Pursue grants, partnerships, and programs that accomplish the following:

• Restore tree stands and wildlife habitats in environmentally sensitive areas.
• Acquire land or establish conservation easements in environmentally sensitive areas to reserve as permanent open space and protect wildlife and habitat.
• Establish a comprehensive habitat management program.
• Provide education and resources for proper use of pesticides and fertilizers, with special focus on encouraging integrated pest management and organic practices.
• Provide education about land management practices that address fire suppression, invasive species, use of herbicides/pesticides, and overgrazing.
• Promote the economic and aesthetic value of preserving Oklahoma City’s natural resources such as riparian areas, Cross Timbers forest, grasslands/prairie, bottomland forests, and wetlands.

Support and incentivize the adaptive use of existing buildings, infill development, and brownfield development.

Establish development regulations to help protect Oklahoma City’s water resources through standards that:

• Require buffers, setbacks, and vegetation conservation requirements to protect riparian and littoral zones and filter waterborne pollutants from development activities and storm water runoff. Buffer widths should be based on water quality function and wildlife habitat needs.
• Encourage natural drainage systems and methods for onsite infiltration and onsite sediment retention.
• Require new developments to maintain or decrease the site’s pre-development runoff rate.
• Allow low-impact development design features such as pervious pavement, rain gardens, landscaped parkways, and alternative curbing designs.
• Reduce the amount of impervious surfaces allowed in buffer zones around Environmentally Sensitive Areas.
• Restore watershed features such as forest, wetlands, and natural stream channels.

Establish incentives such as a simplified permitting process, reduced application fees, and special recognition for projects that:

• Utilize best management practices or other low-impact development methods for storm water management.
• Bring buried streams to the surface and restore riparian habitat.
• Install bridge systems instead of culverts for stream crossings to help maintain the natural ecosystem associated with the stream.

Revise policies, codes and development regulations to reduce the risk of damage resulting from flooding and preserve water quality and stream related habitat by avoiding alterations to the 100-year floodplain (as depicted on the FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map). Allow these areas to remain in their natural state to the greatest extent possible. Revised policies should allow positive alterations, such as restoration of natural riparian areas with appropriate vegetation.

Preserve wetlands in their natural state to the greatest extent possible to increase water quality, minimize quantity of runoff, and increase groundwater recharge. Maintain wetland headwaters and avoid the alteration of surface or subsurface drainage patterns that would eliminate, reduce, or severely alter the frequency and volume of water entering wetland areas.

Develop a comprehensive watershed management strategy that identifies programs, partnerships, actions, and incentives that the City and partners can take to protect the city’s water resources and aquatic areas. The strategy should address the following:

• Creation of a Stormwater Master Plan.
• Update to the City’s sediment control program and establishment of performance measures.
• Coordinated watershed restoration projects.
• Preparation and implementation of Small Watershed Action Plans (SWAPs) and participation in studies to identify needs and opportunities for stream restoration, wetland creation and restoration, and storm water management.
• Identification of opportunities to create wetlands to offset construction and other land development impacts.
• Identification and utilization of “receiving lands” that can absorb storm surge overflows.
• Public education on how to conserve water and minimize chemicals, pathogens, sediment, and nutrients in urban and rural watersheds.
• Acquisition and protection of greenways, river buffers and flood prone areas.

Revise development regulations to require the following factors to be addressed in development and redevelopment proposals:

• Preservation of existing natural resources, such as wooded areas, habitat areas, and floodplains.
• Utilization of natural treatments and methods to stabilize or rehabilitate stream and river banks as a means to preserve downstream habitats.
• Integration of a variety of native or compatible non-native, non-invasive plant species.
• Mitigation of impacts of development on habitat, wildlife corridors, riparian and littoral areas, and water quality, through actions such as restoration or re-vegetation of disturbed natural areas and replacement of trees/habitat on-site or off-site.
• Management of invasive plant and animal species.
• Management and maintenance of natural areas, common areas and drainage areas.
• Impact on surface and groundwater supply.
• Impact on water quality caused by land uses and activities.
• Impacts on floodplains, riparian and littoral areas and wetlands and areas with significant landforms.

In areas where standard on-site wastewater systems are not feasible (such as in areas with shallow or poor soils), require very low-density development or development that utilizes conservation design and a centralized treatment facility or other environmentally sensitive systems for wastewater treatment.

Develop a manual of best management practices that can be integrated into City codes. These include, but are not limited to:

• Tree care and management.
• Tree planting.
• Tree protection.
• Street trees (location, conflicts, maintenance, etc. – in addition to general tree care guidelines).
• Placement of utilities (e.g., under streets vs. under park strips)
• Low impact development techniques.
• Habitat protection and restoration.
• Conservation easements and/or subdivisions.

Revise the landscape ordinance to include the following:

• Define terms such as invasive species, exotic/non-native species, and native/indigenous species
• Require removal of invasive species from existing sites, and prohibit such species from being planted or maintained in new development.
• Provide a reference list of native plants and drought-tolerant plants.
• Provide incentives for using native and drought-tolerant plants and disincentives for using high-water plants and turf grass.
• Establish requirements for using design practices that minimize the need for supplemental irrigation.

Preserve natural habitat, maintain wildlife food sources, and reduce the risk of propagating invasive plant species by utilizing vegetation native to Oklahoma, preferably central Oklahoma, for all mitigation and habitat restoration efforts associated with new development and redevelopment projects, public and private, to the greatest extent possible.

Establish an Urban Forestry Program and City Urban Forester position to achieve the following:

• Measure and monitor tree canopy coverage and habitat on a regular basis so that any policies, programs, and regulations may be adjusted accordingly as situations change. Establish a process to maintain current data.
• Develop and maintain regulations, policies, processes, and programs that focus on protection and preservation of native trees.
• Provide assistance with proper tree selection, location, and maintenance to prevent power outages, reduce property damage, and coordinate emergency response during natural disaster events (excessive snow and ice, tornadoes, etc.), address the urban heat island effect, and reduce energy costs, etc.
• Establish programs such as tree give-aways, neighborhood planting programs, and education workshops.
• Provide resources to the public about tree selection, management, and care.
• Seek grant funding for community tree planting to improve City parks, publicly maintained rights-of-way and other areas of the city.
• Inventory the City’s street trees and develop a tree replacement program.
• Partner with volunteer and nonprofit organizations to recruit volunteers for tree planting and maintenance and to coordinate community-wide tree planting efforts.

Develop and adopt a tree preservation ordinance that achieves the following:

• Defines methods of preservation;
• Defines situations where preservation of trees is mandatory versus optional;
• Establishes incentives for tree preservation;
• Establishes mitigation options if preservation cannot be accomplished; and
• Establishes penalties for unauthorized tree removal.

Provide the public with resources, tools, and guidance to deal with environmental hazards, such as:

• Information about safe disposal options for household contaminants such as motor oils, paints, computers, televisions, batteries, etc.
• Information on environmental hazards, such as brownfield sites.
• Information about funds available to assist with environmental cleanups.

Pursue methods to reduce the impact of the urban heat island effect on Oklahoma City by:

• Establishing a minimum canopy coverage requirement over paved surfaces such as parking lots.
• Instating a “continuous canopy” requirement for new streets and street reconstruction projects.
• Promoting the use of building and roofing materials that reduce heat island effects.

Modify development and subdivision regulations, and City policies to minimize alteration of natural landforms and native vegetation and maximize retention of distinctive natural features for public and private projects.

Establish development regulations that help improve air quality, including:

• Specifying construction controls that reduce airborne dust;
• Increasing landscaping and tree planting to absorb carbon dioxide and air pollutants; and
• Encouraging development patterns and densities that support alternative modes of transportation in the urban LUTAs.

Develop an enforcement mechanism for the City’s Building Energy Code. Develop a healthy building code to support construction of durable, health-promoting and energy efficient buildings that incorporate proven green development practices, locally-sourced and environmentally responsible materials, water conservation fixtures, innovative design and construction techniques, and low waste construction practices. Incentivize their use with shorter approval procedures, priority permits and inspections, and reduced fees.

Partner with agencies, non-profits, and private entities to:

• Implement a sustainable development online forum – an educational and networking resource that will inform the public about local opportunities and the benefits of sustainable development while increasing builder and developer participation.
• Educate citizens on energy and water conservation opportunities both at work and at home.
• Encourage appropriate re-use and reclamation of water in new development and redevelopment to reduce the reliance on potable water use.
• Provide detailed cost-benefit information about green building practices to encourage increased use of such practices in Oklahoma City.
• Reduce reliance on electricity produced by fossil fuel by encouraging the use of renewable energy sources in new development and redevelopment.
• Explore mechanisms (incentives, regulations, programs) to divert demolition debris from landfills and redirect to facilities that can reuse these materials.
• Establish a promotion/award program to showcase innovative development that utilizes low-impact development practices and energy-efficient building techniques / equipment, conserves riparian buffers, and extends greenway networks with hiking/biking trails.

Preserve overall landscape character and natural landforms (rolling hills, native vegetation, etc.) to the greatest extent possible.

Increase the amount of biodiversity-rich green space in urban and suburban areas by:

• Integrating vegetation to support biodiversity in parks, gardens, trails, and green roofs. Native vegetation that provides food and habitat for native wildlife such as “micro prairies” and urban forests will have the greatest effect.
• Encouraging optimal mowing practices on large lots that are adjacent to natural features.

Enrich natural biodiversity in agricultural areas by promoting practices that provide food, water, and habitat for wildlife and minimize negative impacts. Strategies to achieve the goal include:

• Working with farmers, rancher, conservationists, sustainable agricultural organizations, and other stakeholders to develop a plan to conserve nature in farming and ranching landscapes.
• Implementing optimal mowing strategies, which include harvesting grasses at a growing height of 10 plus inches; creating early successional habitat with burning, disking, and haying every 3-5 years; mowing from the center of a field outward to allow wildlife to escape the surrounding areas; adding flushing bars to mowing equipment to minimize bird injuries and death; leaving 4-6 inches of stubble after harvest to capture snow and water; harvesting or mowing after first frost to avoid disturbing bird nests and improve grass quality; and leaving portions of fields as standing crops.
• Increasing nesting habitat.
• Adopting best practices for fertilizer and pesticide applications.
• Developing landscape conservation cooperatives.
• Encouraging grassland ranching as an ecologically beneficial alternative to cultivation, particularly practices such as “mob grazing” that mimic natural grazing patterns.
• Promoting ranching of bison, which benefit conservation efforts by dispersing seeds, increasing plant biodiversity, and enhancing groundwater recharge.
• Restoring grassland on previously cultivated landscapes, particularly in buffer zones near natural features.
• Encouraging and supporting agricultural parks that combine recreation and food production and foster appreciation for agricultural heritage.
• Promoting sustainable intensification, which increases production and profitability while providing rich sources of habitat for biodiversity.

Protect and preserve natural resources, by:

• Identifying and mapping valuable natural resources, such as, native prairies.
• Maintaining a comprehensive inventory and assessment of natural resources and critical habitats.
• Identifying opportunities to create an interconnected green infrastructure network throughout and beyond Oklahoma City’s municipal boundaries via existing trail and greenway projects, parks, stream corridors, and natural areas.
• Seeking the voluntary sale of land or dedication of conservation easements on private land that is identified as critical habitat or is necessary to link wildlife corridors.
• Pursuing protection of strategically identified natural areas by placing them in conservation easements or land banks, and reserving them for future use as open space and passive recreational areas.
• Managing invasive plant and animal species.
• Partnering with applicable State agencies and non-profit entities.

Strive to preserve natural open spaces, including native prairies, and re-plant native vegetation to take advantage of their drought tolerance and deep root structures that slow and adsorb stormwater runoff and reduce erosion by anchoring the soil.

Identify and protect critical habitats for state and federally listed threatened or endangered species.

Identify migratory birds and their nesting sites prior to construction. Protect migratory birds and their nesting sites throughout the construction process and refrain from construction near nesting sites until migratory birds are no longer actively nesting and have moved on from the site. Verify compliance with Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

Establish strategies, procedures and policies that prevent degradation or loss of critical habitat and sensitive areas, such as Cross Timbers, upland forests, wetlands, wildlife corridors, groundwater recharge zones, and riparian areas. Protection methods should ensure that placement of lots, alignment of roads, and installation of structures and infrastructure minimize disturbance of the environmentally sensitive areas using tools such as:

• Directing development to appropriate locations;
• Greenbelt preservation;
• Assurance of no development in protected open space;
• Clustering / conservation subdivisions;
• Pervious surface treatments;
• Density transfers; and/or
• Conservation easements.

Ensure that strategies, procedures, and policies incorporate principles of connectivity, minimal fragmentation, representativeness, and heterogeneity.

In conjunction with City regulatory changes, such as significant modifications to zoning ordinances, building codes, or subdivision regulations, assess the effects of the proposed modifications on housing development costs and overall housing affordability, considering the balance between housing affordability and other objectives such as environmental quality, urban design quality, maintenance of neighborhood character and protection of public health, safety and welfare. This assessment should be integrated into the code amendment process, identify barriers to housing affordability, and include recommended mitigation.

Modify codes to allow residential clustering in rural land use typology areas, provided water supply and sewage disposal requirements are met, and permanently preserve nearby open space through means such as conservation easements.

Require that new development tie into the park and trail system by providing linkages to existing parks or dedicating new park land. Connect existing parks and neighborhoods to create a continuous system of open spaces, for example along stream corridors.

Enhance public park design standards to allow for public art and innovative design solutions regarding stormwater management, use of native vegetation, open space, and play areas.

Revise subdivision regulations to require development adjacent to parks and public open spaces to maintain open sight lines to parks and public open space.  Reduce/limit residential rear yards, fences, walls, and physical and visual enclosures around park and public open space perimeters.  Encourage designs that allow homes to face into parks or where side yards are located near parks.

Pursue all opportunities, including donations, conservation easements, inheritance trusts, naming rights, and developer incentives to accomplish the following:

• Acquiring new lands for parks, open space;
• Acquiring natural areas that provide greater opportunities for people to access nature;
• Maintaining existing and future parks, open space, and natural areas;
• Enhancing existing landscaping at parks and along trails by planting additional native vegetation.

Adopt new citywide site design and building regulations that ensure new developments meet basic functional and aesthetic minimums related to:

• Walkability and bike-ability
• Internal and external street connectivity
• Integration of uses
• Signage
• Building location
• Building appearance
• Open space (passive and active)

Adopt subdivision regulations that ensure new neighborhoods meet the basic needs of residents while supporting an efficient development pattern. Regulations should cover:

• Open space (passive and active),
• Demonstration of sustainable funding levels for common area and facility maintenance costs,
• Walkability and bikeability,
• Internal and external street connectivity,
• Block length,
• Integration of uses,
• Integration of a variety of home sizes,
• Integration of a variety of unit types, and
• Preservation of Environmentally Sensitive Areas.

Regulations could be based on a point scale to allow flexibility, while still requiring basic minimum thresholds be met.
New regulations should remove the existing requirement for development in Rural LUTAs to connect to water and sewer systems and establish a minimum one-acre lot size for lots with on-site sewer treatment.

Establish incentives such as a simplified permitting process, reduced application fees, and special recognition for projects that:

• Utilize best management practices or other low-impact development methods for storm water management.
• Bring buried streams to the surface and restore riparian habitat.
• Install bridge systems instead of culverts for stream crossings to help maintain the natural ecosystem associated with the stream.

Revise development regulations to require the following factors to be addressed in development and redevelopment proposals:

• Preservation of existing natural resources, such as wooded areas, habitat areas, and floodplains.
• Utilization of natural treatments and methods to stabilize or rehabilitate stream and river banks as a means to preserve downstream habitats.
• Integration of a variety of native or compatible non-native, non-invasive plant species.
• Mitigation of impacts of development on habitat, wildlife corridors, riparian and littoral areas, and water quality, through actions such as restoration or re-vegetation of disturbed natural areas and replacement of trees/habitat on-site or off-site.
• Management of invasive plant and animal species.
• Management and maintenance of natural areas, common areas and drainage areas.
• Impact on surface and groundwater supply.
• Impact on water quality caused by land uses and activities.
• Impacts on floodplains, riparian and littoral areas and wetlands and areas with significant landforms.

Develop a manual of best management practices that can be integrated into City codes. These include, but are not limited to:

• Tree care and management.
• Tree planting.
• Tree protection.
• Street trees (location, conflicts, maintenance, etc. – in addition to general tree care guidelines).
• Placement of utilities (e.g., under streets vs. under park strips)
• Low impact development techniques.
• Habitat protection and restoration.
• Conservation easements and/or subdivisions.

Establish an Urban Forestry Program and City Urban Forester position to achieve the following:

• Measure and monitor tree canopy coverage and habitat on a regular basis so that any policies, programs, and regulations may be adjusted accordingly as situations change. Establish a process to maintain current data.
• Develop and maintain regulations, policies, processes, and programs that focus on protection and preservation of native trees.
• Provide assistance with proper tree selection, location, and maintenance to prevent power outages, reduce property damage, and coordinate emergency response during natural disaster events (excessive snow and ice, tornadoes, etc.), address the urban heat island effect, and reduce energy costs, etc.
• Establish programs such as tree give-aways, neighborhood planting programs, and education workshops.
• Provide resources to the public about tree selection, management, and care.
• Seek grant funding for community tree planting to improve City parks, publicly maintained rights-of-way and other areas of the city.
• Inventory the City’s street trees and develop a tree replacement program.
• Partner with volunteer and nonprofit organizations to recruit volunteers for tree planting and maintenance and to coordinate community-wide tree planting efforts.

Develop and adopt a tree preservation ordinance that achieves the following:

• Defines methods of preservation;
• Defines situations where preservation of trees is mandatory versus optional;
• Establishes incentives for tree preservation;
• Establishes mitigation options if preservation cannot be accomplished; and
• Establishes penalties for unauthorized tree removal.

Preserve mature healthy trees and incorporate them into the design of new development or redevelopment projects to the greatest extent possible. Include provisions and best management practices to ensure proper tree protection throughout the construction process. Best management practices include but are not limited to:

• The use of proper pruning techniques;
• Appropriate watering;
• Installation of protective fencing at the drip lines of trees or groups of trees;
• Designated material storage areas; and
• Approved equipment and vehicle parking and maintenance areas.

Provide the public with resources, tools, and guidance to deal with environmental hazards, such as:

• Information about safe disposal options for household contaminants such as motor oils, paints, computers, televisions, batteries, etc.
• Information on environmental hazards, such as brownfield sites.
• Information about funds available to assist with environmental cleanups.

Pursue methods to reduce the impact of the urban heat island effect on Oklahoma City by:

• Establishing a minimum canopy coverage requirement over paved surfaces such as parking lots.
• Instating a “continuous canopy” requirement for new streets and street reconstruction projects.
• Promoting the use of building and roofing materials that reduce heat island effects.

Establish development regulations that help improve air quality, including:

• Specifying construction controls that reduce airborne dust;
• Increasing landscaping and tree planting to absorb carbon dioxide and air pollutants; and
• Encouraging development patterns and densities that support alternative modes of transportation in the urban LUTAs.

Preserve overall landscape character and natural landforms (rolling hills, native vegetation, etc.) to the greatest extent possible.

Protect and preserve natural resources, by:

• Identifying and mapping valuable natural resources, such as, native prairies.
• Maintaining a comprehensive inventory and assessment of natural resources and critical habitats.
• Identifying opportunities to create an interconnected green infrastructure network throughout and beyond Oklahoma City’s municipal boundaries via existing trail and greenway projects, parks, stream corridors, and natural areas.
• Seeking the voluntary sale of land or dedication of conservation easements on private land that is identified as critical habitat or is necessary to link wildlife corridors.
• Pursuing protection of strategically identified natural areas by placing them in conservation easements or land banks, and reserving them for future use as open space and passive recreational areas.
• Managing invasive plant and animal species.
• Partnering with applicable State agencies and non-profit entities.

Identify and protect critical habitats for state and federally listed threatened or endangered species.

Identify migratory birds and their nesting sites prior to construction. Protect migratory birds and their nesting sites throughout the construction process and refrain from construction near nesting sites until migratory birds are no longer actively nesting and have moved on from the site. Verify compliance with Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

Pursue grants, partnerships, and programs that accomplish the following:

• Restore tree stands and wildlife habitats in environmentally sensitive areas.
• Acquire land or establish conservation easements in environmentally sensitive areas to reserve as permanent open space and protect wildlife and habitat.
• Establish a comprehensive habitat management program.
• Provide education and resources for proper use of pesticides and fertilizers, with special focus on encouraging integrated pest management and organic practices.
• Provide education about land management practices that address fire suppression, invasive species, use of herbicides/pesticides, and overgrazing.
• Promote the economic and aesthetic value of preserving Oklahoma City’s natural resources such as riparian areas, Cross Timbers forest, grasslands/prairie, bottomland forests, and wetlands.

Establish development regulations to help protect Oklahoma City’s water resources through standards that:

• Require buffers, setbacks, and vegetation conservation requirements to protect riparian and littoral zones and filter waterborne pollutants from development activities and storm water runoff. Buffer widths should be based on water quality function and wildlife habitat needs.
• Encourage natural drainage systems and methods for onsite infiltration and onsite sediment retention.
• Require new developments to maintain or decrease the site’s pre-development runoff rate.
• Allow low-impact development design features such as pervious pavement, rain gardens, landscaped parkways, and alternative curbing designs.
• Reduce the amount of impervious surfaces allowed in buffer zones around Environmentally Sensitive Areas.
• Restore watershed features such as forest, wetlands, and natural stream channels.

Revise policies, codes and development regulations to reduce the risk of damage resulting from flooding and preserve water quality and stream related habitat by avoiding alterations to the 100-year floodplain (as depicted on the FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map). Allow these areas to remain in their natural state to the greatest extent possible. Revised policies should allow positive alterations, such as restoration of natural riparian areas with appropriate vegetation.

Preserve wetlands in their natural state to the greatest extent possible to increase water quality, minimize quantity of runoff, and increase groundwater recharge. Maintain wetland headwaters and avoid the alteration of surface or subsurface drainage patterns that would eliminate, reduce, or severely alter the frequency and volume of water entering wetland areas.

Revise development regulations to require the following factors to be addressed in development and redevelopment proposals:

• Preservation of existing natural resources, such as wooded areas, habitat areas, and floodplains.
• Utilization of natural treatments and methods to stabilize or rehabilitate stream and river banks as a means to preserve downstream habitats.
• Integration of a variety of native or compatible non-native, non-invasive plant species.
• Mitigation of impacts of development on habitat, wildlife corridors, riparian and littoral areas, and water quality, through actions such as restoration or re-vegetation of disturbed natural areas and replacement of trees/habitat on-site or off-site.
• Management of invasive plant and animal species.
• Management and maintenance of natural areas, common areas and drainage areas.
• Impact on surface and groundwater supply.
• Impact on water quality caused by land uses and activities.
• Impacts on floodplains, riparian and littoral areas and wetlands and areas with significant landforms.

Modify development and subdivision regulations, and City policies to minimize alteration of natural landforms and native vegetation and maximize retention of distinctive natural features for public and private projects.

Preserve overall landscape character and natural landforms (rolling hills, native vegetation, etc.) to the greatest extent possible.

Increase the amount of biodiversity-rich green space in urban and suburban areas by:

• Integrating vegetation to support biodiversity in parks, gardens, trails, and green roofs. Native vegetation that provides food and habitat for native wildlife such as “micro prairies” and urban forests will have the greatest effect.
• Encouraging optimal mowing practices on large lots that are adjacent to natural features.

