The Tulsa Jail, the Salvation Army and several bail bonds businesses are on Denver Avenue in the northwest quadrant of the city. The cluster of social and government services in that area has led some people to mistakenly believe the city dictates that those kinds of services be placed there. KEVIN CANFIELD/The Frontier
It’s happening again. Iron Gate’s latest attempt to relocate its soup kitchen and grocery pantry has led some people to mistakenly conclude that the city has designated a certain part of town for social services.
Often, those people refer to the Downtown Area Master Plan to support their position. But as Dawn Warrick, the city’s planning director, notes, the document says no such thing.
“The plan itself does not provide guidance for locating social services with the exception of stating the suitability for such activity at the Storey Wrecker site in the northwest quadrant of downtown Tulsa,” she said. “As we now know, Tulsa County is moving forward with plans for a family justice center in this location, which is consistent with plan recommendations.”
The appendix to the master plan, Warrick added, simply states existing conditions in the northwest quadrant of the city; it does not state social services must be placed there.
It reads: “The northwest quadrant of the downtown (Denver, BNSF Railroad and the IDL) clearly has been ‘themed’ for social services and law enforcement and its future is also clearly tied to the ‘theme,'”
Warrick describes the Downtown Area Master Plan as “a policy document, not a regulation. It is used to guide growth and decision-making related to properties located within the plan boundaries.”
In fact, nowhere else in any city planning documents, and there are plenty, is there any mention of where social service agencies are or should be.
Confusion often results from the sheer volume of planning documents and the terms thrown around to describe them. There are master plans. There are small area plans. There is a comprehensive plan. There is PlaniTulsa, which is just another name for the citywide comprehensive plan. And many, many more.
So here’s the easiest way to understand it: the city’s zoning code is the law of the land when it comes to what kind of development can go where.
Plans, on the other hand, are just that: they reflect what folks might want for their city, or parts of it, but not what must be built there.
Yes, the city’s zoning code generally reflects the concepts envisioned in the city’s comprehensive plan. But at times there are gray areas, and this is where the Board of Adjustment comes in.
It is charged with granting, when it deems appropriate, special exceptions and variances to the zoning code.
Which brings us back to Iron Gate’s appearance before the BOA last week seeking to build a new soup kitchen and grocery pantry on an acre-plus lot between Seventh and Eighth streets and south Elgin and Kenosha avenues. Iron Gate has operated out of Trinity Episcopal Church, 501 S. Cincinnati Ave., for nearly four decades.
Iron Gate officials have identified a site on which to construct a new soup kitchen and grocery pantry. The property is between Seventh and Eighth streets and south Elgin Avenue and Kenosha Avenue. Iron Gate has operated out of Trinity Episcopal Church, 501 S. Cincinnati Ave., for nearly four decades.
KEVIN CANFIELD/The Frontier
The proposed new site is within the Central Business District, and like any other part of town, the zoning code dictates what can be built there and under what conditions.
Some uses, like a library or a retail store, are allowed by right. Other uses, like Iron Gate’s soup kitchen and grocery pantry, are only allowed through a special exception to the zoning code, which are granted by the Board of Adjustment.
The criteria the board uses is as follows: 1) that the special exception will be in harmony with the spirit and intent of this zoning code; and 2) that the special exception will not be injurious to the neighborhood or otherwise detrimental to the public welfare.
Iron Gate’s application failed because three of the BOA’s five members recused themselves from the case, leaving only two members to vote on it. An affirmative vote from three members of the board was required to approve the special exception.
The case is headed to Tulsa County District Court.
As for the new soup kitchen and grocery pantry, it may or may not be built at its proposed new location.
But this much is certain: City planning regulations no not dictate that it be built in any particular part of town.
