as a “redeveloping neighborhood” targeted for reinvestment.

After discussion, a motion to recommend the rezoning to the mayor and Board of Commissioners carried unanimously. The planning commission’s recommendation is advisory; the final legal change would require action by the mayor and Board of Commissioners.

The commission recorded the matter as a public hearing and forwarded its recommendation to the mayor and Board of Commissioners for final action.