Enrich natural biodiversity in agricultural areas by promoting practices that provide food, water, and habitat for wildlife and minimize negative impacts. Strategies to achieve the goal include:

• Working with farmers, rancher, conservationists, sustainable agricultural organizations, and other stakeholders to develop a plan to conserve nature in farming and ranching landscapes.
• Implementing optimal mowing strategies, which include harvesting grasses at a growing height of 10 plus inches; creating early successional habitat with burning, disking, and haying every 3-5 years; mowing from the center of a field outward to allow wildlife to escape the surrounding areas; adding flushing bars to mowing equipment to minimize bird injuries and death; leaving 4-6 inches of stubble after harvest to capture snow and water; harvesting or mowing after first frost to avoid disturbing bird nests and improve grass quality; and leaving portions of fields as standing crops.
• Increasing nesting habitat.
• Adopting best practices for fertilizer and pesticide applications.
• Developing landscape conservation cooperatives.
• Encouraging grassland ranching as an ecologically beneficial alternative to cultivation, particularly practices such as “mob grazing” that mimic natural grazing patterns.
• Promoting ranching of bison, which benefit conservation efforts by dispersing seeds, increasing plant biodiversity, and enhancing groundwater recharge.
• Restoring grassland on previously cultivated landscapes, particularly in buffer zones near natural features.
• Encouraging and supporting agricultural parks that combine recreation and food production and foster appreciation for agricultural heritage.
• Promoting sustainable intensification, which increases production and profitability while providing rich sources of habitat for biodiversity.

Protect and preserve natural resources, by:

• Identifying and mapping valuable natural resources, such as, native prairies.
• Maintaining a comprehensive inventory and assessment of natural resources and critical habitats.
• Identifying opportunities to create an interconnected green infrastructure network throughout and beyond Oklahoma City’s municipal boundaries via existing trail and greenway projects, parks, stream corridors, and natural areas.
• Seeking the voluntary sale of land or dedication of conservation easements on private land that is identified as critical habitat or is necessary to link wildlife corridors.
• Pursuing protection of strategically identified natural areas by placing them in conservation easements or land banks, and reserving them for future use as open space and passive recreational areas.
• Managing invasive plant and animal species.
• Partnering with applicable State agencies and non-profit entities.

Strive to preserve natural open spaces, including native prairies, and re-plant native vegetation to take advantage of their drought tolerance and deep root structures that slow and adsorb stormwater runoff and reduce erosion by anchoring the soil.

Identify and protect critical habitats for state and federally listed threatened or endangered species.

Establish strategies, procedures and policies that prevent degradation or loss of critical habitat and sensitive areas, such as Cross Timbers, upland forests, wetlands, wildlife corridors, groundwater recharge zones, and riparian areas. Protection methods should ensure that placement of lots, alignment of roads, and installation of structures and infrastructure minimize disturbance of the environmentally sensitive areas using tools such as:

• Directing development to appropriate locations;
• Greenbelt preservation;
• Assurance of no development in protected open space;
• Clustering / conservation subdivisions;
• Pervious surface treatments;
• Density transfers; and/or
• Conservation easements.

Ensure that strategies, procedures, and policies incorporate principles of connectivity, minimal fragmentation, representativeness, and heterogeneity.

Establish new incentives and raise awareness of existing incentives that stimulate the preservation and rehabilitation of historic resources. Incentives could include:

• Preservation easements, low-interest or forgivable rehabilitation loans, and Tax Increment Financing Districts for historic buildings, sites, and districts.
• Tools and practices for public/private partnerships to ensure the preservation and retention of top-priority historic resources whose deterioration or demolition would present an irreparable and highly significant loss to the City and beyond.
• Existing city, state, and federal tools and incentives for rehabilitation, including state and federal tax credits for certified rehabilitation.
• Expedited review process for projects involving infill sites.

Support and incentivize the adaptive use of existing buildings, infill development, and brownfield development.

Modify codes and/or regulations to create opportunities for more income diversity and mixed-income neighborhoods by allowing a variety of housing ownership and leasing arrangements, diverse housing sizes and types – including accessory dwelling units, carriage homes, lofts, live-work spaces, cottages, and manufactured/modular housing. Modifications should allow an increase the variety of ownership opportunities to include condominiums, ownership cooperatives (such as mutual housing associations, limited equity cooperatives, etc.) by identifying and removing regulatory barriers. Recommend improvements to protections for owners, developers, and lenders.
Priority should be given to projects that achieve efficiencies described elsewhere in planokc, such as dwelling units that are located to have easy access to each other and to other daily needs including jobs, recreation, and schools.

Maximize the use of all appropriate state, federal, local, and private funding for the development, preservation, and rehabilitation of housing affordable to a variety of income groups, including those that integrate low-income housing units in otherwise market-rate housing developments and support the creation and/or expansion of mixed-income communities.

Integrate housing rehabilitation programs with neighborhood revitalization programs. These programs should include assistance to property owners to renovate the existing housing stock with improvements that reduce utility and maintenance costs for owners and occupants, conserve energy, conserve water, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Establish new or expand existing financing methods and/or mechanisms available to new and redevelopment mixed-income projects in urban areas. These could include: direct investment of public housing funds, tax-increment financing, bonds, revolving loans, housing program funds and/or other proven public-private partnership models.

Create and/or enhance Community Development Corporations (CDCs) and Community Housing Development Organizations (CHDOs) to increase their capacity to provide mixed-income housing, especially in targeted infill areas.

Reuse brownfield, greyfield, and other vacant building sites to provide new opportunities for mixed-used and mixed-income housing.

Prevent concentration of low-income populations by providing housing opportunities for all income groups in targeted redevelopment areas of the city with a particular focus on mixed-income projects, especially on those projects that have a public funding component.

In conjunction with City regulatory changes, such as significant modifications to zoning ordinances, building codes, or subdivision regulations, assess the effects of the proposed modifications on housing development costs and overall housing affordability, considering the balance between housing affordability and other objectives such as environmental quality, urban design quality, maintenance of neighborhood character and protection of public health, safety and welfare. This assessment should be integrated into the code amendment process, identify barriers to housing affordability, and include recommended mitigation.

Add legislative priorities for state laws to:

• Strengthen the City’s ability to obtain specific performance of property owners cited for code violations.
• Speed up the demolition process for long-time boarded properties that cannot be rehabilitated.
• Strengthen the City’s ability to require property owners to rehabilitate or sell neglected, boarded-up properties.
• Expedite the clearing of properties involved in probate.

Strategically use subsidized housing programs along with other City services and programs to revitalize targeted areas of the city.

Support infill development on vacant, underutilized, and brownfield sites by:

• Allowing densities sufficient to incentivize infill in older areas
• Focusing resources on target neighborhoods to build positive momentum
• Evaluating and adjusting zoning in areas where infill is desired
• Reducing permit fees and processing time for infill development proposals
• Waiving the requirement for traffic impact analyses for infill development proposals
• Establishing an Abandoned Buildings Program and enhancing it over time by:
  • Seeking changes in City ordinance and State statute where necessary to allow for cost recovery of police and fire services costs caused by vacant buildings
  • Using revenue collected beyond Vacant and Abandoned Buildings program administration cost for neighborhood improvements
  • Submitting land bank legislation to the State Legislature and establishing a land bank authorized to acquire, rehabilitate, and dispose of abandoned properties
• Offering temporary or short term catalyzing incentives for the first “infillers” in target neighborhoods. Incentives may include small grants and/or low interest loans from a revolving loan fund or for property improvements.
• Evaluating the possibility of basing property taxes on only land value and not improvements, thereby encouraging high intensity use of well-positioned land and discouraging underutilization and long–term vacancy.

Mitigate negative impacts of compactness by:

• Updating nuisance code to better address noise, smell, vibration, property maintenance, panhandling, animal control, delivery hours limits, and other possible negative effects.
• Updating the sign ordinance to reduce visual clutter.

Prioritize and concentrate development where facilities, infrastructure, and services have capacity and in areas where the Police and Fire Departments are best able to respond. Guide the location and timing of development through the proactive and strategic installation of infrastructure.

Create and implement small area plans for neighborhoods or districts with special strategic importance or complications related to development or redevelopment.

Identify priority areas where the City can maximize private investment by providing public infrastructure and amenities including:

• Transit;
• Parks, trails, sidewalks;
• Streets;
• Arts and cultural facilities.

Encourage redevelopment and infill development on vacant, underutilized, and brownfield sites in urbanized areas.

Catalyze infill development on vacant, underutilized, and brownfield sites in urbanized areas by:

• Investing in infrastructure improvements;
• Improving multi-modal transportation networks;
• Improving parks and open spaces;
• Improving schools and other civic resources;
• Exploring innovative methods such as:
  • A public-private partnership to purchase problem properties in target areas and build or rehabilitate homes while improving infrastructure and amenities
  • An infill house plan program similar to Sacramento or Milwaukee
• Identifying and removing barriers to rehabilitation and/or replacement of residential buildings.
• Establishing a position in the City to facilitate medium- and large-scale redevelopment projects through the development process by guiding interactions with City departments, allied agencies, and utility companies.

Encourage the adaptive reuse of underutilized structures and the revitalization of older, economically distressed neighborhoods.

Pursue grants, partnerships, and programs that accomplish the following:

• Restore tree stands and wildlife habitats in environmentally sensitive areas.
• Acquire land or establish conservation easements in environmentally sensitive areas to reserve as permanent open space and protect wildlife and habitat.
• Establish a comprehensive habitat management program.
• Provide education and resources for proper use of pesticides and fertilizers, with special focus on encouraging integrated pest management and organic practices.
• Provide education about land management practices that address fire suppression, invasive species, use of herbicides/pesticides, and overgrazing.
• Promote the economic and aesthetic value of preserving Oklahoma City’s natural resources such as riparian areas, Cross Timbers forest, grasslands/prairie, bottomland forests, and wetlands.

Avoid under-grounding streams to the greatest extent possible. Where feasible, encourage the re-surfacing of buried streams. Limit the use of culverts or other structures that alter natural streams, and require designs that minimize impacts to stream health and function.

Using performance standards related to flow quantity, quality, and pattern, modify development regulations, codes, and policies to support the use of green infrastructure/low impact development techniques to mimic natural systems for developments within aquifer recharge zones with moderate or high vulnerability or in areas where streams and riparian areas have been channelized or developed (primarily in the Downtown, UH, and UM LUTAs). Low impact development techniques include but are not limited to:

• Onsite treating or filtering of stormwater contaminants.
• Discharging run-off as sheet-flow after passing through grassy or vegetated open space areas, rather than discharging run-off through concentrated outfalls.
• Creating attractive open space amenities that double as stormwater detention, retention, and / or filtering systems.
• Utilizing pervious pavement, pavers, or asphalt in appropriate locations (i.e. sidewalks, parking spaces, trails, patios, etc.).
• Utilizing planters (at grade or raised), vegetated landscape strips adjacent to roads and parking areas, and alternative curbing designs (allowing stormwater to easily move from impervious areas to pervious areas), to encourage stormwater infiltration and temporary detention.
• Rain Gardens
• Bioswales
• Green streets and alleys
• Green roofs
• Rooftop collection
• Underground detention
• Increased tree canopy preservation/tree planting
• Land/open space conservation
• Cluster development

Establish development regulations to help protect Oklahoma City’s water resources through standards that:

• Require buffers, setbacks, and vegetation conservation requirements to protect riparian and littoral zones and filter waterborne pollutants from development activities and storm water runoff. Buffer widths should be based on water quality function and wildlife habitat needs.
• Encourage natural drainage systems and methods for onsite infiltration and onsite sediment retention.
• Require new developments to maintain or decrease the site’s pre-development runoff rate.
• Allow low-impact development design features such as pervious pavement, rain gardens, landscaped parkways, and alternative curbing designs.
• Reduce the amount of impervious surfaces allowed in buffer zones around Environmentally Sensitive Areas.
• Restore watershed features such as forest, wetlands, and natural stream channels.

Revise policies, codes and development regulations to reduce the risk of damage resulting from flooding and preserve water quality and stream related habitat by avoiding alterations to the 100-year floodplain (as depicted on the FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map). Allow these areas to remain in their natural state to the greatest extent possible. Revised policies should allow positive alterations, such as restoration of natural riparian areas with appropriate vegetation.

Preserve wetlands in their natural state to the greatest extent possible to increase water quality, minimize quantity of runoff, and increase groundwater recharge. Maintain wetland headwaters and avoid the alteration of surface or subsurface drainage patterns that would eliminate, reduce, or severely alter the frequency and volume of water entering wetland areas.

Develop a comprehensive watershed management strategy that identifies programs, partnerships, actions, and incentives that the City and partners can take to protect the city’s water resources and aquatic areas. The strategy should address the following:

• Creation of a Stormwater Master Plan.
• Update to the City’s sediment control program and establishment of performance measures.
• Coordinated watershed restoration projects.
• Preparation and implementation of Small Watershed Action Plans (SWAPs) and participation in studies to identify needs and opportunities for stream restoration, wetland creation and restoration, and storm water management.
• Identification of opportunities to create wetlands to offset construction and other land development impacts.
• Identification and utilization of “receiving lands” that can absorb storm surge overflows.
• Public education on how to conserve water and minimize chemicals, pathogens, sediment, and nutrients in urban and rural watersheds.
• Acquisition and protection of greenways, river buffers and flood prone areas.

Evaluate the City’s stormwater detention/retention requirements, including the current fee-in-lieu of program, and compare to current best management practices. Based on findings, modify codes, policies and development regulations to update stormwater detention/retention requirements. These requirements should focus on:

• Reducing the risks of property damage due to flooding.
• Managing runoff rates and minimizing stream bank erosion by ensuring that post-development runoff rates do not exceed pre-development rates, even in areas where risks of flooding have historically been low.
• Maintaining surface water quality by managing the release of the first flush stormwater volume in order to encourage settling and filtering of particle and chemical pollutants before releasing water into adjacent water bodies.

Revise development regulations to require the following factors to be addressed in development and redevelopment proposals:

• Preservation of existing natural resources, such as wooded areas, habitat areas, and floodplains.
• Utilization of natural treatments and methods to stabilize or rehabilitate stream and river banks as a means to preserve downstream habitats.
• Integration of a variety of native or compatible non-native, non-invasive plant species.
• Mitigation of impacts of development on habitat, wildlife corridors, riparian and littoral areas, and water quality, through actions such as restoration or re-vegetation of disturbed natural areas and replacement of trees/habitat on-site or off-site.
• Management of invasive plant and animal species.
• Management and maintenance of natural areas, common areas and drainage areas.
• Impact on surface and groundwater supply.
• Impact on water quality caused by land uses and activities.
• Impacts on floodplains, riparian and littoral areas and wetlands and areas with significant landforms.

In areas where standard on-site wastewater systems are not feasible (such as in areas with shallow or poor soils), require very low-density development or development that utilizes conservation design and a centralized treatment facility or other environmentally sensitive systems for wastewater treatment.

Develop a manual of best management practices that can be integrated into City codes. These include, but are not limited to:

• Tree care and management.
• Tree planting.
• Tree protection.
• Street trees (location, conflicts, maintenance, etc. – in addition to general tree care guidelines).
• Placement of utilities (e.g., under streets vs. under park strips)
• Low impact development techniques.
• Habitat protection and restoration.
• Conservation easements and/or subdivisions.

Revise the landscape ordinance to include the following:

• Define terms such as invasive species, exotic/non-native species, and native/indigenous species
• Require removal of invasive species from existing sites, and prohibit such species from being planted or maintained in new development.
• Provide a reference list of native plants and drought-tolerant plants.
• Provide incentives for using native and drought-tolerant plants and disincentives for using high-water plants and turf grass.
• Establish requirements for using design practices that minimize the need for supplemental irrigation.

Preserve natural habitat, maintain wildlife food sources, and reduce the risk of propagating invasive plant species by utilizing vegetation native to Oklahoma, preferably central Oklahoma, for all mitigation and habitat restoration efforts associated with new development and redevelopment projects, public and private, to the greatest extent possible.

Establish an Urban Forestry Program and City Urban Forester position to achieve the following:

• Measure and monitor tree canopy coverage and habitat on a regular basis so that any policies, programs, and regulations may be adjusted accordingly as situations change. Establish a process to maintain current data.
• Develop and maintain regulations, policies, processes, and programs that focus on protection and preservation of native trees.
• Provide assistance with proper tree selection, location, and maintenance to prevent power outages, reduce property damage, and coordinate emergency response during natural disaster events (excessive snow and ice, tornadoes, etc.), address the urban heat island effect, and reduce energy costs, etc.
• Establish programs such as tree give-aways, neighborhood planting programs, and education workshops.
• Provide resources to the public about tree selection, management, and care.
• Seek grant funding for community tree planting to improve City parks, publicly maintained rights-of-way and other areas of the city.
• Inventory the City’s street trees and develop a tree replacement program.
• Partner with volunteer and nonprofit organizations to recruit volunteers for tree planting and maintenance and to coordinate community-wide tree planting efforts.

Develop and adopt a tree preservation ordinance that achieves the following:

• Defines methods of preservation;
• Defines situations where preservation of trees is mandatory versus optional;
• Establishes incentives for tree preservation;
• Establishes mitigation options if preservation cannot be accomplished; and
• Establishes penalties for unauthorized tree removal.

Preserve mature healthy trees and incorporate them into the design of new development or redevelopment projects to the greatest extent possible. Include provisions and best management practices to ensure proper tree protection throughout the construction process. Best management practices include but are not limited to:

• The use of proper pruning techniques;
• Appropriate watering;
• Installation of protective fencing at the drip lines of trees or groups of trees;
• Designated material storage areas; and
• Approved equipment and vehicle parking and maintenance areas.

Provide the public with resources, tools, and guidance to deal with environmental hazards, such as:

• Information about safe disposal options for household contaminants such as motor oils, paints, computers, televisions, batteries, etc.
• Information on environmental hazards, such as brownfield sites.
• Information about funds available to assist with environmental cleanups.

Modify development and subdivision regulations, and City policies to minimize alteration of natural landforms and native vegetation and maximize retention of distinctive natural features for public and private projects.

Coordinate with local, regional, and State agencies to pursue initiatives and regulations that help reduce automobile emissions, such as:

• Transitioning commercial and City fleets to alternative-fueled and hybrid vehicles;
• Determining the feasibility of an idling restriction ordinance for all vehicles.

Establish development regulations that help improve air quality, including:

• Specifying construction controls that reduce airborne dust;
• Increasing landscaping and tree planting to absorb carbon dioxide and air pollutants; and
• Encouraging development patterns and densities that support alternative modes of transportation in the urban LUTAs.

Promote improved air quality and reduced ground-level ozone levels by developing a public education program that will inform residents about the air quality benefits of:

• Proper automobile maintenance
• Proper maintenance and use of gas-powered lawn and garden equipment
• Limiting car idling times
• Alternative fuels
• Alternative / active transportation modes (public transit, walking, biking, car-sharing, etc.)
• Reducing vehicle-miles traveled (VMT)
• Employer sponsored emission reduction programs (carpooling, work from home, telecommuting, etc.)
• Native landscaping (requiring less maintenance)
• Energy efficient housing / buildings

Establish strategies, procedures and policies for City construction projects to achieve higher energy efficiency, including:

• Implementing an energy management plan for City facilities.
• Monitoring energy consumption of City facilities, tracking conservation progress, and communicating results to City administrators, employees, elected officials and the public.
• Assessing water use in City facilities to identify opportunities for conservation and implement appropriate measures.

Partner with agencies, non-profits, and private entities to:

• Implement a sustainable development online forum – an educational and networking resource that will inform the public about local opportunities and the benefits of sustainable development while increasing builder and developer participation.
• Educate citizens on energy and water conservation opportunities both at work and at home.
• Encourage appropriate re-use and reclamation of water in new development and redevelopment to reduce the reliance on potable water use.
• Provide detailed cost-benefit information about green building practices to encourage increased use of such practices in Oklahoma City.
• Reduce reliance on electricity produced by fossil fuel by encouraging the use of renewable energy sources in new development and redevelopment.
• Explore mechanisms (incentives, regulations, programs) to divert demolition debris from landfills and redirect to facilities that can reuse these materials.
• Establish a promotion/award program to showcase innovative development that utilizes low-impact development practices and energy-efficient building techniques / equipment, conserves riparian buffers, and extends greenway networks with hiking/biking trails.

Preserve overall landscape character and natural landforms (rolling hills, native vegetation, etc.) to the greatest extent possible.

Increase the amount of biodiversity-rich green space in urban and suburban areas by:

• Integrating vegetation to support biodiversity in parks, gardens, trails, and green roofs. Native vegetation that provides food and habitat for native wildlife such as “micro prairies” and urban forests will have the greatest effect.
• Encouraging optimal mowing practices on large lots that are adjacent to natural features.

Enrich natural biodiversity in agricultural areas by promoting practices that provide food, water, and habitat for wildlife and minimize negative impacts. Strategies to achieve the goal include:

• Working with farmers, rancher, conservationists, sustainable agricultural organizations, and other stakeholders to develop a plan to conserve nature in farming and ranching landscapes.
• Implementing optimal mowing strategies, which include harvesting grasses at a growing height of 10 plus inches; creating early successional habitat with burning, disking, and haying every 3-5 years; mowing from the center of a field outward to allow wildlife to escape the surrounding areas; adding flushing bars to mowing equipment to minimize bird injuries and death; leaving 4-6 inches of stubble after harvest to capture snow and water; harvesting or mowing after first frost to avoid disturbing bird nests and improve grass quality; and leaving portions of fields as standing crops.
• Increasing nesting habitat.
• Adopting best practices for fertilizer and pesticide applications.
• Developing landscape conservation cooperatives.
• Encouraging grassland ranching as an ecologically beneficial alternative to cultivation, particularly practices such as “mob grazing” that mimic natural grazing patterns.
• Promoting ranching of bison, which benefit conservation efforts by dispersing seeds, increasing plant biodiversity, and enhancing groundwater recharge.
• Restoring grassland on previously cultivated landscapes, particularly in buffer zones near natural features.
• Encouraging and supporting agricultural parks that combine recreation and food production and foster appreciation for agricultural heritage.
• Promoting sustainable intensification, which increases production and profitability while providing rich sources of habitat for biodiversity.

Protect and preserve natural resources, by:

• Identifying and mapping valuable natural resources, such as, native prairies.
• Maintaining a comprehensive inventory and assessment of natural resources and critical habitats.
• Identifying opportunities to create an interconnected green infrastructure network throughout and beyond Oklahoma City’s municipal boundaries via existing trail and greenway projects, parks, stream corridors, and natural areas.
• Seeking the voluntary sale of land or dedication of conservation easements on private land that is identified as critical habitat or is necessary to link wildlife corridors.
• Pursuing protection of strategically identified natural areas by placing them in conservation easements or land banks, and reserving them for future use as open space and passive recreational areas.
• Managing invasive plant and animal species.
• Partnering with applicable State agencies and non-profit entities.

Strive to preserve natural open spaces, including native prairies, and re-plant native vegetation to take advantage of their drought tolerance and deep root structures that slow and adsorb stormwater runoff and reduce erosion by anchoring the soil.

Identify and protect critical habitats for state and federally listed threatened or endangered species.

Establish strategies, procedures and policies that prevent degradation or loss of critical habitat and sensitive areas, such as Cross Timbers, upland forests, wetlands, wildlife corridors, groundwater recharge zones, and riparian areas. Protection methods should ensure that placement of lots, alignment of roads, and installation of structures and infrastructure minimize disturbance of the environmentally sensitive areas using tools such as:

• Directing development to appropriate locations;
• Greenbelt preservation;
• Assurance of no development in protected open space;
• Clustering / conservation subdivisions;
• Pervious surface treatments;
• Density transfers; and/or
• Conservation easements.

Ensure that strategies, procedures, and policies incorporate principles of connectivity, minimal fragmentation, representativeness, and heterogeneity.

Modify codes to allow residential clustering in rural land use typology areas, provided water supply and sewage disposal requirements are met, and permanently preserve nearby open space through means such as conservation easements.

Adopt subdivision regulations that ensure new neighborhoods meet the basic needs of residents while supporting an efficient development pattern. Regulations should cover:

• Open space (passive and active),
• Demonstration of sustainable funding levels for common area and facility maintenance costs,
• Walkability and bikeability,
• Internal and external street connectivity,
• Block length,
• Integration of uses,
• Integration of a variety of home sizes,
• Integration of a variety of unit types, and
• Preservation of Environmentally Sensitive Areas.

