— Planning commissioners have begun working on what they say will be a lengthy revision of Muskogee’s zoning regulations.

At their meeting last Tuesday, commissioners reviewed the first five of 11 articles of the current zoning regulations and the proposed changes, which are mostly minor.

Some questions arose during the review, and the commissioners voted to direct Gary Garvin, the city’s director of planning, to get answers.

Among the proposed changes is a requirement that any Planned Unit Development be at least 25 acres in size for residential use and 10 acres for commercial use.

A planned unit development is defined as including elderly/retirement housing, nursing homes, group homes, churches, child care centers and multifamily housing units.

Planning Commissioner Shawn Raper questioned requiring PUDs to be “such large parcels.”

“The likelihood of someone doing a 25-acre PUD in Muskogee is slim,” he said. “We don’t have a big demand for new construction, and there are developments now that would have been precluded under this.”

Garvin said the current code requires a PUD to be at least one acre.

“I did not like the one-acre PUD,” he said. “I still would like an acreage requirement for a PUD. But I will definitely revisit this with Houseal Lavigne.”

His reference was to Houseal Lavigne Associates, the city’s consultants for the zoning regulations project.

The revision of the zoning regulations would be the final phase of a three-year effort to create a new land-use map.

Proposed zoning changes will be reviewed over four meetings, and then public hearings will take place. Commissioners will submit the final changes to the City Council for approval.

The Planning Commission will review Articles 6 through 11 at its next regular  meeting March 4.

Reach Wendy Burton at (918) 684-2926 or wburton@muskogeephoenix.com.

If you go



WHAT: Muskogee Planning Commission regular meeting.

WHEN: 9 a.m. March 4.

WHERE: City Council Chambers, third floor, Muskogee Municipal Building, 229 W. Okmulgee Ave.

ETC.: The Planning Commission will review Articles 6-11 of the proposed zoning regulations.

INFORMATION: Current zoning rules are online at http://library.municode.com/index.aspx?clientId=14202.