City schedules public open houses to review draft Unified Development Code

Dawn Thomas, project manager with Friese & Nichols, told the Edmond City Council the draft Unified Development Code (UDC) is ready for wider public review and outlined a public engagement plan consisting of three drop‑in open houses and office hours at City Hall.

Thomas said the update restructures development rules into a single UDC, proposes four context areas that reduce the current 32 zoning districts into approximately 10 new districts with established equivalencies, and updates site‑plan tiers, alternative compliance pathways and design standards intended to maintain neighborhood character while allowing infill and investment. She said the draft also emphasizes legibility — more graphics, a glossary of terms and a digital format with hyperlinks.

The city will host the first open house on Feb. 26 from 3–6 p.m., March 3 from noon–3 p.m., and March 11 from 8–11 a.m., all in the Main Street Conference Room; each open house will be followed by office hours for one‑on‑one discussions. Thomas said staff will provide draft exhibits, a zoning‑change kiosk and printed materials and begin outreach the following day if the schedule is acceptable.

Councilors welcomed varied meeting times and the office hours, and asked staff to add missing attachments to the meeting packet and to post outreach materials online. Thomas emphasized the draft is not intended to drastically change property rights and that many new districts would provide increased flexibility paired with clarified guardrails.