Regulations could be based on a point scale to allow flexibility, while still requiring basic minimum thresholds be met.
New regulations should remove the existing requirement for development in Rural LUTAs to connect to water and sewer systems and establish a minimum one-acre lot size for lots with on-site sewer treatment.

Pursue grants, partnerships, and programs that accomplish the following:

• Restore tree stands and wildlife habitats in environmentally sensitive areas.
• Acquire land or establish conservation easements in environmentally sensitive areas to reserve as permanent open space and protect wildlife and habitat.
• Establish a comprehensive habitat management program.
• Provide education and resources for proper use of pesticides and fertilizers, with special focus on encouraging integrated pest management and organic practices.
• Provide education about land management practices that address fire suppression, invasive species, use of herbicides/pesticides, and overgrazing.
• Promote the economic and aesthetic value of preserving Oklahoma City’s natural resources such as riparian areas, Cross Timbers forest, grasslands/prairie, bottomland forests, and wetlands.

Support and incentivize the adaptive use of existing buildings, infill development, and brownfield development.

Establish development regulations to help protect Oklahoma City’s water resources through standards that:

• Require buffers, setbacks, and vegetation conservation requirements to protect riparian and littoral zones and filter waterborne pollutants from development activities and storm water runoff. Buffer widths should be based on water quality function and wildlife habitat needs.
• Encourage natural drainage systems and methods for onsite infiltration and onsite sediment retention.
• Require new developments to maintain or decrease the site’s pre-development runoff rate.
• Allow low-impact development design features such as pervious pavement, rain gardens, landscaped parkways, and alternative curbing designs.
• Reduce the amount of impervious surfaces allowed in buffer zones around Environmentally Sensitive Areas.
• Restore watershed features such as forest, wetlands, and natural stream channels.

Establish incentives such as a simplified permitting process, reduced application fees, and special recognition for projects that:

• Utilize best management practices or other low-impact development methods for storm water management.
• Bring buried streams to the surface and restore riparian habitat.
• Install bridge systems instead of culverts for stream crossings to help maintain the natural ecosystem associated with the stream.

Revise policies, codes and development regulations to reduce the risk of damage resulting from flooding and preserve water quality and stream related habitat by avoiding alterations to the 100-year floodplain (as depicted on the FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map). Allow these areas to remain in their natural state to the greatest extent possible. Revised policies should allow positive alterations, such as restoration of natural riparian areas with appropriate vegetation.

Preserve wetlands in their natural state to the greatest extent possible to increase water quality, minimize quantity of runoff, and increase groundwater recharge. Maintain wetland headwaters and avoid the alteration of surface or subsurface drainage patterns that would eliminate, reduce, or severely alter the frequency and volume of water entering wetland areas.

Develop a comprehensive watershed management strategy that identifies programs, partnerships, actions, and incentives that the City and partners can take to protect the city’s water resources and aquatic areas. The strategy should address the following:

• Creation of a Stormwater Master Plan.
• Update to the City’s sediment control program and establishment of performance measures.
• Coordinated watershed restoration projects.
• Preparation and implementation of Small Watershed Action Plans (SWAPs) and participation in studies to identify needs and opportunities for stream restoration, wetland creation and restoration, and storm water management.
• Identification of opportunities to create wetlands to offset construction and other land development impacts.
• Identification and utilization of “receiving lands” that can absorb storm surge overflows.
• Public education on how to conserve water and minimize chemicals, pathogens, sediment, and nutrients in urban and rural watersheds.
• Acquisition and protection of greenways, river buffers and flood prone areas.

Revise development regulations to require the following factors to be addressed in development and redevelopment proposals:

• Preservation of existing natural resources, such as wooded areas, habitat areas, and floodplains.
• Utilization of natural treatments and methods to stabilize or rehabilitate stream and river banks as a means to preserve downstream habitats.
• Integration of a variety of native or compatible non-native, non-invasive plant species.
• Mitigation of impacts of development on habitat, wildlife corridors, riparian and littoral areas, and water quality, through actions such as restoration or re-vegetation of disturbed natural areas and replacement of trees/habitat on-site or off-site.
• Management of invasive plant and animal species.
• Management and maintenance of natural areas, common areas and drainage areas.
• Impact on surface and groundwater supply.
• Impact on water quality caused by land uses and activities.
• Impacts on floodplains, riparian and littoral areas and wetlands and areas with significant landforms.

In areas where standard on-site wastewater systems are not feasible (such as in areas with shallow or poor soils), require very low-density development or development that utilizes conservation design and a centralized treatment facility or other environmentally sensitive systems for wastewater treatment.

Develop a manual of best management practices that can be integrated into City codes. These include, but are not limited to:

• Tree care and management.
• Tree planting.
• Tree protection.
• Street trees (location, conflicts, maintenance, etc. – in addition to general tree care guidelines).
• Placement of utilities (e.g., under streets vs. under park strips)
• Low impact development techniques.
• Habitat protection and restoration.
• Conservation easements and/or subdivisions.

Revise the landscape ordinance to include the following:

• Define terms such as invasive species, exotic/non-native species, and native/indigenous species
• Require removal of invasive species from existing sites, and prohibit such species from being planted or maintained in new development.
• Provide a reference list of native plants and drought-tolerant plants.
• Provide incentives for using native and drought-tolerant plants and disincentives for using high-water plants and turf grass.
• Establish requirements for using design practices that minimize the need for supplemental irrigation.

Preserve natural habitat, maintain wildlife food sources, and reduce the risk of propagating invasive plant species by utilizing vegetation native to Oklahoma, preferably central Oklahoma, for all mitigation and habitat restoration efforts associated with new development and redevelopment projects, public and private, to the greatest extent possible.

Establish an Urban Forestry Program and City Urban Forester position to achieve the following:

• Measure and monitor tree canopy coverage and habitat on a regular basis so that any policies, programs, and regulations may be adjusted accordingly as situations change. Establish a process to maintain current data.
• Develop and maintain regulations, policies, processes, and programs that focus on protection and preservation of native trees.
• Provide assistance with proper tree selection, location, and maintenance to prevent power outages, reduce property damage, and coordinate emergency response during natural disaster events (excessive snow and ice, tornadoes, etc.), address the urban heat island effect, and reduce energy costs, etc.
• Establish programs such as tree give-aways, neighborhood planting programs, and education workshops.
• Provide resources to the public about tree selection, management, and care.
• Seek grant funding for community tree planting to improve City parks, publicly maintained rights-of-way and other areas of the city.
• Inventory the City’s street trees and develop a tree replacement program.
• Partner with volunteer and nonprofit organizations to recruit volunteers for tree planting and maintenance and to coordinate community-wide tree planting efforts.

Develop and adopt a tree preservation ordinance that achieves the following:

• Defines methods of preservation;
• Defines situations where preservation of trees is mandatory versus optional;
• Establishes incentives for tree preservation;
• Establishes mitigation options if preservation cannot be accomplished; and
• Establishes penalties for unauthorized tree removal.

Provide the public with resources, tools, and guidance to deal with environmental hazards, such as:

• Information about safe disposal options for household contaminants such as motor oils, paints, computers, televisions, batteries, etc.
• Information on environmental hazards, such as brownfield sites.
• Information about funds available to assist with environmental cleanups.

Pursue methods to reduce the impact of the urban heat island effect on Oklahoma City by:

• Establishing a minimum canopy coverage requirement over paved surfaces such as parking lots.
• Instating a “continuous canopy” requirement for new streets and street reconstruction projects.
• Promoting the use of building and roofing materials that reduce heat island effects.

Modify development and subdivision regulations, and City policies to minimize alteration of natural landforms and native vegetation and maximize retention of distinctive natural features for public and private projects.

Establish development regulations that help improve air quality, including:

• Specifying construction controls that reduce airborne dust;
• Increasing landscaping and tree planting to absorb carbon dioxide and air pollutants; and
• Encouraging development patterns and densities that support alternative modes of transportation in the urban LUTAs.

Develop an enforcement mechanism for the City’s Building Energy Code. Develop a healthy building code to support construction of durable, health-promoting and energy efficient buildings that incorporate proven green development practices, locally-sourced and environmentally responsible materials, water conservation fixtures, innovative design and construction techniques, and low waste construction practices. Incentivize their use with shorter approval procedures, priority permits and inspections, and reduced fees.

Partner with agencies, non-profits, and private entities to:

• Implement a sustainable development online forum – an educational and networking resource that will inform the public about local opportunities and the benefits of sustainable development while increasing builder and developer participation.
• Educate citizens on energy and water conservation opportunities both at work and at home.
• Encourage appropriate re-use and reclamation of water in new development and redevelopment to reduce the reliance on potable water use.
• Provide detailed cost-benefit information about green building practices to encourage increased use of such practices in Oklahoma City.
• Reduce reliance on electricity produced by fossil fuel by encouraging the use of renewable energy sources in new development and redevelopment.
• Explore mechanisms (incentives, regulations, programs) to divert demolition debris from landfills and redirect to facilities that can reuse these materials.
• Establish a promotion/award program to showcase innovative development that utilizes low-impact development practices and energy-efficient building techniques / equipment, conserves riparian buffers, and extends greenway networks with hiking/biking trails.

Preserve overall landscape character and natural landforms (rolling hills, native vegetation, etc.) to the greatest extent possible.

Increase the amount of biodiversity-rich green space in urban and suburban areas by:

• Integrating vegetation to support biodiversity in parks, gardens, trails, and green roofs. Native vegetation that provides food and habitat for native wildlife such as “micro prairies” and urban forests will have the greatest effect.
• Encouraging optimal mowing practices on large lots that are adjacent to natural features.

Enrich natural biodiversity in agricultural areas by promoting practices that provide food, water, and habitat for wildlife and minimize negative impacts. Strategies to achieve the goal include:

• Working with farmers, rancher, conservationists, sustainable agricultural organizations, and other stakeholders to develop a plan to conserve nature in farming and ranching landscapes.
• Implementing optimal mowing strategies, which include harvesting grasses at a growing height of 10 plus inches; creating early successional habitat with burning, disking, and haying every 3-5 years; mowing from the center of a field outward to allow wildlife to escape the surrounding areas; adding flushing bars to mowing equipment to minimize bird injuries and death; leaving 4-6 inches of stubble after harvest to capture snow and water; harvesting or mowing after first frost to avoid disturbing bird nests and improve grass quality; and leaving portions of fields as standing crops.
• Increasing nesting habitat.
• Adopting best practices for fertilizer and pesticide applications.
• Developing landscape conservation cooperatives.
• Encouraging grassland ranching as an ecologically beneficial alternative to cultivation, particularly practices such as “mob grazing” that mimic natural grazing patterns.
• Promoting ranching of bison, which benefit conservation efforts by dispersing seeds, increasing plant biodiversity, and enhancing groundwater recharge.
• Restoring grassland on previously cultivated landscapes, particularly in buffer zones near natural features.
• Encouraging and supporting agricultural parks that combine recreation and food production and foster appreciation for agricultural heritage.
• Promoting sustainable intensification, which increases production and profitability while providing rich sources of habitat for biodiversity.

Protect and preserve natural resources, by:

• Identifying and mapping valuable natural resources, such as, native prairies.
• Maintaining a comprehensive inventory and assessment of natural resources and critical habitats.
• Identifying opportunities to create an interconnected green infrastructure network throughout and beyond Oklahoma City’s municipal boundaries via existing trail and greenway projects, parks, stream corridors, and natural areas.
• Seeking the voluntary sale of land or dedication of conservation easements on private land that is identified as critical habitat or is necessary to link wildlife corridors.
• Pursuing protection of strategically identified natural areas by placing them in conservation easements or land banks, and reserving them for future use as open space and passive recreational areas.
• Managing invasive plant and animal species.
• Partnering with applicable State agencies and non-profit entities.

Strive to preserve natural open spaces, including native prairies, and re-plant native vegetation to take advantage of their drought tolerance and deep root structures that slow and adsorb stormwater runoff and reduce erosion by anchoring the soil.

Identify and protect critical habitats for state and federally listed threatened or endangered species.

Identify migratory birds and their nesting sites prior to construction. Protect migratory birds and their nesting sites throughout the construction process and refrain from construction near nesting sites until migratory birds are no longer actively nesting and have moved on from the site. Verify compliance with Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

Establish strategies, procedures and policies that prevent degradation or loss of critical habitat and sensitive areas, such as Cross Timbers, upland forests, wetlands, wildlife corridors, groundwater recharge zones, and riparian areas. Protection methods should ensure that placement of lots, alignment of roads, and installation of structures and infrastructure minimize disturbance of the environmentally sensitive areas using tools such as:

• Directing development to appropriate locations;
• Greenbelt preservation;
• Assurance of no development in protected open space;
• Clustering / conservation subdivisions;
• Pervious surface treatments;
• Density transfers; and/or
• Conservation easements.

Ensure that strategies, procedures, and policies incorporate principles of connectivity, minimal fragmentation, representativeness, and heterogeneity.

In conjunction with City regulatory changes, such as significant modifications to zoning ordinances, building codes, or subdivision regulations, assess the effects of the proposed modifications on housing development costs and overall housing affordability, considering the balance between housing affordability and other objectives such as environmental quality, urban design quality, maintenance of neighborhood character and protection of public health, safety and welfare. This assessment should be integrated into the code amendment process, identify barriers to housing affordability, and include recommended mitigation.

Modify codes to allow residential clustering in rural land use typology areas, provided water supply and sewage disposal requirements are met, and permanently preserve nearby open space through means such as conservation easements.

Require that new development tie into the park and trail system by providing linkages to existing parks or dedicating new park land. Connect existing parks and neighborhoods to create a continuous system of open spaces, for example along stream corridors.

Enhance public park design standards to allow for public art and innovative design solutions regarding stormwater management, use of native vegetation, open space, and play areas.

Revise subdivision regulations to require development adjacent to parks and public open spaces to maintain open sight lines to parks and public open space.  Reduce/limit residential rear yards, fences, walls, and physical and visual enclosures around park and public open space perimeters.  Encourage designs that allow homes to face into parks or where side yards are located near parks.

Pursue all opportunities, including donations, conservation easements, inheritance trusts, naming rights, and developer incentives to accomplish the following:

• Acquiring new lands for parks, open space;
• Acquiring natural areas that provide greater opportunities for people to access nature;
• Maintaining existing and future parks, open space, and natural areas;
• Enhancing existing landscaping at parks and along trails by planting additional native vegetation.

Adopt new citywide site design and building regulations that ensure new developments meet basic functional and aesthetic minimums related to:

• Walkability and bike-ability
• Internal and external street connectivity
• Integration of uses
• Signage
• Building location
• Building appearance
• Open space (passive and active)

Adopt subdivision regulations that ensure new neighborhoods meet the basic needs of residents while supporting an efficient development pattern. Regulations should cover:

• Open space (passive and active),
• Demonstration of sustainable funding levels for common area and facility maintenance costs,
• Walkability and bikeability,
• Internal and external street connectivity,
• Block length,
• Integration of uses,
• Integration of a variety of home sizes,
• Integration of a variety of unit types, and
• Preservation of Environmentally Sensitive Areas.

Regulations could be based on a point scale to allow flexibility, while still requiring basic minimum thresholds be met.
New regulations should remove the existing requirement for development in Rural LUTAs to connect to water and sewer systems and establish a minimum one-acre lot size for lots with on-site sewer treatment.

Avoid under-grounding streams to the greatest extent possible. Where feasible, encourage the re-surfacing of buried streams. Limit the use of culverts or other structures that alter natural streams, and require designs that minimize impacts to stream health and function.

Using performance standards related to flow quantity, quality, and pattern, modify development regulations, codes, and policies to support the use of green infrastructure/low impact development techniques to mimic natural systems for developments within aquifer recharge zones with moderate or high vulnerability or in areas where streams and riparian areas have been channelized or developed (primarily in the Downtown, UH, and UM LUTAs). Low impact development techniques include but are not limited to:

• Onsite treating or filtering of stormwater contaminants.
• Discharging run-off as sheet-flow after passing through grassy or vegetated open space areas, rather than discharging run-off through concentrated outfalls.
• Creating attractive open space amenities that double as stormwater detention, retention, and / or filtering systems.
• Utilizing pervious pavement, pavers, or asphalt in appropriate locations (i.e. sidewalks, parking spaces, trails, patios, etc.).
• Utilizing planters (at grade or raised), vegetated landscape strips adjacent to roads and parking areas, and alternative curbing designs (allowing stormwater to easily move from impervious areas to pervious areas), to encourage stormwater infiltration and temporary detention.
• Rain Gardens
• Bioswales
• Green streets and alleys
• Green roofs
• Rooftop collection
• Underground detention
• Increased tree canopy preservation/tree planting
• Land/open space conservation
• Cluster development

Establish development regulations to help protect Oklahoma City’s water resources through standards that:

• Require buffers, setbacks, and vegetation conservation requirements to protect riparian and littoral zones and filter waterborne pollutants from development activities and storm water runoff. Buffer widths should be based on water quality function and wildlife habitat needs.
• Encourage natural drainage systems and methods for onsite infiltration and onsite sediment retention.
• Require new developments to maintain or decrease the site’s pre-development runoff rate.
• Allow low-impact development design features such as pervious pavement, rain gardens, landscaped parkways, and alternative curbing designs.
• Reduce the amount of impervious surfaces allowed in buffer zones around Environmentally Sensitive Areas.
• Restore watershed features such as forest, wetlands, and natural stream channels.

Establish incentives such as a simplified permitting process, reduced application fees, and special recognition for projects that:

• Utilize best management practices or other low-impact development methods for storm water management.
• Bring buried streams to the surface and restore riparian habitat.
• Install bridge systems instead of culverts for stream crossings to help maintain the natural ecosystem associated with the stream.

Revise policies, codes and development regulations to reduce the risk of damage resulting from flooding and preserve water quality and stream related habitat by avoiding alterations to the 100-year floodplain (as depicted on the FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map). Allow these areas to remain in their natural state to the greatest extent possible. Revised policies should allow positive alterations, such as restoration of natural riparian areas with appropriate vegetation.

Preserve wetlands in their natural state to the greatest extent possible to increase water quality, minimize quantity of runoff, and increase groundwater recharge. Maintain wetland headwaters and avoid the alteration of surface or subsurface drainage patterns that would eliminate, reduce, or severely alter the frequency and volume of water entering wetland areas.

Create a comprehensive wastewater program for areas not planned for service by the City’s sewer system. This includes:

• Locating and mapping all existing decentralized sewage treatment systems.
• Creating policies and regulations regarding septic system design, installation, maintenance, and testing.
• Producing guidelines for alternative wastewater treatment, such as community wastewater systems.
• Developing monitoring, testing, and inspection requirements and responsibilities.
• Partnering with State agencies and other entities.

Develop a comprehensive watershed management strategy that identifies programs, partnerships, actions, and incentives that the City and partners can take to protect the city’s water resources and aquatic areas. The strategy should address the following:

• Creation of a Stormwater Master Plan.
• Update to the City’s sediment control program and establishment of performance measures.
• Coordinated watershed restoration projects.
• Preparation and implementation of Small Watershed Action Plans (SWAPs) and participation in studies to identify needs and opportunities for stream restoration, wetland creation and restoration, and storm water management.
• Identification of opportunities to create wetlands to offset construction and other land development impacts.
• Identification and utilization of “receiving lands” that can absorb storm surge overflows.
• Public education on how to conserve water and minimize chemicals, pathogens, sediment, and nutrients in urban and rural watersheds.
• Acquisition and protection of greenways, river buffers and flood prone areas.

Evaluate the City’s stormwater detention/retention requirements, including the current fee-in-lieu of program, and compare to current best management practices. Based on findings, modify codes, policies and development regulations to update stormwater detention/retention requirements. These requirements should focus on:

• Reducing the risks of property damage due to flooding.
• Managing runoff rates and minimizing stream bank erosion by ensuring that post-development runoff rates do not exceed pre-development rates, even in areas where risks of flooding have historically been low.
• Maintaining surface water quality by managing the release of the first flush stormwater volume in order to encourage settling and filtering of particle and chemical pollutants before releasing water into adjacent water bodies.

Revise development regulations to require the following factors to be addressed in development and redevelopment proposals:

• Preservation of existing natural resources, such as wooded areas, habitat areas, and floodplains.
• Utilization of natural treatments and methods to stabilize or rehabilitate stream and river banks as a means to preserve downstream habitats.
• Integration of a variety of native or compatible non-native, non-invasive plant species.
• Mitigation of impacts of development on habitat, wildlife corridors, riparian and littoral areas, and water quality, through actions such as restoration or re-vegetation of disturbed natural areas and replacement of trees/habitat on-site or off-site.
• Management of invasive plant and animal species.
• Management and maintenance of natural areas, common areas and drainage areas.
• Impact on surface and groundwater supply.
• Impact on water quality caused by land uses and activities.
• Impacts on floodplains, riparian and littoral areas and wetlands and areas with significant landforms.

Revise the landscape ordinance to include the following:

• Define terms such as invasive species, exotic/non-native species, and native/indigenous species
• Require removal of invasive species from existing sites, and prohibit such species from being planted or maintained in new development.
• Provide a reference list of native plants and drought-tolerant plants.
• Provide incentives for using native and drought-tolerant plants and disincentives for using high-water plants and turf grass.
• Establish requirements for using design practices that minimize the need for supplemental irrigation.

Provide the public with resources, tools, and guidance to deal with environmental hazards, such as:

• Information about safe disposal options for household contaminants such as motor oils, paints, computers, televisions, batteries, etc.
• Information on environmental hazards, such as brownfield sites.
• Information about funds available to assist with environmental cleanups.

Establish development regulations that help improve air quality, including:

• Specifying construction controls that reduce airborne dust;
• Increasing landscaping and tree planting to absorb carbon dioxide and air pollutants; and
• Encouraging development patterns and densities that support alternative modes of transportation in the urban LUTAs.

Develop an enforcement mechanism for the City’s Building Energy Code. Develop a healthy building code to support construction of durable, health-promoting and energy efficient buildings that incorporate proven green development practices, locally-sourced and environmentally responsible materials, water conservation fixtures, innovative design and construction techniques, and low waste construction practices. Incentivize their use with shorter approval procedures, priority permits and inspections, and reduced fees.

Partner with agencies, non-profits, and private entities to:

• Implement a sustainable development online forum – an educational and networking resource that will inform the public about local opportunities and the benefits of sustainable development while increasing builder and developer participation.
• Educate citizens on energy and water conservation opportunities both at work and at home.
• Encourage appropriate re-use and reclamation of water in new development and redevelopment to reduce the reliance on potable water use.
• Provide detailed cost-benefit information about green building practices to encourage increased use of such practices in Oklahoma City.
• Reduce reliance on electricity produced by fossil fuel by encouraging the use of renewable energy sources in new development and redevelopment.
• Explore mechanisms (incentives, regulations, programs) to divert demolition debris from landfills and redirect to facilities that can reuse these materials.
• Establish a promotion/award program to showcase innovative development that utilizes low-impact development practices and energy-efficient building techniques / equipment, conserves riparian buffers, and extends greenway networks with hiking/biking trails.

Preserve overall landscape character and natural landforms (rolling hills, native vegetation, etc.) to the greatest extent possible.

Protect and preserve natural resources, by:

• Identifying and mapping valuable natural resources, such as, native prairies.
• Maintaining a comprehensive inventory and assessment of natural resources and critical habitats.
• Identifying opportunities to create an interconnected green infrastructure network throughout and beyond Oklahoma City’s municipal boundaries via existing trail and greenway projects, parks, stream corridors, and natural areas.
• Seeking the voluntary sale of land or dedication of conservation easements on private land that is identified as critical habitat or is necessary to link wildlife corridors.
• Pursuing protection of strategically identified natural areas by placing them in conservation easements or land banks, and reserving them for future use as open space and passive recreational areas.
• Managing invasive plant and animal species.
• Partnering with applicable State agencies and non-profit entities.

Strive to preserve natural open spaces, including native prairies, and re-plant native vegetation to take advantage of their drought tolerance and deep root structures that slow and adsorb stormwater runoff and reduce erosion by anchoring the soil.

Identify and protect critical habitats for state and federally listed threatened or endangered species.

Identify migratory birds and their nesting sites prior to construction. Protect migratory birds and their nesting sites throughout the construction process and refrain from construction near nesting sites until migratory birds are no longer actively nesting and have moved on from the site. Verify compliance with Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

Establish strategies, procedures and policies that prevent degradation or loss of critical habitat and sensitive areas, such as Cross Timbers, upland forests, wetlands, wildlife corridors, groundwater recharge zones, and riparian areas. Protection methods should ensure that placement of lots, alignment of roads, and installation of structures and infrastructure minimize disturbance of the environmentally sensitive areas using tools such as:

• Directing development to appropriate locations;
• Greenbelt preservation;
• Assurance of no development in protected open space;
• Clustering / conservation subdivisions;
• Pervious surface treatments;
• Density transfers; and/or
• Conservation easements.

Ensure that strategies, procedures, and policies incorporate principles of connectivity, minimal fragmentation, representativeness, and heterogeneity.

Require that new development tie into the park and trail system by providing linkages to existing parks or dedicating new park land. Connect existing parks and neighborhoods to create a continuous system of open spaces, for example along stream corridors.

Enhance public park design standards to allow for public art and innovative design solutions regarding stormwater management, use of native vegetation, open space, and play areas.

Replace existing high-maintenance, high-water plant material with attractive native plants.

Establish an Urban Forestry Program and City Urban Forester position to achieve the following:

• Measure and monitor tree canopy coverage and habitat on a regular basis so that any policies, programs, and regulations may be adjusted accordingly as situations change. Establish a process to maintain current data.
• Develop and maintain regulations, policies, processes, and programs that focus on protection and preservation of native trees.
• Provide assistance with proper tree selection, location, and maintenance to prevent power outages, reduce property damage, and coordinate emergency response during natural disaster events (excessive snow and ice, tornadoes, etc.), address the urban heat island effect, and reduce energy costs, etc.
• Establish programs such as tree give-aways, neighborhood planting programs, and education workshops.
• Provide resources to the public about tree selection, management, and care.
• Seek grant funding for community tree planting to improve City parks, publicly maintained rights-of-way and other areas of the city.
• Inventory the City’s street trees and develop a tree replacement program.
• Partner with volunteer and nonprofit organizations to recruit volunteers for tree planting and maintenance and to coordinate community-wide tree planting efforts.

Provide the public with resources, tools, and guidance to deal with environmental hazards, such as:

• Information about safe disposal options for household contaminants such as motor oils, paints, computers, televisions, batteries, etc.
• Information on environmental hazards, such as brownfield sites.
• Information about funds available to assist with environmental cleanups.

Ensure clean-up and mitigation of contaminated sites is done prior to issuing new development permits.

Coordinate with local, regional, and State agencies to pursue initiatives and regulations that help reduce automobile emissions, such as:

• Transitioning commercial and City fleets to alternative-fueled and hybrid vehicles;
• Determining the feasibility of an idling restriction ordinance for all vehicles.

Promote improved air quality and reduced ground-level ozone levels by developing a public education program that will inform residents about the air quality benefits of:

• Proper automobile maintenance
• Proper maintenance and use of gas-powered lawn and garden equipment
• Limiting car idling times
• Alternative fuels
• Alternative / active transportation modes (public transit, walking, biking, car-sharing, etc.)
• Reducing vehicle-miles traveled (VMT)
• Employer sponsored emission reduction programs (carpooling, work from home, telecommuting, etc.)
• Native landscaping (requiring less maintenance)
• Energy efficient housing / buildings

Partner with agencies, non-profits, and private entities to:

• Implement a sustainable development online forum – an educational and networking resource that will inform the public about local opportunities and the benefits of sustainable development while increasing builder and developer participation.
• Educate citizens on energy and water conservation opportunities both at work and at home.
• Encourage appropriate re-use and reclamation of water in new development and redevelopment to reduce the reliance on potable water use.
• Provide detailed cost-benefit information about green building practices to encourage increased use of such practices in Oklahoma City.
• Reduce reliance on electricity produced by fossil fuel by encouraging the use of renewable energy sources in new development and redevelopment.
• Explore mechanisms (incentives, regulations, programs) to divert demolition debris from landfills and redirect to facilities that can reuse these materials.
• Establish a promotion/award program to showcase innovative development that utilizes low-impact development practices and energy-efficient building techniques / equipment, conserves riparian buffers, and extends greenway networks with hiking/biking trails.

Raise the level of public awareness of agriculture’s value to ecology, economy, open space, culture, and local food security by the following actions:

• Organize training activities in a variety of settings (schools, colleges, health care facilities, continuing education programs) that demonstrate the history, importance and value of agricultural operations.
• Improve the knowledge of current growers and motivate potential new growers.
• Promote incentives offered by governments, banks, land-grant universities, and private businesses such as start-up capital, credit, crop insurance, horticultural and financial advice, soil testing, markets, subsidies, tools, and inputs such as seeds and soil alterations.
• Promote farms as a destination stop for tourists and visitors.

Promote local and urban agricultural operations by establishing programs and partnerships to:

• Lease publicly-owned land to farmers for sustainable urban agricultural use.
• Encourage land tenure methods such as land trusts, leases, and policy initiatives to secure long-term commitment for community gardens, entrepreneurial farms, and other urban agriculture ventures.
• Develop community-based farming infrastructure such as tool banks with equipment and supplies, community kitchens and other shared processing facilities, farmers’ markets, community supported agriculture projects, funding opportunities, and technical service providers.
• Construct and operate a demonstration urban farm for education, outreach, and local food production.
• Encourage the local agricultural economy and improve access to local foods by allowing city property (parks, city facilities, etc.) to be used for farmers markets and other public markets.

Strengthen the local food system and increase access to healthy food options using strategies such as:

• Increasing the effectiveness of community gardens, especially in underserved areas.
• Reducing access to low nutrition food (e.g. junk food, fast food).
• Preserving agricultural lands for purposes of producing food, fiber, and fuel.
• Participating in a local or regional food policy council.
• Develop an incentive program that will assist convenience stores with providing fresh fruits, vegetables, and other healthy food items.
• Develop a land bank to convert tax-reverted, vacant, and abandoned properties into community gardens or “satellite farms.”
• Prioritize underserved areas when locating new grocery stores, farmer’s markets, and mobile grocers. Use financial incentives, technical assistance, and other services to improve the quality and selection of healthy foods available to underserved areas.

Increase the amount of biodiversity-rich green space in urban and suburban areas by:

• Integrating vegetation to support biodiversity in parks, gardens, trails, and green roofs. Native vegetation that provides food and habitat for native wildlife such as “micro prairies” and urban forests will have the greatest effect.
• Encouraging optimal mowing practices on large lots that are adjacent to natural features.

Enrich natural biodiversity in agricultural areas by promoting practices that provide food, water, and habitat for wildlife and minimize negative impacts. Strategies to achieve the goal include:

• Working with farmers, rancher, conservationists, sustainable agricultural organizations, and other stakeholders to develop a plan to conserve nature in farming and ranching landscapes.
• Implementing optimal mowing strategies, which include harvesting grasses at a growing height of 10 plus inches; creating early successional habitat with burning, disking, and haying every 3-5 years; mowing from the center of a field outward to allow wildlife to escape the surrounding areas; adding flushing bars to mowing equipment to minimize bird injuries and death; leaving 4-6 inches of stubble after harvest to capture snow and water; harvesting or mowing after first frost to avoid disturbing bird nests and improve grass quality; and leaving portions of fields as standing crops.
• Increasing nesting habitat.
• Adopting best practices for fertilizer and pesticide applications.
• Developing landscape conservation cooperatives.
• Encouraging grassland ranching as an ecologically beneficial alternative to cultivation, particularly practices such as “mob grazing” that mimic natural grazing patterns.
• Promoting ranching of bison, which benefit conservation efforts by dispersing seeds, increasing plant biodiversity, and enhancing groundwater recharge.
• Restoring grassland on previously cultivated landscapes, particularly in buffer zones near natural features.
• Encouraging and supporting agricultural parks that combine recreation and food production and foster appreciation for agricultural heritage.
• Promoting sustainable intensification, which increases production and profitability while providing rich sources of habitat for biodiversity.

Establish strategies, procedures and policies that prevent degradation or loss of critical habitat and sensitive areas, such as Cross Timbers, upland forests, wetlands, wildlife corridors, groundwater recharge zones, and riparian areas. Protection methods should ensure that placement of lots, alignment of roads, and installation of structures and infrastructure minimize disturbance of the environmentally sensitive areas using tools such as:

• Directing development to appropriate locations;
• Greenbelt preservation;
• Assurance of no development in protected open space;
• Clustering / conservation subdivisions;
• Pervious surface treatments;
• Density transfers; and/or
• Conservation easements.

Ensure that strategies, procedures, and policies incorporate principles of connectivity, minimal fragmentation, representativeness, and heterogeneity.

Incorporate preventive health care and wellness education into public schools, recreation centers, senior centers, and technical/trade schools.

Pursue grants, partnerships, and programs that accomplish the following:

• Restore tree stands and wildlife habitats in environmentally sensitive areas.
• Acquire land or establish conservation easements in environmentally sensitive areas to reserve as permanent open space and protect wildlife and habitat.
• Establish a comprehensive habitat management program.
• Provide education and resources for proper use of pesticides and fertilizers, with special focus on encouraging integrated pest management and organic practices.
• Provide education about land management practices that address fire suppression, invasive species, use of herbicides/pesticides, and overgrazing.
• Promote the economic and aesthetic value of preserving Oklahoma City’s natural resources such as riparian areas, Cross Timbers forest, grasslands/prairie, bottomland forests, and wetlands.

Establish development regulations to help protect Oklahoma City’s water resources through standards that:

• Require buffers, setbacks, and vegetation conservation requirements to protect riparian and littoral zones and filter waterborne pollutants from development activities and storm water runoff. Buffer widths should be based on water quality function and wildlife habitat needs.
• Encourage natural drainage systems and methods for onsite infiltration and onsite sediment retention.
• Require new developments to maintain or decrease the site’s pre-development runoff rate.
• Allow low-impact development design features such as pervious pavement, rain gardens, landscaped parkways, and alternative curbing designs.
• Reduce the amount of impervious surfaces allowed in buffer zones around Environmentally Sensitive Areas.
• Restore watershed features such as forest, wetlands, and natural stream channels.

Revise policies, codes and development regulations to reduce the risk of damage resulting from flooding and preserve water quality and stream related habitat by avoiding alterations to the 100-year floodplain (as depicted on the FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map). Allow these areas to remain in their natural state to the greatest extent possible. Revised policies should allow positive alterations, such as restoration of natural riparian areas with appropriate vegetation.

Preserve wetlands in their natural state to the greatest extent possible to increase water quality, minimize quantity of runoff, and increase groundwater recharge. Maintain wetland headwaters and avoid the alteration of surface or subsurface drainage patterns that would eliminate, reduce, or severely alter the frequency and volume of water entering wetland areas.

Revise development regulations to require the following factors to be addressed in development and redevelopment proposals:

• Preservation of existing natural resources, such as wooded areas, habitat areas, and floodplains.
• Utilization of natural treatments and methods to stabilize or rehabilitate stream and river banks as a means to preserve downstream habitats.
• Integration of a variety of native or compatible non-native, non-invasive plant species.
• Mitigation of impacts of development on habitat, wildlife corridors, riparian and littoral areas, and water quality, through actions such as restoration or re-vegetation of disturbed natural areas and replacement of trees/habitat on-site or off-site.
• Management of invasive plant and animal species.
• Management and maintenance of natural areas, common areas and drainage areas.
• Impact on surface and groundwater supply.
• Impact on water quality caused by land uses and activities.
• Impacts on floodplains, riparian and littoral areas and wetlands and areas with significant landforms.

Modify development and subdivision regulations, and City policies to minimize alteration of natural landforms and native vegetation and maximize retention of distinctive natural features for public and private projects.

Preserve overall landscape character and natural landforms (rolling hills, native vegetation, etc.) to the greatest extent possible.

Increase the amount of biodiversity-rich green space in urban and suburban areas by:

• Integrating vegetation to support biodiversity in parks, gardens, trails, and green roofs. Native vegetation that provides food and habitat for native wildlife such as “micro prairies” and urban forests will have the greatest effect.
• Encouraging optimal mowing practices on large lots that are adjacent to natural features.

Enrich natural biodiversity in agricultural areas by promoting practices that provide food, water, and habitat for wildlife and minimize negative impacts. Strategies to achieve the goal include:

• Working with farmers, rancher, conservationists, sustainable agricultural organizations, and other stakeholders to develop a plan to conserve nature in farming and ranching landscapes.
• Implementing optimal mowing strategies, which include harvesting grasses at a growing height of 10 plus inches; creating early successional habitat with burning, disking, and haying every 3-5 years; mowing from the center of a field outward to allow wildlife to escape the surrounding areas; adding flushing bars to mowing equipment to minimize bird injuries and death; leaving 4-6 inches of stubble after harvest to capture snow and water; harvesting or mowing after first frost to avoid disturbing bird nests and improve grass quality; and leaving portions of fields as standing crops.
• Increasing nesting habitat.
• Adopting best practices for fertilizer and pesticide applications.
• Developing landscape conservation cooperatives.
• Encouraging grassland ranching as an ecologically beneficial alternative to cultivation, particularly practices such as “mob grazing” that mimic natural grazing patterns.
• Promoting ranching of bison, which benefit conservation efforts by dispersing seeds, increasing plant biodiversity, and enhancing groundwater recharge.
• Restoring grassland on previously cultivated landscapes, particularly in buffer zones near natural features.
• Encouraging and supporting agricultural parks that combine recreation and food production and foster appreciation for agricultural heritage.
• Promoting sustainable intensification, which increases production and profitability while providing rich sources of habitat for biodiversity.

Protect and preserve natural resources, by:

• Identifying and mapping valuable natural resources, such as, native prairies.
• Maintaining a comprehensive inventory and assessment of natural resources and critical habitats.
• Identifying opportunities to create an interconnected green infrastructure network throughout and beyond Oklahoma City’s municipal boundaries via existing trail and greenway projects, parks, stream corridors, and natural areas.
• Seeking the voluntary sale of land or dedication of conservation easements on private land that is identified as critical habitat or is necessary to link wildlife corridors.
• Pursuing protection of strategically identified natural areas by placing them in conservation easements or land banks, and reserving them for future use as open space and passive recreational areas.
• Managing invasive plant and animal species.
• Partnering with applicable State agencies and non-profit entities.

Strive to preserve natural open spaces, including native prairies, and re-plant native vegetation to take advantage of their drought tolerance and deep root structures that slow and adsorb stormwater runoff and reduce erosion by anchoring the soil.

Identify and protect critical habitats for state and federally listed threatened or endangered species.

Establish strategies, procedures and policies that prevent degradation or loss of critical habitat and sensitive areas, such as Cross Timbers, upland forests, wetlands, wildlife corridors, groundwater recharge zones, and riparian areas. Protection methods should ensure that placement of lots, alignment of roads, and installation of structures and infrastructure minimize disturbance of the environmentally sensitive areas using tools such as:

• Directing development to appropriate locations;
• Greenbelt preservation;
• Assurance of no development in protected open space;
• Clustering / conservation subdivisions;
• Pervious surface treatments;
• Density transfers; and/or
• Conservation easements.

Ensure that strategies, procedures, and policies incorporate principles of connectivity, minimal fragmentation, representativeness, and heterogeneity.

Revise the landscape ordinance to include the following:

• Define terms such as invasive species, exotic/non-native species, and native/indigenous species
• Require removal of invasive species from existing sites, and prohibit such species from being planted or maintained in new development.
• Provide a reference list of native plants and drought-tolerant plants.
• Provide incentives for using native and drought-tolerant plants and disincentives for using high-water plants and turf grass.
• Establish requirements for using design practices that minimize the need for supplemental irrigation.

Establish strategies, procedures and policies for City construction projects to achieve higher energy efficiency, including:

• Implementing an energy management plan for City facilities.
• Monitoring energy consumption of City facilities, tracking conservation progress, and communicating results to City administrators, employees, elected officials and the public.
• Assessing water use in City facilities to identify opportunities for conservation and implement appropriate measures.

Develop an enforcement mechanism for the City’s Building Energy Code. Develop a healthy building code to support construction of durable, health-promoting and energy efficient buildings that incorporate proven green development practices, locally-sourced and environmentally responsible materials, water conservation fixtures, innovative design and construction techniques, and low waste construction practices. Incentivize their use with shorter approval procedures, priority permits and inspections, and reduced fees.

Identify and remove barriers related to water conservation practices, including rainwater harvesting, graywater irrigation, treated effluent re-use practices, and others.

Develop an inventory of water uses at City facilities. Identify opportunities to reduce water use while sustaining service levels to the public. Implement the most prudent opportunities.

Avoid under-grounding streams to the greatest extent possible. Where feasible, encourage the re-surfacing of buried streams. Limit the use of culverts or other structures that alter natural streams, and require designs that minimize impacts to stream health and function.

Using performance standards related to flow quantity, quality, and pattern, modify development regulations, codes, and policies to support the use of green infrastructure/low impact development techniques to mimic natural systems for developments within aquifer recharge zones with moderate or high vulnerability or in areas where streams and riparian areas have been channelized or developed (primarily in the Downtown, UH, and UM LUTAs). Low impact development techniques include but are not limited to:

• Onsite treating or filtering of stormwater contaminants.
• Discharging run-off as sheet-flow after passing through grassy or vegetated open space areas, rather than discharging run-off through concentrated outfalls.
• Creating attractive open space amenities that double as stormwater detention, retention, and / or filtering systems.
• Utilizing pervious pavement, pavers, or asphalt in appropriate locations (i.e. sidewalks, parking spaces, trails, patios, etc.).
• Utilizing planters (at grade or raised), vegetated landscape strips adjacent to roads and parking areas, and alternative curbing designs (allowing stormwater to easily move from impervious areas to pervious areas), to encourage stormwater infiltration and temporary detention.
• Rain Gardens
• Bioswales
• Green streets and alleys
• Green roofs
• Rooftop collection
• Underground detention
• Increased tree canopy preservation/tree planting
• Land/open space conservation
• Cluster development

Establish development regulations to help protect Oklahoma City’s water resources through standards that:

• Require buffers, setbacks, and vegetation conservation requirements to protect riparian and littoral zones and filter waterborne pollutants from development activities and storm water runoff. Buffer widths should be based on water quality function and wildlife habitat needs.
• Encourage natural drainage systems and methods for onsite infiltration and onsite sediment retention.
• Require new developments to maintain or decrease the site’s pre-development runoff rate.
• Allow low-impact development design features such as pervious pavement, rain gardens, landscaped parkways, and alternative curbing designs.
• Reduce the amount of impervious surfaces allowed in buffer zones around Environmentally Sensitive Areas.
• Restore watershed features such as forest, wetlands, and natural stream channels.

Establish incentives such as a simplified permitting process, reduced application fees, and special recognition for projects that:

• Utilize best management practices or other low-impact development methods for storm water management.
• Bring buried streams to the surface and restore riparian habitat.
• Install bridge systems instead of culverts for stream crossings to help maintain the natural ecosystem associated with the stream.

Revise policies, codes and development regulations to reduce the risk of damage resulting from flooding and preserve water quality and stream related habitat by avoiding alterations to the 100-year floodplain (as depicted on the FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map). Allow these areas to remain in their natural state to the greatest extent possible. Revised policies should allow positive alterations, such as restoration of natural riparian areas with appropriate vegetation.

Preserve wetlands in their natural state to the greatest extent possible to increase water quality, minimize quantity of runoff, and increase groundwater recharge. Maintain wetland headwaters and avoid the alteration of surface or subsurface drainage patterns that would eliminate, reduce, or severely alter the frequency and volume of water entering wetland areas.

Create a comprehensive wastewater program for areas not planned for service by the City’s sewer system. This includes:

• Locating and mapping all existing decentralized sewage treatment systems.
• Creating policies and regulations regarding septic system design, installation, maintenance, and testing.
• Producing guidelines for alternative wastewater treatment, such as community wastewater systems.
• Developing monitoring, testing, and inspection requirements and responsibilities.
• Partnering with State agencies and other entities.

Develop a comprehensive watershed management strategy that identifies programs, partnerships, actions, and incentives that the City and partners can take to protect the city’s water resources and aquatic areas. The strategy should address the following:

• Creation of a Stormwater Master Plan.
• Update to the City’s sediment control program and establishment of performance measures.
• Coordinated watershed restoration projects.
• Preparation and implementation of Small Watershed Action Plans (SWAPs) and participation in studies to identify needs and opportunities for stream restoration, wetland creation and restoration, and storm water management.
• Identification of opportunities to create wetlands to offset construction and other land development impacts.
• Identification and utilization of “receiving lands” that can absorb storm surge overflows.
• Public education on how to conserve water and minimize chemicals, pathogens, sediment, and nutrients in urban and rural watersheds.
• Acquisition and protection of greenways, river buffers and flood prone areas.

Evaluate the City’s stormwater detention/retention requirements, including the current fee-in-lieu of program, and compare to current best management practices. Based on findings, modify codes, policies and development regulations to update stormwater detention/retention requirements. These requirements should focus on:

• Reducing the risks of property damage due to flooding.
• Managing runoff rates and minimizing stream bank erosion by ensuring that post-development runoff rates do not exceed pre-development rates, even in areas where risks of flooding have historically been low.
• Maintaining surface water quality by managing the release of the first flush stormwater volume in order to encourage settling and filtering of particle and chemical pollutants before releasing water into adjacent water bodies.

Revise development regulations to require the following factors to be addressed in development and redevelopment proposals:

• Preservation of existing natural resources, such as wooded areas, habitat areas, and floodplains.
• Utilization of natural treatments and methods to stabilize or rehabilitate stream and river banks as a means to preserve downstream habitats.
• Integration of a variety of native or compatible non-native, non-invasive plant species.
• Mitigation of impacts of development on habitat, wildlife corridors, riparian and littoral areas, and water quality, through actions such as restoration or re-vegetation of disturbed natural areas and replacement of trees/habitat on-site or off-site.
• Management of invasive plant and animal species.
• Management and maintenance of natural areas, common areas and drainage areas.
• Impact on surface and groundwater supply.
• Impact on water quality caused by land uses and activities.
• Impacts on floodplains, riparian and littoral areas and wetlands and areas with significant landforms.

Revise the landscape ordinance to include the following:

• Define terms such as invasive species, exotic/non-native species, and native/indigenous species
• Require removal of invasive species from existing sites, and prohibit such species from being planted or maintained in new development.
• Provide a reference list of native plants and drought-tolerant plants.
• Provide incentives for using native and drought-tolerant plants and disincentives for using high-water plants and turf grass.
• Establish requirements for using design practices that minimize the need for supplemental irrigation.

Provide the public with resources, tools, and guidance to deal with environmental hazards, such as:

• Information about safe disposal options for household contaminants such as motor oils, paints, computers, televisions, batteries, etc.
• Information on environmental hazards, such as brownfield sites.
• Information about funds available to assist with environmental cleanups.

Establish development regulations that help improve air quality, including:

• Specifying construction controls that reduce airborne dust;
• Increasing landscaping and tree planting to absorb carbon dioxide and air pollutants; and
• Encouraging development patterns and densities that support alternative modes of transportation in the urban LUTAs.

Develop an enforcement mechanism for the City’s Building Energy Code. Develop a healthy building code to support construction of durable, health-promoting and energy efficient buildings that incorporate proven green development practices, locally-sourced and environmentally responsible materials, water conservation fixtures, innovative design and construction techniques, and low waste construction practices. Incentivize their use with shorter approval procedures, priority permits and inspections, and reduced fees.

Partner with agencies, non-profits, and private entities to:

• Implement a sustainable development online forum – an educational and networking resource that will inform the public about local opportunities and the benefits of sustainable development while increasing builder and developer participation.
• Educate citizens on energy and water conservation opportunities both at work and at home.
• Encourage appropriate re-use and reclamation of water in new development and redevelopment to reduce the reliance on potable water use.
• Provide detailed cost-benefit information about green building practices to encourage increased use of such practices in Oklahoma City.
• Reduce reliance on electricity produced by fossil fuel by encouraging the use of renewable energy sources in new development and redevelopment.
• Explore mechanisms (incentives, regulations, programs) to divert demolition debris from landfills and redirect to facilities that can reuse these materials.
• Establish a promotion/award program to showcase innovative development that utilizes low-impact development practices and energy-efficient building techniques / equipment, conserves riparian buffers, and extends greenway networks with hiking/biking trails.

Preserve overall landscape character and natural landforms (rolling hills, native vegetation, etc.) to the greatest extent possible.

Protect and preserve natural resources, by:

• Identifying and mapping valuable natural resources, such as, native prairies.
• Maintaining a comprehensive inventory and assessment of natural resources and critical habitats.
• Identifying opportunities to create an interconnected green infrastructure network throughout and beyond Oklahoma City’s municipal boundaries via existing trail and greenway projects, parks, stream corridors, and natural areas.
• Seeking the voluntary sale of land or dedication of conservation easements on private land that is identified as critical habitat or is necessary to link wildlife corridors.
• Pursuing protection of strategically identified natural areas by placing them in conservation easements or land banks, and reserving them for future use as open space and passive recreational areas.
• Managing invasive plant and animal species.
• Partnering with applicable State agencies and non-profit entities.

Strive to preserve natural open spaces, including native prairies, and re-plant native vegetation to take advantage of their drought tolerance and deep root structures that slow and adsorb stormwater runoff and reduce erosion by anchoring the soil.

Identify and protect critical habitats for state and federally listed threatened or endangered species.

Identify migratory birds and their nesting sites prior to construction. Protect migratory birds and their nesting sites throughout the construction process and refrain from construction near nesting sites until migratory birds are no longer actively nesting and have moved on from the site. Verify compliance with Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

Establish strategies, procedures and policies that prevent degradation or loss of critical habitat and sensitive areas, such as Cross Timbers, upland forests, wetlands, wildlife corridors, groundwater recharge zones, and riparian areas. Protection methods should ensure that placement of lots, alignment of roads, and installation of structures and infrastructure minimize disturbance of the environmentally sensitive areas using tools such as:

• Directing development to appropriate locations;
• Greenbelt preservation;
• Assurance of no development in protected open space;
• Clustering / conservation subdivisions;
• Pervious surface treatments;
• Density transfers; and/or
• Conservation easements.

Ensure that strategies, procedures, and policies incorporate principles of connectivity, minimal fragmentation, representativeness, and heterogeneity.

Require that new development tie into the park and trail system by providing linkages to existing parks or dedicating new park land. Connect existing parks and neighborhoods to create a continuous system of open spaces, for example along stream corridors.

Enhance public park design standards to allow for public art and innovative design solutions regarding stormwater management, use of native vegetation, open space, and play areas.

Replace existing high-maintenance, high-water plant material with attractive native plants.

Initiate efforts to educate the public regarding programs that provide assistance for neighborhood clean-up efforts. Such efforts could include the following:

• Provide assistance to residents to make housing and neighborhood improvements and provide training in property maintenance skills.
• Develop and organize volunteer programs (such as adopt-a-street, adopt-a-park, and neighborhood clean-up days) and/or coordinate efforts to obtain grant funding to establish community clean-up programs in neighborhoods where inadequate property maintenance is prevalent.
• Publicize Bulk Waste Days and/or explore the possibility of adding more days/increased frequency.
• Develop a list of outside funding sources that could be used for property maintenance and make this information available to all citizens, especially those in targeted low-income areas.
• Establish public educational programs and advertising campaigns to discourage littering. Education should begin at the elementary level and continue through the adult level.

Pursue grants, partnerships, and programs that accomplish the following:

• Restore tree stands and wildlife habitats in environmentally sensitive areas.
• Acquire land or establish conservation easements in environmentally sensitive areas to reserve as permanent open space and protect wildlife and habitat.
• Establish a comprehensive habitat management program.
• Provide education and resources for proper use of pesticides and fertilizers, with special focus on encouraging integrated pest management and organic practices.
• Provide education about land management practices that address fire suppression, invasive species, use of herbicides/pesticides, and overgrazing.
• Promote the economic and aesthetic value of preserving Oklahoma City’s natural resources such as riparian areas, Cross Timbers forest, grasslands/prairie, bottomland forests, and wetlands.

Support and incentivize the adaptive use of existing buildings, infill development, and brownfield development.

Establish incentives such as a simplified permitting process, reduced application fees, and special recognition for projects that:

• Utilize best management practices or other low-impact development methods for storm water management.
• Bring buried streams to the surface and restore riparian habitat.
• Install bridge systems instead of culverts for stream crossings to help maintain the natural ecosystem associated with the stream.

Develop a comprehensive watershed management strategy that identifies programs, partnerships, actions, and incentives that the City and partners can take to protect the city’s water resources and aquatic areas. The strategy should address the following:

• Creation of a Stormwater Master Plan.
• Update to the City’s sediment control program and establishment of performance measures.
• Coordinated watershed restoration projects.
• Preparation and implementation of Small Watershed Action Plans (SWAPs) and participation in studies to identify needs and opportunities for stream restoration, wetland creation and restoration, and storm water management.
• Identification of opportunities to create wetlands to offset construction and other land development impacts.
• Identification and utilization of “receiving lands” that can absorb storm surge overflows.
• Public education on how to conserve water and minimize chemicals, pathogens, sediment, and nutrients in urban and rural watersheds.
• Acquisition and protection of greenways, river buffers and flood prone areas.

Evaluate the City’s stormwater detention/retention requirements, including the current fee-in-lieu of program, and compare to current best management practices. Based on findings, modify codes, policies and development regulations to update stormwater detention/retention requirements. These requirements should focus on:

• Reducing the risks of property damage due to flooding.
• Managing runoff rates and minimizing stream bank erosion by ensuring that post-development runoff rates do not exceed pre-development rates, even in areas where risks of flooding have historically been low.
• Maintaining surface water quality by managing the release of the first flush stormwater volume in order to encourage settling and filtering of particle and chemical pollutants before releasing water into adjacent water bodies.

In areas where standard on-site wastewater systems are not feasible (such as in areas with shallow or poor soils), require very low-density development or development that utilizes conservation design and a centralized treatment facility or other environmentally sensitive systems for wastewater treatment.

Provide the public with resources, tools, and guidance to deal with environmental hazards, such as:

• Information about safe disposal options for household contaminants such as motor oils, paints, computers, televisions, batteries, etc.
• Information on environmental hazards, such as brownfield sites.
• Information about funds available to assist with environmental cleanups.

Ensure clean-up and mitigation of contaminated sites is done prior to issuing new development permits.

Establish development regulations that help improve air quality, including:

• Specifying construction controls that reduce airborne dust;
• Increasing landscaping and tree planting to absorb carbon dioxide and air pollutants; and
• Encouraging development patterns and densities that support alternative modes of transportation in the urban LUTAs.

Coordinate with local, regional, and State agencies to pursue initiatives and regulations that help reduce automobile emissions, such as:

• Transitioning commercial and City fleets to alternative-fueled and hybrid vehicles;
• Determining the feasibility of an idling restriction ordinance for all vehicles.

Promote improved air quality and reduced ground-level ozone levels by developing a public education program that will inform residents about the air quality benefits of:

• Proper automobile maintenance
• Proper maintenance and use of gas-powered lawn and garden equipment
• Limiting car idling times
• Alternative fuels
• Alternative / active transportation modes (public transit, walking, biking, car-sharing, etc.)
• Reducing vehicle-miles traveled (VMT)
• Employer sponsored emission reduction programs (carpooling, work from home, telecommuting, etc.)
• Native landscaping (requiring less maintenance)
• Energy efficient housing / buildings

Establish strategies, procedures and policies for City construction projects to achieve higher energy efficiency, including:

• Implementing an energy management plan for City facilities.
• Monitoring energy consumption of City facilities, tracking conservation progress, and communicating results to City administrators, employees, elected officials and the public.
• Assessing water use in City facilities to identify opportunities for conservation and implement appropriate measures.

Develop an enforcement mechanism for the City’s Building Energy Code. Develop a healthy building code to support construction of durable, health-promoting and energy efficient buildings that incorporate proven green development practices, locally-sourced and environmentally responsible materials, water conservation fixtures, innovative design and construction techniques, and low waste construction practices. Incentivize their use with shorter approval procedures, priority permits and inspections, and reduced fees.

Reuse brownfield, greyfield, and other vacant building sites to provide new opportunities for mixed-used and mixed-income housing.

Utilize existing natural streams as amenities in public parks, and regularly monitor and maintain stream banks for safety of park users.

Set level of service goals and adopt standards to improve the performance of pedestrian, bicycle, and transit facilities. Emphasize pedestrian, bicycle and transit infrastructure in street widening designs.

Require the construction of new streets, streetscapes, and street widening projects to implement the design components of the assigned street typologies established in this plan.

When approving projects that improve the level of service for vehicular traffic, ensure they do not negatively impact the walkability or bikeability of the area.

Locate, design and upgrade City facilities and infrastructure in a manner that supports neighborhood revitalization and redevelopment.

Identify areas that could be used to establish a greenbelt network throughout the City that connect major employment centers, commercial sites, parks, and key locations within major residential neighborhoods. Use the greenbelt as the backbone for a bicycle trails network which all other bicycle trails feed into.

Create and implement a citywide bicycle and pedestrian master plan that addresses riders of all levels.

Require the placement of secure, properly positioned bicycle parking within multi-family and commercial development, and in all public parking garages.

Initiate efforts to educate the public regarding programs that provide assistance for neighborhood clean-up efforts. Such efforts could include the following:

• Provide assistance to residents to make housing and neighborhood improvements and provide training in property maintenance skills.
• Develop and organize volunteer programs (such as adopt-a-street, adopt-a-park, and neighborhood clean-up days) and/or coordinate efforts to obtain grant funding to establish community clean-up programs in neighborhoods where inadequate property maintenance is prevalent.
• Publicize Bulk Waste Days and/or explore the possibility of adding more days/increased frequency.
• Develop a list of outside funding sources that could be used for property maintenance and make this information available to all citizens, especially those in targeted low-income areas.
• Establish public educational programs and advertising campaigns to discourage littering. Education should begin at the elementary level and continue through the adult level.

Pursue grants, partnerships, and programs that accomplish the following:

• Restore tree stands and wildlife habitats in environmentally sensitive areas.
• Acquire land or establish conservation easements in environmentally sensitive areas to reserve as permanent open space and protect wildlife and habitat.
• Establish a comprehensive habitat management program.
• Provide education and resources for proper use of pesticides and fertilizers, with special focus on encouraging integrated pest management and organic practices.
• Provide education about land management practices that address fire suppression, invasive species, use of herbicides/pesticides, and overgrazing.
• Promote the economic and aesthetic value of preserving Oklahoma City’s natural resources such as riparian areas, Cross Timbers forest, grasslands/prairie, bottomland forests, and wetlands.

Support and incentivize the adaptive use of existing buildings, infill development, and brownfield development.

Establish incentives such as a simplified permitting process, reduced application fees, and special recognition for projects that:

• Utilize best management practices or other low-impact development methods for storm water management.
• Bring buried streams to the surface and restore riparian habitat.
• Install bridge systems instead of culverts for stream crossings to help maintain the natural ecosystem associated with the stream.

Develop a comprehensive watershed management strategy that identifies programs, partnerships, actions, and incentives that the City and partners can take to protect the city’s water resources and aquatic areas. The strategy should address the following:

• Creation of a Stormwater Master Plan.
• Update to the City’s sediment control program and establishment of performance measures.
• Coordinated watershed restoration projects.
• Preparation and implementation of Small Watershed Action Plans (SWAPs) and participation in studies to identify needs and opportunities for stream restoration, wetland creation and restoration, and storm water management.
• Identification of opportunities to create wetlands to offset construction and other land development impacts.
• Identification and utilization of “receiving lands” that can absorb storm surge overflows.
• Public education on how to conserve water and minimize chemicals, pathogens, sediment, and nutrients in urban and rural watersheds.
• Acquisition and protection of greenways, river buffers and flood prone areas.

Evaluate the City’s stormwater detention/retention requirements, including the current fee-in-lieu of program, and compare to current best management practices. Based on findings, modify codes, policies and development regulations to update stormwater detention/retention requirements. These requirements should focus on:

• Reducing the risks of property damage due to flooding.
• Managing runoff rates and minimizing stream bank erosion by ensuring that post-development runoff rates do not exceed pre-development rates, even in areas where risks of flooding have historically been low.
• Maintaining surface water quality by managing the release of the first flush stormwater volume in order to encourage settling and filtering of particle and chemical pollutants before releasing water into adjacent water bodies.

In areas where standard on-site wastewater systems are not feasible (such as in areas with shallow or poor soils), require very low-density development or development that utilizes conservation design and a centralized treatment facility or other environmentally sensitive systems for wastewater treatment.

Provide the public with resources, tools, and guidance to deal with environmental hazards, such as:

• Information about safe disposal options for household contaminants such as motor oils, paints, computers, televisions, batteries, etc.
• Information on environmental hazards, such as brownfield sites.
• Information about funds available to assist with environmental cleanups.

Ensure clean-up and mitigation of contaminated sites is done prior to issuing new development permits.

Establish development regulations that help improve air quality, including:

• Specifying construction controls that reduce airborne dust;
• Increasing landscaping and tree planting to absorb carbon dioxide and air pollutants; and
• Encouraging development patterns and densities that support alternative modes of transportation in the urban LUTAs.

Coordinate with local, regional, and State agencies to pursue initiatives and regulations that help reduce automobile emissions, such as:

• Transitioning commercial and City fleets to alternative-fueled and hybrid vehicles;
• Determining the feasibility of an idling restriction ordinance for all vehicles.

Promote improved air quality and reduced ground-level ozone levels by developing a public education program that will inform residents about the air quality benefits of:

• Proper automobile maintenance
• Proper maintenance and use of gas-powered lawn and garden equipment
• Limiting car idling times
• Alternative fuels
• Alternative / active transportation modes (public transit, walking, biking, car-sharing, etc.)
• Reducing vehicle-miles traveled (VMT)
• Employer sponsored emission reduction programs (carpooling, work from home, telecommuting, etc.)
• Native landscaping (requiring less maintenance)
• Energy efficient housing / buildings

Establish strategies, procedures and policies for City construction projects to achieve higher energy efficiency, including:

• Implementing an energy management plan for City facilities.
• Monitoring energy consumption of City facilities, tracking conservation progress, and communicating results to City administrators, employees, elected officials and the public.
• Assessing water use in City facilities to identify opportunities for conservation and implement appropriate measures.

Develop an enforcement mechanism for the City’s Building Energy Code. Develop a healthy building code to support construction of durable, health-promoting and energy efficient buildings that incorporate proven green development practices, locally-sourced and environmentally responsible materials, water conservation fixtures, innovative design and construction techniques, and low waste construction practices. Incentivize their use with shorter approval procedures, priority permits and inspections, and reduced fees.

Reuse brownfield, greyfield, and other vacant building sites to provide new opportunities for mixed-used and mixed-income housing.

Utilize existing natural streams as amenities in public parks, and regularly monitor and maintain stream banks for safety of park users.

Establish an Urban Forestry Program and City Urban Forester position to achieve the following:

• Measure and monitor tree canopy coverage and habitat on a regular basis so that any policies, programs, and regulations may be adjusted accordingly as situations change. Establish a process to maintain current data.
• Develop and maintain regulations, policies, processes, and programs that focus on protection and preservation of native trees.
• Provide assistance with proper tree selection, location, and maintenance to prevent power outages, reduce property damage, and coordinate emergency response during natural disaster events (excessive snow and ice, tornadoes, etc.), address the urban heat island effect, and reduce energy costs, etc.
• Establish programs such as tree give-aways, neighborhood planting programs, and education workshops.
• Provide resources to the public about tree selection, management, and care.
• Seek grant funding for community tree planting to improve City parks, publicly maintained rights-of-way and other areas of the city.
• Inventory the City’s street trees and develop a tree replacement program.
• Partner with volunteer and nonprofit organizations to recruit volunteers for tree planting and maintenance and to coordinate community-wide tree planting efforts.

Provide the public with resources, tools, and guidance to deal with environmental hazards, such as:

• Information about safe disposal options for household contaminants such as motor oils, paints, computers, televisions, batteries, etc.
• Information on environmental hazards, such as brownfield sites.
• Information about funds available to assist with environmental cleanups.

Ensure clean-up and mitigation of contaminated sites is done prior to issuing new development permits.

Coordinate with local, regional, and State agencies to pursue initiatives and regulations that help reduce automobile emissions, such as:

• Transitioning commercial and City fleets to alternative-fueled and hybrid vehicles;
• Determining the feasibility of an idling restriction ordinance for all vehicles.

Promote improved air quality and reduced ground-level ozone levels by developing a public education program that will inform residents about the air quality benefits of:

• Proper automobile maintenance
• Proper maintenance and use of gas-powered lawn and garden equipment
• Limiting car idling times
• Alternative fuels
• Alternative / active transportation modes (public transit, walking, biking, car-sharing, etc.)
• Reducing vehicle-miles traveled (VMT)
• Employer sponsored emission reduction programs (carpooling, work from home, telecommuting, etc.)
• Native landscaping (requiring less maintenance)
• Energy efficient housing / buildings

Partner with agencies, non-profits, and private entities to:

• Implement a sustainable development online forum – an educational and networking resource that will inform the public about local opportunities and the benefits of sustainable development while increasing builder and developer participation.
• Educate citizens on energy and water conservation opportunities both at work and at home.
• Encourage appropriate re-use and reclamation of water in new development and redevelopment to reduce the reliance on potable water use.
• Provide detailed cost-benefit information about green building practices to encourage increased use of such practices in Oklahoma City.
• Reduce reliance on electricity produced by fossil fuel by encouraging the use of renewable energy sources in new development and redevelopment.
• Explore mechanisms (incentives, regulations, programs) to divert demolition debris from landfills and redirect to facilities that can reuse these materials.
• Establish a promotion/award program to showcase innovative development that utilizes low-impact development practices and energy-efficient building techniques / equipment, conserves riparian buffers, and extends greenway networks with hiking/biking trails.

Raise the level of public awareness of agriculture’s value to ecology, economy, open space, culture, and local food security by the following actions:

• Organize training activities in a variety of settings (schools, colleges, health care facilities, continuing education programs) that demonstrate the history, importance and value of agricultural operations.
• Improve the knowledge of current growers and motivate potential new growers.
• Promote incentives offered by governments, banks, land-grant universities, and private businesses such as start-up capital, credit, crop insurance, horticultural and financial advice, soil testing, markets, subsidies, tools, and inputs such as seeds and soil alterations.
• Promote farms as a destination stop for tourists and visitors.

Promote local and urban agricultural operations by establishing programs and partnerships to:

• Lease publicly-owned land to farmers for sustainable urban agricultural use.
• Encourage land tenure methods such as land trusts, leases, and policy initiatives to secure long-term commitment for community gardens, entrepreneurial farms, and other urban agriculture ventures.
• Develop community-based farming infrastructure such as tool banks with equipment and supplies, community kitchens and other shared processing facilities, farmers’ markets, community supported agriculture projects, funding opportunities, and technical service providers.
• Construct and operate a demonstration urban farm for education, outreach, and local food production.
• Encourage the local agricultural economy and improve access to local foods by allowing city property (parks, city facilities, etc.) to be used for farmers markets and other public markets.

Strengthen the local food system and increase access to healthy food options using strategies such as:

• Increasing the effectiveness of community gardens, especially in underserved areas.
• Reducing access to low nutrition food (e.g. junk food, fast food).
• Preserving agricultural lands for purposes of producing food, fiber, and fuel.
• Participating in a local or regional food policy council.
• Develop an incentive program that will assist convenience stores with providing fresh fruits, vegetables, and other healthy food items.
• Develop a land bank to convert tax-reverted, vacant, and abandoned properties into community gardens or “satellite farms.”
• Prioritize underserved areas when locating new grocery stores, farmer’s markets, and mobile grocers. Use financial incentives, technical assistance, and other services to improve the quality and selection of healthy foods available to underserved areas.

Increase the amount of biodiversity-rich green space in urban and suburban areas by:

• Integrating vegetation to support biodiversity in parks, gardens, trails, and green roofs. Native vegetation that provides food and habitat for native wildlife such as “micro prairies” and urban forests will have the greatest effect.
• Encouraging optimal mowing practices on large lots that are adjacent to natural features.

Enrich natural biodiversity in agricultural areas by promoting practices that provide food, water, and habitat for wildlife and minimize negative impacts. Strategies to achieve the goal include:

• Working with farmers, rancher, conservationists, sustainable agricultural organizations, and other stakeholders to develop a plan to conserve nature in farming and ranching landscapes.
• Implementing optimal mowing strategies, which include harvesting grasses at a growing height of 10 plus inches; creating early successional habitat with burning, disking, and haying every 3-5 years; mowing from the center of a field outward to allow wildlife to escape the surrounding areas; adding flushing bars to mowing equipment to minimize bird injuries and death; leaving 4-6 inches of stubble after harvest to capture snow and water; harvesting or mowing after first frost to avoid disturbing bird nests and improve grass quality; and leaving portions of fields as standing crops.
• Increasing nesting habitat.
• Adopting best practices for fertilizer and pesticide applications.
• Developing landscape conservation cooperatives.
• Encouraging grassland ranching as an ecologically beneficial alternative to cultivation, particularly practices such as “mob grazing” that mimic natural grazing patterns.
• Promoting ranching of bison, which benefit conservation efforts by dispersing seeds, increasing plant biodiversity, and enhancing groundwater recharge.
• Restoring grassland on previously cultivated landscapes, particularly in buffer zones near natural features.
• Encouraging and supporting agricultural parks that combine recreation and food production and foster appreciation for agricultural heritage.
• Promoting sustainable intensification, which increases production and profitability while providing rich sources of habitat for biodiversity.

Establish strategies, procedures and policies that prevent degradation or loss of critical habitat and sensitive areas, such as Cross Timbers, upland forests, wetlands, wildlife corridors, groundwater recharge zones, and riparian areas. Protection methods should ensure that placement of lots, alignment of roads, and installation of structures and infrastructure minimize disturbance of the environmentally sensitive areas using tools such as:

• Directing development to appropriate locations;
• Greenbelt preservation;
• Assurance of no development in protected open space;
• Clustering / conservation subdivisions;
• Pervious surface treatments;
• Density transfers; and/or
• Conservation easements.

Ensure that strategies, procedures, and policies incorporate principles of connectivity, minimal fragmentation, representativeness, and heterogeneity.

Incorporate preventive health care and wellness education into public schools, recreation centers, senior centers, and technical/trade schools.

Improve the functionality and efficiency of the street network by:

• Providing direct connections from residential developments to nearby places and to each other.
• Providing street and sidewalk stubs to adjacent vacant land in anticipation of future development.
• Connecting new development to existing street and sidewalk stubs, and to existing trail, open space, and bicycle networks.
• Reducing block sizes and use of dead-end streets.
• Maintaining the existing street grid to preserve connectivity and mobility options.

Prioritize opportunities to restore and reconnect the street grid.

Prioritize construction of pedestrian and bicycle facilities that improve connectivity and eliminate gaps in the transportation network.

Identify areas that could be used to establish a greenbelt network throughout the City that connect major employment centers, commercial sites, parks, and key locations within major residential neighborhoods. Use the greenbelt as the backbone for a bicycle trails network which all other bicycle trails feed into.

Market the trails system as a transportation and recreation system to residents and visitors.

Change subdivision regulations to determine the number of entries into a residential development based on number of lots in order to improve connectivity of the roadway network and emergency response.

Support the creation of a regional transit authority and pursue the establishment of a dedicated funding source, such as sales tax or property tax to achieve long term transit service goals.

Increase frequency and time of transit operations to ensure adequate, convenient and safe service for visitors, employees, and residents.

Implement policies and strategies recommended in the 2013 COTPA Transit Service Analysis.

Develop an urban rail and/or bus rapid transit system to connect downtown with strategic corridors and nodes.

Work with the Association of Central Oklahoma Governments to implement the Early Action Compact to mitigate air quality issues.

Support and incentivize the adaptive use of existing buildings, infill development, and brownfield development.

Preserve natural habitat, maintain wildlife food sources, and reduce the risk of propagating invasive plant species by utilizing vegetation native to Oklahoma, preferably central Oklahoma, for all mitigation and habitat restoration efforts associated with new development and redevelopment projects, public and private, to the greatest extent possible.

Establish an Urban Forestry Program and City Urban Forester position to achieve the following:

• Measure and monitor tree canopy coverage and habitat on a regular basis so that any policies, programs, and regulations may be adjusted accordingly as situations change. Establish a process to maintain current data.
• Develop and maintain regulations, policies, processes, and programs that focus on protection and preservation of native trees.
• Provide assistance with proper tree selection, location, and maintenance to prevent power outages, reduce property damage, and coordinate emergency response during natural disaster events (excessive snow and ice, tornadoes, etc.), address the urban heat island effect, and reduce energy costs, etc.
• Establish programs such as tree give-aways, neighborhood planting programs, and education workshops.
• Provide resources to the public about tree selection, management, and care.
• Seek grant funding for community tree planting to improve City parks, publicly maintained rights-of-way and other areas of the city.
• Inventory the City’s street trees and develop a tree replacement program.
• Partner with volunteer and nonprofit organizations to recruit volunteers for tree planting and maintenance and to coordinate community-wide tree planting efforts.

Develop and adopt a tree preservation ordinance that achieves the following:

• Defines methods of preservation;
• Defines situations where preservation of trees is mandatory versus optional;
• Establishes incentives for tree preservation;
• Establishes mitigation options if preservation cannot be accomplished; and
• Establishes penalties for unauthorized tree removal.

Pursue methods to reduce the impact of the urban heat island effect on Oklahoma City by:

• Establishing a minimum canopy coverage requirement over paved surfaces such as parking lots.
• Instating a “continuous canopy” requirement for new streets and street reconstruction projects.
• Promoting the use of building and roofing materials that reduce heat island effects.

Coordinate with local, regional, and State agencies to pursue initiatives and regulations that help reduce automobile emissions, such as:

• Transitioning commercial and City fleets to alternative-fueled and hybrid vehicles;
• Determining the feasibility of an idling restriction ordinance for all vehicles.

Promote improved air quality and reduced ground-level ozone levels by developing a public education program that will inform residents about the air quality benefits of:

• Proper automobile maintenance
• Proper maintenance and use of gas-powered lawn and garden equipment
• Limiting car idling times
• Alternative fuels
• Alternative / active transportation modes (public transit, walking, biking, car-sharing, etc.)
• Reducing vehicle-miles traveled (VMT)
• Employer sponsored emission reduction programs (carpooling, work from home, telecommuting, etc.)
• Native landscaping (requiring less maintenance)
• Energy efficient housing / buildings

Study of the public health and environmental impacts of degraded air quality on sensitive populations living near highways.

Establish strategies, procedures and policies for City construction projects to achieve higher energy efficiency, including:

• Implementing an energy management plan for City facilities.
• Monitoring energy consumption of City facilities, tracking conservation progress, and communicating results to City administrators, employees, elected officials and the public.
• Assessing water use in City facilities to identify opportunities for conservation and implement appropriate measures.

Develop an enforcement mechanism for the City’s Building Energy Code. Develop a healthy building code to support construction of durable, health-promoting and energy efficient buildings that incorporate proven green development practices, locally-sourced and environmentally responsible materials, water conservation fixtures, innovative design and construction techniques, and low waste construction practices. Incentivize their use with shorter approval procedures, priority permits and inspections, and reduced fees.

Partner with agencies, non-profits, and private entities to:

• Implement a sustainable development online forum – an educational and networking resource that will inform the public about local opportunities and the benefits of sustainable development while increasing builder and developer participation.
• Educate citizens on energy and water conservation opportunities both at work and at home.
• Encourage appropriate re-use and reclamation of water in new development and redevelopment to reduce the reliance on potable water use.
• Provide detailed cost-benefit information about green building practices to encourage increased use of such practices in Oklahoma City.
• Reduce reliance on electricity produced by fossil fuel by encouraging the use of renewable energy sources in new development and redevelopment.
• Explore mechanisms (incentives, regulations, programs) to divert demolition debris from landfills and redirect to facilities that can reuse these materials.
• Establish a promotion/award program to showcase innovative development that utilizes low-impact development practices and energy-efficient building techniques / equipment, conserves riparian buffers, and extends greenway networks with hiking/biking trails.

Establish strategies, procedures and policies that prevent degradation or loss of critical habitat and sensitive areas, such as Cross Timbers, upland forests, wetlands, wildlife corridors, groundwater recharge zones, and riparian areas. Protection methods should ensure that placement of lots, alignment of roads, and installation of structures and infrastructure minimize disturbance of the environmentally sensitive areas using tools such as:

• Directing development to appropriate locations;
• Greenbelt preservation;
• Assurance of no development in protected open space;
• Clustering / conservation subdivisions;
• Pervious surface treatments;
• Density transfers; and/or
• Conservation easements.

Ensure that strategies, procedures, and policies incorporate principles of connectivity, minimal fragmentation, representativeness, and heterogeneity.

Encourage redevelopment and infill development on vacant, underutilized, and brownfield sites in urbanized areas.

Encourage the integration of different land uses in urban areas through the following means:

• Promote the use of performance standards in place of existing zoning methods (which address incompatibility by separating uses). Performance-based regulations should focus on achieving compatibility between uses by addressing the following:
  • Noise, odors and air quality
  • Traffic and parking (allow flexible, but sufficient parking)
  • Site layout and building design
  • Waste
  • Safety
  • Lighting (glare control, placement, and shielding)
  • Delivery hours
• Enhance transit service (bus and rail).
• Prevent large areas of concentration of any particular land use such as multi-family or commercial.

Establish development regulations that help improve air quality, including:

• Specifying construction controls that reduce airborne dust;
• Increasing landscaping and tree planting to absorb carbon dioxide and air pollutants; and
• Encouraging development patterns and densities that support alternative modes of transportation in the urban LUTAs.

Coordinate the design, development, expansion, and/or investment in transportation projects with the Land Use Typology map.

Require the construction of new streets, streetscapes, and street widening projects to implement the design components of the assigned street typologies established in this plan.

Revise Subdivision Regulations and development standards to reflect the street typology standards.

Routinely assess the City’s development standards, design guidelines, and development review procedures to ensure that they reflect current trends in best-practice and allow for innovative design techniques and evolving methods in low-impact development.

Enhance existing development standards and establish design guidelines for areas outside of the City’s existing Design Review Overlay Districts. Development standards and design guidelines could include the following provisions:

• Minimize views and prominence of parking lots in relation to structures on a site.
• Sense of proportion (street width to building height, human scale)
• Pedestrian orientation of structures and architectural detailing/fenestration
• Terminated vistas
• Reduce the predominance of residential garages in the design of the front facades of single-family residences.
• Inclusion of front porches into the design of residential structures.
• Internal orientation of parking facilities and garages in multi-family developments.
• Improved pedestrian safety and enhanced pedestrian access through parking lots.

Develop a workforce housing program, particularly for projects in the UM, UH, and DT LUTAs, based on the following basic considerations:

• Partnerships with large employers;
• Density bonuses;
• Height bonuses; and,
• Transfer of development rights.

Reuse brownfield, greyfield, and other vacant building sites to provide new opportunities for mixed-used and mixed-income housing.

Catalyze the rehabilitation of abandoned structures by amending codes to facilitate the adaptive reuse of existing buildings for residential use.

Develop a City program to rehabilitate or redevelop dilapidated properties, including a land bank to receive donated properties from property owners who can no longer maintain their properties.

Create regulations/standards/guidelines that focus on design and/or compatibility principles which are sensitive to the surrounding urban form, especially in areas that are stable or improving and whose character is well-established. These provisions should also help ensure compatibility between lower- and higher- intensity land uses.

Add legislative priorities for state laws to:

• Strengthen the City’s ability to obtain specific performance of property owners cited for code violations.
• Speed up the demolition process for long-time boarded properties that cannot be rehabilitated.
• Strengthen the City’s ability to require property owners to rehabilitate or sell neglected, boarded-up properties.
• Expedite the clearing of properties involved in probate.

Ensure that safety is factored into the design of neighborhoods through the following policies:

• Incorporate development standards and guidelines into the Subdivision Regulations that integrate the principles of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) and increase safety and social interaction.
• Create a pre-development checklist with criteria to evaluate how safety is designed into a project.
• Establish a pre-development process wherein safety is considered in the design of projects.
• Involve the Fire and Police Departments in reviewing proposed development and redevelopment to provide input on any safety-related design concerns.

Adopt new citywide site design and building regulations that ensure new developments meet basic functional and aesthetic minimums related to:

• Walkability and bike-ability
• Internal and external street connectivity
• Integration of uses
• Signage
• Building location
• Building appearance
• Open space (passive and active)

Encourage the integration and mixing of land uses in urban areas.

Mitigate negative impacts of compactness by:

• Updating nuisance code to better address noise, smell, vibration, property maintenance, panhandling, animal control, delivery hours limits, and other possible negative effects.
• Updating the sign ordinance to reduce visual clutter.

In order to promote compatibility between different uses, establish standards and guidelines that ensure all developments are pedestrian-friendly and human scale at street frontages and property lines.

Prioritize and concentrate development where facilities, infrastructure, and services have capacity and in areas where the Police and Fire Departments are best able to respond. Guide the location and timing of development through the proactive and strategic installation of infrastructure.

Encourage the integration of different land uses in urban areas through the following means:

• Promote the use of performance standards in place of existing zoning methods (which address incompatibility by separating uses). Performance-based regulations should focus on achieving compatibility between uses by addressing the following:
  • Noise, odors and air quality
  • Traffic and parking (allow flexible, but sufficient parking)
  • Site layout and building design
  • Waste
  • Safety
  • Lighting (glare control, placement, and shielding)
  • Delivery hours
• Enhance transit service (bus and rail).
• Prevent large areas of concentration of any particular land use such as multi-family or commercial.

Ensure the ongoing compatibility and appropriateness of development in Planned Unit Developments (PUDs) and Simplified Planned Unit Developments (SPUDs) by:

• Exploring the establishment of expiration dates for PUDs and SPUDs that have not been initiated after a certain period of time;
• Establish a procedure to ensure PUDs build-out according to approved plans.

Enable increased densities as appropriate to individual land use typology areas by addressing financial incentives and disincentives through evaluating the feasibility of strategies such as:

• Impact fees and/or transportation utility fees that vary by district according to actual cost;
• Assessing solid waste charges according to actual cost;
• Private solid waste services where it is impractical for the City to provide service such as in rural areas.

Encourage unified planning for all adjoining land owned or controlled by a project’s developer to ensure proper circulation and land use relationships.

Evaluate existing regulations for effectiveness in promoting density and mixed-use development and in addressing surface parking. Develop a new urban design code for downtown and other key districts to promote healthy mixes of land uses that are compatible and complementary.

Adopt subdivision regulations that ensure new neighborhoods meet the basic needs of residents while supporting an efficient development pattern. Regulations should cover:

• Open space (passive and active),
• Demonstration of sustainable funding levels for common area and facility maintenance costs,
• Walkability and bikeability,
• Internal and external street connectivity,
• Block length,
• Integration of uses,
• Integration of a variety of home sizes,
• Integration of a variety of unit types, and
• Preservation of Environmentally Sensitive Areas.

Regulations could be based on a point scale to allow flexibility, while still requiring basic minimum thresholds be met.
New regulations should remove the existing requirement for development in Rural LUTAs to connect to water and sewer systems and establish a minimum one-acre lot size for lots with on-site sewer treatment.

Revise subdivision and zoning regulations to allow increased densities as appropriate. For example, density potential could be increased by allowing “cottage” or “pocket” neighborhoods and accessory dwelling units (additional dwelling units allowed on owner-occupied properties) where appropriate.

Improve the functionality and efficiency of the street network by:

• Providing direct connections from residential developments to nearby places and to each other.
• Providing street and sidewalk stubs to adjacent vacant land in anticipation of future development.
• Connecting new development to existing street and sidewalk stubs, and to existing trail, open space, and bicycle networks.
• Reducing block sizes and use of dead-end streets.
• Maintaining the existing street grid to preserve connectivity and mobility options.

Prioritize opportunities to restore and reconnect the street grid.

Prioritize construction of pedestrian and bicycle facilities that improve connectivity and eliminate gaps in the transportation network.

Identify areas that could be used to establish a greenbelt network throughout the City that connect major employment centers, commercial sites, parks, and key locations within major residential neighborhoods. Use the greenbelt as the backbone for a bicycle trails network which all other bicycle trails feed into.

Market the trails system as a transportation and recreation system to residents and visitors.

Change subdivision regulations to determine the number of entries into a residential development based on number of lots in order to improve connectivity of the roadway network and emergency response.

Support the creation of a regional transit authority and pursue the establishment of a dedicated funding source, such as sales tax or property tax to achieve long term transit service goals.

Increase frequency and time of transit operations to ensure adequate, convenient and safe service for visitors, employees, and residents.

Implement policies and strategies recommended in the 2013 COTPA Transit Service Analysis.

Develop an urban rail and/or bus rapid transit system to connect downtown with strategic corridors and nodes.

Work with the Association of Central Oklahoma Governments to implement the Early Action Compact to mitigate air quality issues.

Support and incentivize the adaptive use of existing buildings, infill development, and brownfield development.

Preserve natural habitat, maintain wildlife food sources, and reduce the risk of propagating invasive plant species by utilizing vegetation native to Oklahoma, preferably central Oklahoma, for all mitigation and habitat restoration efforts associated with new development and redevelopment projects, public and private, to the greatest extent possible.

Establish an Urban Forestry Program and City Urban Forester position to achieve the following:

• Measure and monitor tree canopy coverage and habitat on a regular basis so that any policies, programs, and regulations may be adjusted accordingly as situations change. Establish a process to maintain current data.
• Develop and maintain regulations, policies, processes, and programs that focus on protection and preservation of native trees.
• Provide assistance with proper tree selection, location, and maintenance to prevent power outages, reduce property damage, and coordinate emergency response during natural disaster events (excessive snow and ice, tornadoes, etc.), address the urban heat island effect, and reduce energy costs, etc.
• Establish programs such as tree give-aways, neighborhood planting programs, and education workshops.
• Provide resources to the public about tree selection, management, and care.
• Seek grant funding for community tree planting to improve City parks, publicly maintained rights-of-way and other areas of the city.
• Inventory the City’s street trees and develop a tree replacement program.
• Partner with volunteer and nonprofit organizations to recruit volunteers for tree planting and maintenance and to coordinate community-wide tree planting efforts.

Develop and adopt a tree preservation ordinance that achieves the following:

• Defines methods of preservation;
• Defines situations where preservation of trees is mandatory versus optional;
• Establishes incentives for tree preservation;
• Establishes mitigation options if preservation cannot be accomplished; and
• Establishes penalties for unauthorized tree removal.

Pursue methods to reduce the impact of the urban heat island effect on Oklahoma City by:

• Establishing a minimum canopy coverage requirement over paved surfaces such as parking lots.
• Instating a “continuous canopy” requirement for new streets and street reconstruction projects.
• Promoting the use of building and roofing materials that reduce heat island effects.

Coordinate with local, regional, and State agencies to pursue initiatives and regulations that help reduce automobile emissions, such as:

• Transitioning commercial and City fleets to alternative-fueled and hybrid vehicles;
• Determining the feasibility of an idling restriction ordinance for all vehicles.

Promote improved air quality and reduced ground-level ozone levels by developing a public education program that will inform residents about the air quality benefits of:

• Proper automobile maintenance
• Proper maintenance and use of gas-powered lawn and garden equipment
• Limiting car idling times
• Alternative fuels
• Alternative / active transportation modes (public transit, walking, biking, car-sharing, etc.)
• Reducing vehicle-miles traveled (VMT)
• Employer sponsored emission reduction programs (carpooling, work from home, telecommuting, etc.)
• Native landscaping (requiring less maintenance)
• Energy efficient housing / buildings

Study of the public health and environmental impacts of degraded air quality on sensitive populations living near highways.

Establish strategies, procedures and policies for City construction projects to achieve higher energy efficiency, including:

• Implementing an energy management plan for City facilities.
• Monitoring energy consumption of City facilities, tracking conservation progress, and communicating results to City administrators, employees, elected officials and the public.
• Assessing water use in City facilities to identify opportunities for conservation and implement appropriate measures.

Develop an enforcement mechanism for the City’s Building Energy Code. Develop a healthy building code to support construction of durable, health-promoting and energy efficient buildings that incorporate proven green development practices, locally-sourced and environmentally responsible materials, water conservation fixtures, innovative design and construction techniques, and low waste construction practices. Incentivize their use with shorter approval procedures, priority permits and inspections, and reduced fees.

Partner with agencies, non-profits, and private entities to:

• Implement a sustainable development online forum – an educational and networking resource that will inform the public about local opportunities and the benefits of sustainable development while increasing builder and developer participation.
• Educate citizens on energy and water conservation opportunities both at work and at home.
• Encourage appropriate re-use and reclamation of water in new development and redevelopment to reduce the reliance on potable water use.
• Provide detailed cost-benefit information about green building practices to encourage increased use of such practices in Oklahoma City.
• Reduce reliance on electricity produced by fossil fuel by encouraging the use of renewable energy sources in new development and redevelopment.
• Explore mechanisms (incentives, regulations, programs) to divert demolition debris from landfills and redirect to facilities that can reuse these materials.
• Establish a promotion/award program to showcase innovative development that utilizes low-impact development practices and energy-efficient building techniques / equipment, conserves riparian buffers, and extends greenway networks with hiking/biking trails.

Establish strategies, procedures and policies that prevent degradation or loss of critical habitat and sensitive areas, such as Cross Timbers, upland forests, wetlands, wildlife corridors, groundwater recharge zones, and riparian areas. Protection methods should ensure that placement of lots, alignment of roads, and installation of structures and infrastructure minimize disturbance of the environmentally sensitive areas using tools such as:

• Directing development to appropriate locations;
• Greenbelt preservation;
• Assurance of no development in protected open space;
• Clustering / conservation subdivisions;
• Pervious surface treatments;
• Density transfers; and/or
• Conservation easements.

Ensure that strategies, procedures, and policies incorporate principles of connectivity, minimal fragmentation, representativeness, and heterogeneity.

Encourage redevelopment and infill development on vacant, underutilized, and brownfield sites in urbanized areas.

Encourage the integration of different land uses in urban areas through the following means:

• Promote the use of performance standards in place of existing zoning methods (which address incompatibility by separating uses). Performance-based regulations should focus on achieving compatibility between uses by addressing the following:
  • Noise, odors and air quality
  • Traffic and parking (allow flexible, but sufficient parking)
  • Site layout and building design
  • Waste
  • Safety
  • Lighting (glare control, placement, and shielding)
  • Delivery hours
• Enhance transit service (bus and rail).
• Prevent large areas of concentration of any particular land use such as multi-family or commercial.

Establish development regulations that help improve air quality, including:

• Specifying construction controls that reduce airborne dust;
• Increasing landscaping and tree planting to absorb carbon dioxide and air pollutants; and
• Encouraging development patterns and densities that support alternative modes of transportation in the urban LUTAs.

Establish development regulations to help protect Oklahoma City’s water resources through standards that:

• Require buffers, setbacks, and vegetation conservation requirements to protect riparian and littoral zones and filter waterborne pollutants from development activities and storm water runoff. Buffer widths should be based on water quality function and wildlife habitat needs.
• Encourage natural drainage systems and methods for onsite infiltration and onsite sediment retention.
• Require new developments to maintain or decrease the site’s pre-development runoff rate.
• Allow low-impact development design features such as pervious pavement, rain gardens, landscaped parkways, and alternative curbing designs.
• Reduce the amount of impervious surfaces allowed in buffer zones around Environmentally Sensitive Areas.
• Restore watershed features such as forest, wetlands, and natural stream channels.

Raise the level of public awareness of agriculture’s value to ecology, economy, open space, culture, and local food security by the following actions:

• Organize training activities in a variety of settings (schools, colleges, health care facilities, continuing education programs) that demonstrate the history, importance and value of agricultural operations.
• Improve the knowledge of current growers and motivate potential new growers.
• Promote incentives offered by governments, banks, land-grant universities, and private businesses such as start-up capital, credit, crop insurance, horticultural and financial advice, soil testing, markets, subsidies, tools, and inputs such as seeds and soil alterations.
• Promote farms as a destination stop for tourists and visitors.

Revise city codes and ordinances to allow urban agricultural operations and sales, including the following provisions:

• Define types of urban agriculture.
• Allow urban agriculture types in appropriate zoning districts.
• Establish standards for operations within different zoning districts.
• Allow a variety of retail options for locally grown produce.

Protect the ability of agricultural operations to exist and thrive at different scales, from large farms to small urban gardens through the following actions:

• Protect land suitable for agriculture by maintaining parcels large enough to sustain agricultural production, and discourage conversion of existing agricultural lands to non-agricultural uses.
• Encourage dwellings and other non-agricultural development to be ancillary to and compatible with agricultural uses. Such uses should be limited in size and grouped together to minimize disturbance to agricultural production.
• Create incentives to protect soils designated as Prime Farmland by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).
• Facilitate the use of vacant and under-used urban lands for raising food.
• Identify public lands in urban parks, and around municipal buildings, schools, public housing, hospitals, and other civic spaces, that may be used for food production with plantings of fruit trees, edible landscaping, and vegetable gardens.

Promote local and urban agricultural operations by establishing programs and partnerships to:

• Lease publicly-owned land to farmers for sustainable urban agricultural use.
• Encourage land tenure methods such as land trusts, leases, and policy initiatives to secure long-term commitment for community gardens, entrepreneurial farms, and other urban agriculture ventures.
• Develop community-based farming infrastructure such as tool banks with equipment and supplies, community kitchens and other shared processing facilities, farmers’ markets, community supported agriculture projects, funding opportunities, and technical service providers.
• Construct and operate a demonstration urban farm for education, outreach, and local food production.
• Encourage the local agricultural economy and improve access to local foods by allowing city property (parks, city facilities, etc.) to be used for farmers markets and other public markets.

Strengthen the local food system and increase access to healthy food options using strategies such as:

• Increasing the effectiveness of community gardens, especially in underserved areas.
• Reducing access to low nutrition food (e.g. junk food, fast food).
• Preserving agricultural lands for purposes of producing food, fiber, and fuel.
• Participating in a local or regional food policy council.
• Develop an incentive program that will assist convenience stores with providing fresh fruits, vegetables, and other healthy food items.
• Develop a land bank to convert tax-reverted, vacant, and abandoned properties into community gardens or “satellite farms.”
• Prioritize underserved areas when locating new grocery stores, farmer’s markets, and mobile grocers. Use financial incentives, technical assistance, and other services to improve the quality and selection of healthy foods available to underserved areas.

Create a Healthy Food Awareness campaign that includes:

• Strategies for selection and preparation of healthy food that is cost- and time- competitive with manufactured food.
• A uniform curriculum associated with selecting and preparing nutritious food for use in schools, recreation centers, senior centers, technical/trade schools, farmers markets, and anywhere people might go to learn.
• Strategies to link training for unemployed people and welfare-to-work work programs with opportunities for living wage jobs in urban food-related businesses.
• “Edible Schoolyards”, a school-based program which integrates nutrition and gardening to raise awareness about the connection between healthy food choices and locally grown fresh produce.
• Expansion of farm-to-school programs.
• Farm-to-institution programs that offer healthy food choices to hospitals, universities, prisons, and businesses.

Incorporate preventive health care and wellness education into public schools, recreation centers, senior centers, and technical/trade schools.

Pursue grants, partnerships, and programs that accomplish the following:

• Restore tree stands and wildlife habitats in environmentally sensitive areas.
• Acquire land or establish conservation easements in environmentally sensitive areas to reserve as permanent open space and protect wildlife and habitat.
• Establish a comprehensive habitat management program.
• Provide education and resources for proper use of pesticides and fertilizers, with special focus on encouraging integrated pest management and organic practices.
• Provide education about land management practices that address fire suppression, invasive species, use of herbicides/pesticides, and overgrazing.
• Promote the economic and aesthetic value of preserving Oklahoma City’s natural resources such as riparian areas, Cross Timbers forest, grasslands/prairie, bottomland forests, and wetlands.

Support and incentivize the adaptive use of existing buildings, infill development, and brownfield development.

Establish development regulations to help protect Oklahoma City’s water resources through standards that:

• Require buffers, setbacks, and vegetation conservation requirements to protect riparian and littoral zones and filter waterborne pollutants from development activities and storm water runoff. Buffer widths should be based on water quality function and wildlife habitat needs.
• Encourage natural drainage systems and methods for onsite infiltration and onsite sediment retention.
• Require new developments to maintain or decrease the site’s pre-development runoff rate.
• Allow low-impact development design features such as pervious pavement, rain gardens, landscaped parkways, and alternative curbing designs.
• Reduce the amount of impervious surfaces allowed in buffer zones around Environmentally Sensitive Areas.
• Restore watershed features such as forest, wetlands, and natural stream channels.

Establish incentives such as a simplified permitting process, reduced application fees, and special recognition for projects that:

• Utilize best management practices or other low-impact development methods for storm water management.
• Bring buried streams to the surface and restore riparian habitat.
• Install bridge systems instead of culverts for stream crossings to help maintain the natural ecosystem associated with the stream.

Revise policies, codes and development regulations to reduce the risk of damage resulting from flooding and preserve water quality and stream related habitat by avoiding alterations to the 100-year floodplain (as depicted on the FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map). Allow these areas to remain in their natural state to the greatest extent possible. Revised policies should allow positive alterations, such as restoration of natural riparian areas with appropriate vegetation.

Preserve wetlands in their natural state to the greatest extent possible to increase water quality, minimize quantity of runoff, and increase groundwater recharge. Maintain wetland headwaters and avoid the alteration of surface or subsurface drainage patterns that would eliminate, reduce, or severely alter the frequency and volume of water entering wetland areas.

Develop a comprehensive watershed management strategy that identifies programs, partnerships, actions, and incentives that the City and partners can take to protect the city’s water resources and aquatic areas. The strategy should address the following:

• Creation of a Stormwater Master Plan.
• Update to the City’s sediment control program and establishment of performance measures.
• Coordinated watershed restoration projects.
• Preparation and implementation of Small Watershed Action Plans (SWAPs) and participation in studies to identify needs and opportunities for stream restoration, wetland creation and restoration, and storm water management.
• Identification of opportunities to create wetlands to offset construction and other land development impacts.
• Identification and utilization of “receiving lands” that can absorb storm surge overflows.
• Public education on how to conserve water and minimize chemicals, pathogens, sediment, and nutrients in urban and rural watersheds.
• Acquisition and protection of greenways, river buffers and flood prone areas.

Revise development regulations to require the following factors to be addressed in development and redevelopment proposals:

• Preservation of existing natural resources, such as wooded areas, habitat areas, and floodplains.
• Utilization of natural treatments and methods to stabilize or rehabilitate stream and river banks as a means to preserve downstream habitats.
• Integration of a variety of native or compatible non-native, non-invasive plant species.
• Mitigation of impacts of development on habitat, wildlife corridors, riparian and littoral areas, and water quality, through actions such as restoration or re-vegetation of disturbed natural areas and replacement of trees/habitat on-site or off-site.
• Management of invasive plant and animal species.
• Management and maintenance of natural areas, common areas and drainage areas.
• Impact on surface and groundwater supply.
• Impact on water quality caused by land uses and activities.
• Impacts on floodplains, riparian and littoral areas and wetlands and areas with significant landforms.

In areas where standard on-site wastewater systems are not feasible (such as in areas with shallow or poor soils), require very low-density development or development that utilizes conservation design and a centralized treatment facility or other environmentally sensitive systems for wastewater treatment.

Develop a manual of best management practices that can be integrated into City codes. These include, but are not limited to:

• Tree care and management.
• Tree planting.
• Tree protection.
• Street trees (location, conflicts, maintenance, etc. – in addition to general tree care guidelines).
• Placement of utilities (e.g., under streets vs. under park strips)
• Low impact development techniques.
• Habitat protection and restoration.
• Conservation easements and/or subdivisions.

Revise the landscape ordinance to include the following:

• Define terms such as invasive species, exotic/non-native species, and native/indigenous species
• Require removal of invasive species from existing sites, and prohibit such species from being planted or maintained in new development.
• Provide a reference list of native plants and drought-tolerant plants.
• Provide incentives for using native and drought-tolerant plants and disincentives for using high-water plants and turf grass.
• Establish requirements for using design practices that minimize the need for supplemental irrigation.

Preserve natural habitat, maintain wildlife food sources, and reduce the risk of propagating invasive plant species by utilizing vegetation native to Oklahoma, preferably central Oklahoma, for all mitigation and habitat restoration efforts associated with new development and redevelopment projects, public and private, to the greatest extent possible.

Establish an Urban Forestry Program and City Urban Forester position to achieve the following:

• Measure and monitor tree canopy coverage and habitat on a regular basis so that any policies, programs, and regulations may be adjusted accordingly as situations change. Establish a process to maintain current data.
• Develop and maintain regulations, policies, processes, and programs that focus on protection and preservation of native trees.
• Provide assistance with proper tree selection, location, and maintenance to prevent power outages, reduce property damage, and coordinate emergency response during natural disaster events (excessive snow and ice, tornadoes, etc.), address the urban heat island effect, and reduce energy costs, etc.
• Establish programs such as tree give-aways, neighborhood planting programs, and education workshops.
• Provide resources to the public about tree selection, management, and care.
• Seek grant funding for community tree planting to improve City parks, publicly maintained rights-of-way and other areas of the city.
• Inventory the City’s street trees and develop a tree replacement program.
• Partner with volunteer and nonprofit organizations to recruit volunteers for tree planting and maintenance and to coordinate community-wide tree planting efforts.

Develop and adopt a tree preservation ordinance that achieves the following:

• Defines methods of preservation;
• Defines situations where preservation of trees is mandatory versus optional;
• Establishes incentives for tree preservation;
• Establishes mitigation options if preservation cannot be accomplished; and
• Establishes penalties for unauthorized tree removal.

Provide the public with resources, tools, and guidance to deal with environmental hazards, such as:

• Information about safe disposal options for household contaminants such as motor oils, paints, computers, televisions, batteries, etc.
• Information on environmental hazards, such as brownfield sites.
• Information about funds available to assist with environmental cleanups.

Pursue methods to reduce the impact of the urban heat island effect on Oklahoma City by:

• Establishing a minimum canopy coverage requirement over paved surfaces such as parking lots.
• Instating a “continuous canopy” requirement for new streets and street reconstruction projects.
• Promoting the use of building and roofing materials that reduce heat island effects.

Modify development and subdivision regulations, and City policies to minimize alteration of natural landforms and native vegetation and maximize retention of distinctive natural features for public and private projects.

Establish development regulations that help improve air quality, including:

• Specifying construction controls that reduce airborne dust;
• Increasing landscaping and tree planting to absorb carbon dioxide and air pollutants; and
• Encouraging development patterns and densities that support alternative modes of transportation in the urban LUTAs.

Develop an enforcement mechanism for the City’s Building Energy Code. Develop a healthy building code to support construction of durable, health-promoting and energy efficient buildings that incorporate proven green development practices, locally-sourced and environmentally responsible materials, water conservation fixtures, innovative design and construction techniques, and low waste construction practices. Incentivize their use with shorter approval procedures, priority permits and inspections, and reduced fees.

Partner with agencies, non-profits, and private entities to:

• Implement a sustainable development online forum – an educational and networking resource that will inform the public about local opportunities and the benefits of sustainable development while increasing builder and developer participation.
• Educate citizens on energy and water conservation opportunities both at work and at home.
• Encourage appropriate re-use and reclamation of water in new development and redevelopment to reduce the reliance on potable water use.
• Provide detailed cost-benefit information about green building practices to encourage increased use of such practices in Oklahoma City.
• Reduce reliance on electricity produced by fossil fuel by encouraging the use of renewable energy sources in new development and redevelopment.
• Explore mechanisms (incentives, regulations, programs) to divert demolition debris from landfills and redirect to facilities that can reuse these materials.
• Establish a promotion/award program to showcase innovative development that utilizes low-impact development practices and energy-efficient building techniques / equipment, conserves riparian buffers, and extends greenway networks with hiking/biking trails.

Preserve overall landscape character and natural landforms (rolling hills, native vegetation, etc.) to the greatest extent possible.

Increase the amount of biodiversity-rich green space in urban and suburban areas by:

• Integrating vegetation to support biodiversity in parks, gardens, trails, and green roofs. Native vegetation that provides food and habitat for native wildlife such as “micro prairies” and urban forests will have the greatest effect.
• Encouraging optimal mowing practices on large lots that are adjacent to natural features.

Enrich natural biodiversity in agricultural areas by promoting practices that provide food, water, and habitat for wildlife and minimize negative impacts. Strategies to achieve the goal include:

• Working with farmers, rancher, conservationists, sustainable agricultural organizations, and other stakeholders to develop a plan to conserve nature in farming and ranching landscapes.
• Implementing optimal mowing strategies, which include harvesting grasses at a growing height of 10 plus inches; creating early successional habitat with burning, disking, and haying every 3-5 years; mowing from the center of a field outward to allow wildlife to escape the surrounding areas; adding flushing bars to mowing equipment to minimize bird injuries and death; leaving 4-6 inches of stubble after harvest to capture snow and water; harvesting or mowing after first frost to avoid disturbing bird nests and improve grass quality; and leaving portions of fields as standing crops.
• Increasing nesting habitat.
• Adopting best practices for fertilizer and pesticide applications.
• Developing landscape conservation cooperatives.
• Encouraging grassland ranching as an ecologically beneficial alternative to cultivation, particularly practices such as “mob grazing” that mimic natural grazing patterns.
• Promoting ranching of bison, which benefit conservation efforts by dispersing seeds, increasing plant biodiversity, and enhancing groundwater recharge.
• Restoring grassland on previously cultivated landscapes, particularly in buffer zones near natural features.
• Encouraging and supporting agricultural parks that combine recreation and food production and foster appreciation for agricultural heritage.
• Promoting sustainable intensification, which increases production and profitability while providing rich sources of habitat for biodiversity.

Protect and preserve natural resources, by:

• Identifying and mapping valuable natural resources, such as, native prairies.
• Maintaining a comprehensive inventory and assessment of natural resources and critical habitats.
• Identifying opportunities to create an interconnected green infrastructure network throughout and beyond Oklahoma City’s municipal boundaries via existing trail and greenway projects, parks, stream corridors, and natural areas.
• Seeking the voluntary sale of land or dedication of conservation easements on private land that is identified as critical habitat or is necessary to link wildlife corridors.
• Pursuing protection of strategically identified natural areas by placing them in conservation easements or land banks, and reserving them for future use as open space and passive recreational areas.
• Managing invasive plant and animal species.
• Partnering with applicable State agencies and non-profit entities.

Strive to preserve natural open spaces, including native prairies, and re-plant native vegetation to take advantage of their drought tolerance and deep root structures that slow and adsorb stormwater runoff and reduce erosion by anchoring the soil.

Identify and protect critical habitats for state and federally listed threatened or endangered species.

Identify migratory birds and their nesting sites prior to construction. Protect migratory birds and their nesting sites throughout the construction process and refrain from construction near nesting sites until migratory birds are no longer actively nesting and have moved on from the site. Verify compliance with Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

Establish strategies, procedures and policies that prevent degradation or loss of critical habitat and sensitive areas, such as Cross Timbers, upland forests, wetlands, wildlife corridors, groundwater recharge zones, and riparian areas. Protection methods should ensure that placement of lots, alignment of roads, and installation of structures and infrastructure minimize disturbance of the environmentally sensitive areas using tools such as:

• Directing development to appropriate locations;
• Greenbelt preservation;
• Assurance of no development in protected open space;
• Clustering / conservation subdivisions;
• Pervious surface treatments;
• Density transfers; and/or
• Conservation easements.

Ensure that strategies, procedures, and policies incorporate principles of connectivity, minimal fragmentation, representativeness, and heterogeneity.

In conjunction with City regulatory changes, such as significant modifications to zoning ordinances, building codes, or subdivision regulations, assess the effects of the proposed modifications on housing development costs and overall housing affordability, considering the balance between housing affordability and other objectives such as environmental quality, urban design quality, maintenance of neighborhood character and protection of public health, safety and welfare. This assessment should be integrated into the code amendment process, identify barriers to housing affordability, and include recommended mitigation.

Modify codes to allow residential clustering in rural land use typology areas, provided water supply and sewage disposal requirements are met, and permanently preserve nearby open space through means such as conservation easements.

Require that new development tie into the park and trail system by providing linkages to existing parks or dedicating new park land. Connect existing parks and neighborhoods to create a continuous system of open spaces, for example along stream corridors.

Enhance public park design standards to allow for public art and innovative design solutions regarding stormwater management, use of native vegetation, open space, and play areas.

Revise subdivision regulations to require development adjacent to parks and public open spaces to maintain open sight lines to parks and public open space.  Reduce/limit residential rear yards, fences, walls, and physical and visual enclosures around park and public open space perimeters.  Encourage designs that allow homes to face into parks or where side yards are located near parks.

Pursue all opportunities, including donations, conservation easements, inheritance trusts, naming rights, and developer incentives to accomplish the following:

• Acquiring new lands for parks, open space;
• Acquiring natural areas that provide greater opportunities for people to access nature;
• Maintaining existing and future parks, open space, and natural areas;
• Enhancing existing landscaping at parks and along trails by planting additional native vegetation.

Adopt new citywide site design and building regulations that ensure new developments meet basic functional and aesthetic minimums related to:

• Walkability and bike-ability
• Internal and external street connectivity
• Integration of uses
• Signage
• Building location
• Building appearance
• Open space (passive and active)

Adopt subdivision regulations that ensure new neighborhoods meet the basic needs of residents while supporting an efficient development pattern. Regulations should cover:

• Open space (passive and active),
• Demonstration of sustainable funding levels for common area and facility maintenance costs,
• Walkability and bikeability,
• Internal and external street connectivity,
• Block length,
• Integration of uses,
• Integration of a variety of home sizes,
• Integration of a variety of unit types, and
• Preservation of Environmentally Sensitive Areas.

Regulations could be based on a point scale to allow flexibility, while still requiring basic minimum thresholds be met.
New regulations should remove the existing requirement for development in Rural LUTAs to connect to water and sewer systems and establish a minimum one-acre lot size for lots with on-site sewer treatment.

Establish incentives such as a simplified permitting process, reduced application fees, and special recognition for projects that:

• Utilize best management practices or other low-impact development methods for storm water management.
• Bring buried streams to the surface and restore riparian habitat.
• Install bridge systems instead of culverts for stream crossings to help maintain the natural ecosystem associated with the stream.

Revise development regulations to require the following factors to be addressed in development and redevelopment proposals:

• Preservation of existing natural resources, such as wooded areas, habitat areas, and floodplains.
• Utilization of natural treatments and methods to stabilize or rehabilitate stream and river banks as a means to preserve downstream habitats.
• Integration of a variety of native or compatible non-native, non-invasive plant species.
• Mitigation of impacts of development on habitat, wildlife corridors, riparian and littoral areas, and water quality, through actions such as restoration or re-vegetation of disturbed natural areas and replacement of trees/habitat on-site or off-site.
• Management of invasive plant and animal species.
• Management and maintenance of natural areas, common areas and drainage areas.
• Impact on surface and groundwater supply.
• Impact on water quality caused by land uses and activities.
• Impacts on floodplains, riparian and littoral areas and wetlands and areas with significant landforms.

Develop a manual of best management practices that can be integrated into City codes. These include, but are not limited to:

• Tree care and management.
• Tree planting.
• Tree protection.
• Street trees (location, conflicts, maintenance, etc. – in addition to general tree care guidelines).
• Placement of utilities (e.g., under streets vs. under park strips)
• Low impact development techniques.
• Habitat protection and restoration.
• Conservation easements and/or subdivisions.

Establish an Urban Forestry Program and City Urban Forester position to achieve the following:

• Measure and monitor tree canopy coverage and habitat on a regular basis so that any policies, programs, and regulations may be adjusted accordingly as situations change. Establish a process to maintain current data.
• Develop and maintain regulations, policies, processes, and programs that focus on protection and preservation of native trees.
• Provide assistance with proper tree selection, location, and maintenance to prevent power outages, reduce property damage, and coordinate emergency response during natural disaster events (excessive snow and ice, tornadoes, etc.), address the urban heat island effect, and reduce energy costs, etc.
• Establish programs such as tree give-aways, neighborhood planting programs, and education workshops.
• Provide resources to the public about tree selection, management, and care.
• Seek grant funding for community tree planting to improve City parks, publicly maintained rights-of-way and other areas of the city.
• Inventory the City’s street trees and develop a tree replacement program.
• Partner with volunteer and nonprofit organizations to recruit volunteers for tree planting and maintenance and to coordinate community-wide tree planting efforts.

Develop and adopt a tree preservation ordinance that achieves the following:

• Defines methods of preservation;
• Defines situations where preservation of trees is mandatory versus optional;
• Establishes incentives for tree preservation;
• Establishes mitigation options if preservation cannot be accomplished; and
• Establishes penalties for unauthorized tree removal.

Preserve mature healthy trees and incorporate them into the design of new development or redevelopment projects to the greatest extent possible. Include provisions and best management practices to ensure proper tree protection throughout the construction process. Best management practices include but are not limited to:

• The use of proper pruning techniques;
• Appropriate watering;
• Installation of protective fencing at the drip lines of trees or groups of trees;
• Designated material storage areas; and
• Approved equipment and vehicle parking and maintenance areas.

Provide the public with resources, tools, and guidance to deal with environmental hazards, such as:

• Information about safe disposal options for household contaminants such as motor oils, paints, computers, televisions, batteries, etc.
• Information on environmental hazards, such as brownfield sites.
• Information about funds available to assist with environmental cleanups.

Pursue methods to reduce the impact of the urban heat island effect on Oklahoma City by:

• Establishing a minimum canopy coverage requirement over paved surfaces such as parking lots.
• Instating a “continuous canopy” requirement for new streets and street reconstruction projects.
• Promoting the use of building and roofing materials that reduce heat island effects.

Establish development regulations that help improve air quality, including:

• Specifying construction controls that reduce airborne dust;
• Increasing landscaping and tree planting to absorb carbon dioxide and air pollutants; and
• Encouraging development patterns and densities that support alternative modes of transportation in the urban LUTAs.

Preserve overall landscape character and natural landforms (rolling hills, native vegetation, etc.) to the greatest extent possible.

Protect and preserve natural resources, by:

• Identifying and mapping valuable natural resources, such as, native prairies.
• Maintaining a comprehensive inventory and assessment of natural resources and critical habitats.
• Identifying opportunities to create an interconnected green infrastructure network throughout and beyond Oklahoma City’s municipal boundaries via existing trail and greenway projects, parks, stream corridors, and natural areas.
• Seeking the voluntary sale of land or dedication of conservation easements on private land that is identified as critical habitat or is necessary to link wildlife corridors.
• Pursuing protection of strategically identified natural areas by placing them in conservation easements or land banks, and reserving them for future use as open space and passive recreational areas.
• Managing invasive plant and animal species.
• Partnering with applicable State agencies and non-profit entities.

Identify and protect critical habitats for state and federally listed threatened or endangered species.

Identify migratory birds and their nesting sites prior to construction. Protect migratory birds and their nesting sites throughout the construction process and refrain from construction near nesting sites until migratory birds are no longer actively nesting and have moved on from the site. Verify compliance with Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

Coordinate the design, development, expansion, and/or investment in transportation projects with the Land Use Typology map.

Require the construction of new streets, streetscapes, and street widening projects to implement the design components of the assigned street typologies established in this plan.

Revise Subdivision Regulations and development standards to reflect the street typology standards.

Routinely assess the City’s development standards, design guidelines, and development review procedures to ensure that they reflect current trends in best-practice and allow for innovative design techniques and evolving methods in low-impact development.

Enhance existing development standards and establish design guidelines for areas outside of the City’s existing Design Review Overlay Districts. Development standards and design guidelines could include the following provisions:

• Minimize views and prominence of parking lots in relation to structures on a site.
• Sense of proportion (street width to building height, human scale)
• Pedestrian orientation of structures and architectural detailing/fenestration
• Terminated vistas
• Reduce the predominance of residential garages in the design of the front facades of single-family residences.
• Inclusion of front porches into the design of residential structures.
• Internal orientation of parking facilities and garages in multi-family developments.
• Improved pedestrian safety and enhanced pedestrian access through parking lots.

Develop a workforce housing program, particularly for projects in the UM, UH, and DT LUTAs, based on the following basic considerations:

• Partnerships with large employers;
• Density bonuses;
• Height bonuses; and,
• Transfer of development rights.

Reuse brownfield, greyfield, and other vacant building sites to provide new opportunities for mixed-used and mixed-income housing.

Catalyze the rehabilitation of abandoned structures by amending codes to facilitate the adaptive reuse of existing buildings for residential use.

Develop a City program to rehabilitate or redevelop dilapidated properties, including a land bank to receive donated properties from property owners who can no longer maintain their properties.

Create regulations/standards/guidelines that focus on design and/or compatibility principles which are sensitive to the surrounding urban form, especially in areas that are stable or improving and whose character is well-established. These provisions should also help ensure compatibility between lower- and higher- intensity land uses.

Add legislative priorities for state laws to:

• Strengthen the City’s ability to obtain specific performance of property owners cited for code violations.
• Speed up the demolition process for long-time boarded properties that cannot be rehabilitated.
• Strengthen the City’s ability to require property owners to rehabilitate or sell neglected, boarded-up properties.
• Expedite the clearing of properties involved in probate.

Ensure that safety is factored into the design of neighborhoods through the following policies:

• Incorporate development standards and guidelines into the Subdivision Regulations that integrate the principles of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) and increase safety and social interaction.
• Create a pre-development checklist with criteria to evaluate how safety is designed into a project.
• Establish a pre-development process wherein safety is considered in the design of projects.
• Involve the Fire and Police Departments in reviewing proposed development and redevelopment to provide input on any safety-related design concerns.

Adopt new citywide site design and building regulations that ensure new developments meet basic functional and aesthetic minimums related to:

• Walkability and bike-ability
• Internal and external street connectivity
• Integration of uses
• Signage
• Building location
• Building appearance
• Open space (passive and active)

Encourage the integration and mixing of land uses in urban areas.

Mitigate negative impacts of compactness by:

• Updating nuisance code to better address noise, smell, vibration, property maintenance, panhandling, animal control, delivery hours limits, and other possible negative effects.
• Updating the sign ordinance to reduce visual clutter.

In order to promote compatibility between different uses, establish standards and guidelines that ensure all developments are pedestrian-friendly and human scale at street frontages and property lines.

Prioritize and concentrate development where facilities, infrastructure, and services have capacity and in areas where the Police and Fire Departments are best able to respond. Guide the location and timing of development through the proactive and strategic installation of infrastructure.

Encourage the integration of different land uses in urban areas through the following means:

• Promote the use of performance standards in place of existing zoning methods (which address incompatibility by separating uses). Performance-based regulations should focus on achieving compatibility between uses by addressing the following:
  • Noise, odors and air quality
  • Traffic and parking (allow flexible, but sufficient parking)
  • Site layout and building design
  • Waste
  • Safety
  • Lighting (glare control, placement, and shielding)
  • Delivery hours
• Enhance transit service (bus and rail).
• Prevent large areas of concentration of any particular land use such as multi-family or commercial.

Ensure the ongoing compatibility and appropriateness of development in Planned Unit Developments (PUDs) and Simplified Planned Unit Developments (SPUDs) by:

• Exploring the establishment of expiration dates for PUDs and SPUDs that have not been initiated after a certain period of time;
• Establish a procedure to ensure PUDs build-out according to approved plans.

Enable increased densities as appropriate to individual land use typology areas by addressing financial incentives and disincentives through evaluating the feasibility of strategies such as:

• Impact fees and/or transportation utility fees that vary by district according to actual cost;
• Assessing solid waste charges according to actual cost;
• Private solid waste services where it is impractical for the City to provide service such as in rural areas.

Encourage unified planning for all adjoining land owned or controlled by a project’s developer to ensure proper circulation and land use relationships.

Evaluate existing regulations for effectiveness in promoting density and mixed-use development and in addressing surface parking. Develop a new urban design code for downtown and other key districts to promote healthy mixes of land uses that are compatible and complementary.

Adopt subdivision regulations that ensure new neighborhoods meet the basic needs of residents while supporting an efficient development pattern. Regulations should cover:

• Open space (passive and active),
• Demonstration of sustainable funding levels for common area and facility maintenance costs,
• Walkability and bikeability,
• Internal and external street connectivity,
• Block length,
• Integration of uses,
• Integration of a variety of home sizes,
• Integration of a variety of unit types, and
• Preservation of Environmentally Sensitive Areas.

Regulations could be based on a point scale to allow flexibility, while still requiring basic minimum thresholds be met.
New regulations should remove the existing requirement for development in Rural LUTAs to connect to water and sewer systems and establish a minimum one-acre lot size for lots with on-site sewer treatment.

Revise subdivision and zoning regulations to allow increased densities as appropriate. For example, density potential could be increased by allowing “cottage” or “pocket” neighborhoods and accessory dwelling units (additional dwelling units allowed on owner-occupied properties) where appropriate.

Improve the functionality and efficiency of the street network by:

• Providing direct connections from residential developments to nearby places and to each other.
• Providing street and sidewalk stubs to adjacent vacant land in anticipation of future development.
• Connecting new development to existing street and sidewalk stubs, and to existing trail, open space, and bicycle networks.
• Reducing block sizes and use of dead-end streets.
• Maintaining the existing street grid to preserve connectivity and mobility options.

Prioritize opportunities to restore and reconnect the street grid.

Prioritize construction of pedestrian and bicycle facilities that improve connectivity and eliminate gaps in the transportation network.

Identify areas that could be used to establish a greenbelt network throughout the City that connect major employment centers, commercial sites, parks, and key locations within major residential neighborhoods. Use the greenbelt as the backbone for a bicycle trails network which all other bicycle trails feed into.

Market the trails system as a transportation and recreation system to residents and visitors.

Change subdivision regulations to determine the number of entries into a residential development based on number of lots in order to improve connectivity of the roadway network and emergency response.

Support the creation of a regional transit authority and pursue the establishment of a dedicated funding source, such as sales tax or property tax to achieve long term transit service goals.

Increase frequency and time of transit operations to ensure adequate, convenient and safe service for visitors, employees, and residents.

Implement policies and strategies recommended in the 2013 COTPA Transit Service Analysis.

Develop an urban rail and/or bus rapid transit system to connect downtown with strategic corridors and nodes.

Work with the Association of Central Oklahoma Governments to implement the Early Action Compact to mitigate air quality issues.

Support and incentivize the adaptive use of existing buildings, infill development, and brownfield development.

Preserve natural habitat, maintain wildlife food sources, and reduce the risk of propagating invasive plant species by utilizing vegetation native to Oklahoma, preferably central Oklahoma, for all mitigation and habitat restoration efforts associated with new development and redevelopment projects, public and private, to the greatest extent possible.

Establish an Urban Forestry Program and City Urban Forester position to achieve the following:

• Measure and monitor tree canopy coverage and habitat on a regular basis so that any policies, programs, and regulations may be adjusted accordingly as situations change. Establish a process to maintain current data.
• Develop and maintain regulations, policies, processes, and programs that focus on protection and preservation of native trees.
• Provide assistance with proper tree selection, location, and maintenance to prevent power outages, reduce property damage, and coordinate emergency response during natural disaster events (excessive snow and ice, tornadoes, etc.), address the urban heat island effect, and reduce energy costs, etc.
• Establish programs such as tree give-aways, neighborhood planting programs, and education workshops.
• Provide resources to the public about tree selection, management, and care.
• Seek grant funding for community tree planting to improve City parks, publicly maintained rights-of-way and other areas of the city.
• Inventory the City’s street trees and develop a tree replacement program.
• Partner with volunteer and nonprofit organizations to recruit volunteers for tree planting and maintenance and to coordinate community-wide tree planting efforts.

Develop and adopt a tree preservation ordinance that achieves the following:

• Defines methods of preservation;
• Defines situations where preservation of trees is mandatory versus optional;
• Establishes incentives for tree preservation;
• Establishes mitigation options if preservation cannot be accomplished; and
• Establishes penalties for unauthorized tree removal.

Pursue methods to reduce the impact of the urban heat island effect on Oklahoma City by:

• Establishing a minimum canopy coverage requirement over paved surfaces such as parking lots.
• Instating a “continuous canopy” requirement for new streets and street reconstruction projects.
• Promoting the use of building and roofing materials that reduce heat island effects.

Coordinate with local, regional, and State agencies to pursue initiatives and regulations that help reduce automobile emissions, such as:

• Transitioning commercial and City fleets to alternative-fueled and hybrid vehicles;
• Determining the feasibility of an idling restriction ordinance for all vehicles.

Promote improved air quality and reduced ground-level ozone levels by developing a public education program that will inform residents about the air quality benefits of:

• Proper automobile maintenance
• Proper maintenance and use of gas-powered lawn and garden equipment
• Limiting car idling times
• Alternative fuels
• Alternative / active transportation modes (public transit, walking, biking, car-sharing, etc.)
• Reducing vehicle-miles traveled (VMT)
• Employer sponsored emission reduction programs (carpooling, work from home, telecommuting, etc.)
• Native landscaping (requiring less maintenance)
• Energy efficient housing / buildings

Study of the public health and environmental impacts of degraded air quality on sensitive populations living near highways.

Establish strategies, procedures and policies for City construction projects to achieve higher energy efficiency, including:

• Implementing an energy management plan for City facilities.
• Monitoring energy consumption of City facilities, tracking conservation progress, and communicating results to City administrators, employees, elected officials and the public.
• Assessing water use in City facilities to identify opportunities for conservation and implement appropriate measures.

Develop an enforcement mechanism for the City’s Building Energy Code. Develop a healthy building code to support construction of durable, health-promoting and energy efficient buildings that incorporate proven green development practices, locally-sourced and environmentally responsible materials, water conservation fixtures, innovative design and construction techniques, and low waste construction practices. Incentivize their use with shorter approval procedures, priority permits and inspections, and reduced fees.

Partner with agencies, non-profits, and private entities to:

• Implement a sustainable development online forum – an educational and networking resource that will inform the public about local opportunities and the benefits of sustainable development while increasing builder and developer participation.
• Educate citizens on energy and water conservation opportunities both at work and at home.
• Encourage appropriate re-use and reclamation of water in new development and redevelopment to reduce the reliance on potable water use.
• Provide detailed cost-benefit information about green building practices to encourage increased use of such practices in Oklahoma City.
• Reduce reliance on electricity produced by fossil fuel by encouraging the use of renewable energy sources in new development and redevelopment.
• Explore mechanisms (incentives, regulations, programs) to divert demolition debris from landfills and redirect to facilities that can reuse these materials.
• Establish a promotion/award program to showcase innovative development that utilizes low-impact development practices and energy-efficient building techniques / equipment, conserves riparian buffers, and extends greenway networks with hiking/biking trails.

Establish strategies, procedures and policies that prevent degradation or loss of critical habitat and sensitive areas, such as Cross Timbers, upland forests, wetlands, wildlife corridors, groundwater recharge zones, and riparian areas. Protection methods should ensure that placement of lots, alignment of roads, and installation of structures and infrastructure minimize disturbance of the environmentally sensitive areas using tools such as:

• Directing development to appropriate locations;
• Greenbelt preservation;
• Assurance of no development in protected open space;
• Clustering / conservation subdivisions;
• Pervious surface treatments;
• Density transfers; and/or
• Conservation easements.

Ensure that strategies, procedures, and policies incorporate principles of connectivity, minimal fragmentation, representativeness, and heterogeneity.

Encourage redevelopment and infill development on vacant, underutilized, and brownfield sites in urbanized areas.

Encourage the integration of different land uses in urban areas through the following means:

• Promote the use of performance standards in place of existing zoning methods (which address incompatibility by separating uses). Performance-based regulations should focus on achieving compatibility between uses by addressing the following:
  • Noise, odors and air quality
  • Traffic and parking (allow flexible, but sufficient parking)
  • Site layout and building design
  • Waste
  • Safety
  • Lighting (glare control, placement, and shielding)
  • Delivery hours
• Enhance transit service (bus and rail).
• Prevent large areas of concentration of any particular land use such as multi-family or commercial.

Establish development regulations that help improve air quality, including:

• Specifying construction controls that reduce airborne dust;
• Increasing landscaping and tree planting to absorb carbon dioxide and air pollutants; and
• Encouraging development patterns and densities that support alternative modes of transportation in the urban LUTAs.

Enhance the City’s Landscape Ordinance by accomplishing the following objectives:

• Add guidelines and recommendations for landscape design that minimizes the need for supplemental irrigation.
• Clarify responsibilities and standards for landscape maintenance, including within public rights-of-way.
• Incentivize the use of drought-tolerant and native plants.
• Restrict the use of turf grass to the greatest extent feasible.
• Evaluate existing landscape standards for parking lots and consider making revisions that would result in more landscape buffering on parking lot fringes and more internal landscaping.
• Evaluate existing landscape standards to determine whether new standards should be adopted to help screen or buffer parking structures.
• Evaluate existing landscape standards in comparison to best practices and peer cities to determine whether minimum site landscaping standards should be revised and/or restructured to result in increased landscaping.

Pursue grants, partnerships, and programs that accomplish the following:

• Restore tree stands and wildlife habitats in environmentally sensitive areas.
• Acquire land or establish conservation easements in environmentally sensitive areas to reserve as permanent open space and protect wildlife and habitat.
• Establish a comprehensive habitat management program.
• Provide education and resources for proper use of pesticides and fertilizers, with special focus on encouraging integrated pest management and organic practices.
• Provide education about land management practices that address fire suppression, invasive species, use of herbicides/pesticides, and overgrazing.
• Promote the economic and aesthetic value of preserving Oklahoma City’s natural resources such as riparian areas, Cross Timbers forest, grasslands/prairie, bottomland forests, and wetlands.

Support and incentivize the adaptive use of existing buildings, infill development, and brownfield development.

Using performance standards related to flow quantity, quality, and pattern, modify development regulations, codes, and policies to support the use of green infrastructure/low impact development techniques to mimic natural systems for developments within aquifer recharge zones with moderate or high vulnerability or in areas where streams and riparian areas have been channelized or developed (primarily in the Downtown, UH, and UM LUTAs). Low impact development techniques include but are not limited to:

• Onsite treating or filtering of stormwater contaminants.
• Discharging run-off as sheet-flow after passing through grassy or vegetated open space areas, rather than discharging run-off through concentrated outfalls.
• Creating attractive open space amenities that double as stormwater detention, retention, and / or filtering systems.
• Utilizing pervious pavement, pavers, or asphalt in appropriate locations (i.e. sidewalks, parking spaces, trails, patios, etc.).
• Utilizing planters (at grade or raised), vegetated landscape strips adjacent to roads and parking areas, and alternative curbing designs (allowing stormwater to easily move from impervious areas to pervious areas), to encourage stormwater infiltration and temporary detention.
• Rain Gardens
• Bioswales
• Green streets and alleys
• Green roofs
• Rooftop collection
• Underground detention
• Increased tree canopy preservation/tree planting
• Land/open space conservation
• Cluster development

Establish incentives such as a simplified permitting process, reduced application fees, and special recognition for projects that:

• Utilize best management practices or other low-impact development methods for storm water management.
• Bring buried streams to the surface and restore riparian habitat.
• Install bridge systems instead of culverts for stream crossings to help maintain the natural ecosystem associated with the stream.

Develop a comprehensive watershed management strategy that identifies programs, partnerships, actions, and incentives that the City and partners can take to protect the city’s water resources and aquatic areas. The strategy should address the following:

• Creation of a Stormwater Master Plan.
• Update to the City’s sediment control program and establishment of performance measures.
• Coordinated watershed restoration projects.
• Preparation and implementation of Small Watershed Action Plans (SWAPs) and participation in studies to identify needs and opportunities for stream restoration, wetland creation and restoration, and storm water management.
• Identification of opportunities to create wetlands to offset construction and other land development impacts.
• Identification and utilization of “receiving lands” that can absorb storm surge overflows.
• Public education on how to conserve water and minimize chemicals, pathogens, sediment, and nutrients in urban and rural watersheds.
• Acquisition and protection of greenways, river buffers and flood prone areas.

Evaluate the City’s stormwater detention/retention requirements, including the current fee-in-lieu of program, and compare to current best management practices. Based on findings, modify codes, policies and development regulations to update stormwater detention/retention requirements. These requirements should focus on:

• Reducing the risks of property damage due to flooding.
• Managing runoff rates and minimizing stream bank erosion by ensuring that post-development runoff rates do not exceed pre-development rates, even in areas where risks of flooding have historically been low.
• Maintaining surface water quality by managing the release of the first flush stormwater volume in order to encourage settling and filtering of particle and chemical pollutants before releasing water into adjacent water bodies.

Revise development regulations to require the following factors to be addressed in development and redevelopment proposals:

• Preservation of existing natural resources, such as wooded areas, habitat areas, and floodplains.
• Utilization of natural treatments and methods to stabilize or rehabilitate stream and river banks as a means to preserve downstream habitats.
• Integration of a variety of native or compatible non-native, non-invasive plant species.
• Mitigation of impacts of development on habitat, wildlife corridors, riparian and littoral areas, and water quality, through actions such as restoration or re-vegetation of disturbed natural areas and replacement of trees/habitat on-site or off-site.
• Management of invasive plant and animal species.
• Management and maintenance of natural areas, common areas and drainage areas.
• Impact on surface and groundwater supply.
• Impact on water quality caused by land uses and activities.
• Impacts on floodplains, riparian and littoral areas and wetlands and areas with significant landforms.

In areas where standard on-site wastewater systems are not feasible (such as in areas with shallow or poor soils), require very low-density development or development that utilizes conservation design and a centralized treatment facility or other environmentally sensitive systems for wastewater treatment.

Pursue methods to reduce the impact of the urban heat island effect on Oklahoma City by:

• Establishing a minimum canopy coverage requirement over paved surfaces such as parking lots.
• Instating a “continuous canopy” requirement for new streets and street reconstruction projects.
• Promoting the use of building and roofing materials that reduce heat island effects.

Modify development and subdivision regulations, and City policies to minimize alteration of natural landforms and native vegetation and maximize retention of distinctive natural features for public and private projects.

Establish development regulations that help improve air quality, including:

• Specifying construction controls that reduce airborne dust;
• Increasing landscaping and tree planting to absorb carbon dioxide and air pollutants; and
• Encouraging development patterns and densities that support alternative modes of transportation in the urban LUTAs.

Coordinate with local, regional, and State agencies to pursue initiatives and regulations that help reduce automobile emissions, such as:

• Transitioning commercial and City fleets to alternative-fueled and hybrid vehicles;
• Determining the feasibility of an idling restriction ordinance for all vehicles.

Establish strategies, procedures and policies for City construction projects to achieve higher energy efficiency, including:

• Implementing an energy management plan for City facilities.
• Monitoring energy consumption of City facilities, tracking conservation progress, and communicating results to City administrators, employees, elected officials and the public.
• Assessing water use in City facilities to identify opportunities for conservation and implement appropriate measures.

Develop an enforcement mechanism for the City’s Building Energy Code. Develop a healthy building code to support construction of durable, health-promoting and energy efficient buildings that incorporate proven green development practices, locally-sourced and environmentally responsible materials, water conservation fixtures, innovative design and construction techniques, and low waste construction practices. Incentivize their use with shorter approval procedures, priority permits and inspections, and reduced fees.

Partner with agencies, non-profits, and private entities to:

• Implement a sustainable development online forum – an educational and networking resource that will inform the public about local opportunities and the benefits of sustainable development while increasing builder and developer participation.
• Educate citizens on energy and water conservation opportunities both at work and at home.
• Encourage appropriate re-use and reclamation of water in new development and redevelopment to reduce the reliance on potable water use.
• Provide detailed cost-benefit information about green building practices to encourage increased use of such practices in Oklahoma City.
• Reduce reliance on electricity produced by fossil fuel by encouraging the use of renewable energy sources in new development and redevelopment.
• Explore mechanisms (incentives, regulations, programs) to divert demolition debris from landfills and redirect to facilities that can reuse these materials.
• Establish a promotion/award program to showcase innovative development that utilizes low-impact development practices and energy-efficient building techniques / equipment, conserves riparian buffers, and extends greenway networks with hiking/biking trails.

Protect and preserve natural resources, by:

• Identifying and mapping valuable natural resources, such as, native prairies.
• Maintaining a comprehensive inventory and assessment of natural resources and critical habitats.
• Identifying opportunities to create an interconnected green infrastructure network throughout and beyond Oklahoma City’s municipal boundaries via existing trail and greenway projects, parks, stream corridors, and natural areas.
• Seeking the voluntary sale of land or dedication of conservation easements on private land that is identified as critical habitat or is necessary to link wildlife corridors.
• Pursuing protection of strategically identified natural areas by placing them in conservation easements or land banks, and reserving them for future use as open space and passive recreational areas.
• Managing invasive plant and animal species.
• Partnering with applicable State agencies and non-profit entities.

Establish strategies, procedures and policies that prevent degradation or loss of critical habitat and sensitive areas, such as Cross Timbers, upland forests, wetlands, wildlife corridors, groundwater recharge zones, and riparian areas. Protection methods should ensure that placement of lots, alignment of roads, and installation of structures and infrastructure minimize disturbance of the environmentally sensitive areas using tools such as:

• Directing development to appropriate locations;
• Greenbelt preservation;
• Assurance of no development in protected open space;
• Clustering / conservation subdivisions;
• Pervious surface treatments;
• Density transfers; and/or
• Conservation easements.

Ensure that strategies, procedures, and policies incorporate principles of connectivity, minimal fragmentation, representativeness, and heterogeneity.

Replace existing high-maintenance, high-water plant material with attractive native plants.

Adopt design standards to enable emergency management resources to be highly effective, such as resilient buildings, interconnected transportation networks, and other design considerations that help ensure community safety and recovery.

Establish an Urban Forestry Program and City Urban Forester position to achieve the following:

• Measure and monitor tree canopy coverage and habitat on a regular basis so that any policies, programs, and regulations may be adjusted accordingly as situations change. Establish a process to maintain current data.
• Develop and maintain regulations, policies, processes, and programs that focus on protection and preservation of native trees.
• Provide assistance with proper tree selection, location, and maintenance to prevent power outages, reduce property damage, and coordinate emergency response during natural disaster events (excessive snow and ice, tornadoes, etc.), address the urban heat island effect, and reduce energy costs, etc.
• Establish programs such as tree give-aways, neighborhood planting programs, and education workshops.
• Provide resources to the public about tree selection, management, and care.
• Seek grant funding for community tree planting to improve City parks, publicly maintained rights-of-way and other areas of the city.
• Inventory the City’s street trees and develop a tree replacement program.
• Partner with volunteer and nonprofit organizations to recruit volunteers for tree planting and maintenance and to coordinate community-wide tree planting efforts.

Provide the public with resources, tools, and guidance to deal with environmental hazards, such as:

• Information about safe disposal options for household contaminants such as motor oils, paints, computers, televisions, batteries, etc.
• Information on environmental hazards, such as brownfield sites.
• Information about funds available to assist with environmental cleanups.

Ensure clean-up and mitigation of contaminated sites is done prior to issuing new development permits.

Coordinate with local, regional, and State agencies to pursue initiatives and regulations that help reduce automobile emissions, such as:

• Transitioning commercial and City fleets to alternative-fueled and hybrid vehicles;
• Determining the feasibility of an idling restriction ordinance for all vehicles.

Promote improved air quality and reduced ground-level ozone levels by developing a public education program that will inform residents about the air quality benefits of:

• Proper automobile maintenance
• Proper maintenance and use of gas-powered lawn and garden equipment
• Limiting car idling times
• Alternative fuels
• Alternative / active transportation modes (public transit, walking, biking, car-sharing, etc.)
• Reducing vehicle-miles traveled (VMT)
• Employer sponsored emission reduction programs (carpooling, work from home, telecommuting, etc.)
• Native landscaping (requiring less maintenance)
• Energy efficient housing / buildings

Partner with agencies, non-profits, and private entities to:

• Implement a sustainable development online forum – an educational and networking resource that will inform the public about local opportunities and the benefits of sustainable development while increasing builder and developer participation.
• Educate citizens on energy and water conservation opportunities both at work and at home.
• Encourage appropriate re-use and reclamation of water in new development and redevelopment to reduce the reliance on potable water use.
• Provide detailed cost-benefit information about green building practices to encourage increased use of such practices in Oklahoma City.
• Reduce reliance on electricity produced by fossil fuel by encouraging the use of renewable energy sources in new development and redevelopment.
• Explore mechanisms (incentives, regulations, programs) to divert demolition debris from landfills and redirect to facilities that can reuse these materials.
• Establish a promotion/award program to showcase innovative development that utilizes low-impact development practices and energy-efficient building techniques / equipment, conserves riparian buffers, and extends greenway networks with hiking/biking trails.

Raise the level of public awareness of agriculture’s value to ecology, economy, open space, culture, and local food security by the following actions:

• Organize training activities in a variety of settings (schools, colleges, health care facilities, continuing education programs) that demonstrate the history, importance and value of agricultural operations.
• Improve the knowledge of current growers and motivate potential new growers.
• Promote incentives offered by governments, banks, land-grant universities, and private businesses such as start-up capital, credit, crop insurance, horticultural and financial advice, soil testing, markets, subsidies, tools, and inputs such as seeds and soil alterations.
• Promote farms as a destination stop for tourists and visitors.

Promote local and urban agricultural operations by establishing programs and partnerships to:

• Lease publicly-owned land to farmers for sustainable urban agricultural use.
• Encourage land tenure methods such as land trusts, leases, and policy initiatives to secure long-term commitment for community gardens, entrepreneurial farms, and other urban agriculture ventures.
• Develop community-based farming infrastructure such as tool banks with equipment and supplies, community kitchens and other shared processing facilities, farmers’ markets, community supported agriculture projects, funding opportunities, and technical service providers.
• Construct and operate a demonstration urban farm for education, outreach, and local food production.
• Encourage the local agricultural economy and improve access to local foods by allowing city property (parks, city facilities, etc.) to be used for farmers markets and other public markets.

Strengthen the local food system and increase access to healthy food options using strategies such as:

• Increasing the effectiveness of community gardens, especially in underserved areas.
• Reducing access to low nutrition food (e.g. junk food, fast food).
• Preserving agricultural lands for purposes of producing food, fiber, and fuel.
• Participating in a local or regional food policy council.
• Develop an incentive program that will assist convenience stores with providing fresh fruits, vegetables, and other healthy food items.
• Develop a land bank to convert tax-reverted, vacant, and abandoned properties into community gardens or “satellite farms.”
• Prioritize underserved areas when locating new grocery stores, farmer’s markets, and mobile grocers. Use financial incentives, technical assistance, and other services to improve the quality and selection of healthy foods available to underserved areas.

Increase the amount of biodiversity-rich green space in urban and suburban areas by:

• Integrating vegetation to support biodiversity in parks, gardens, trails, and green roofs. Native vegetation that provides food and habitat for native wildlife such as “micro prairies” and urban forests will have the greatest effect.
• Encouraging optimal mowing practices on large lots that are adjacent to natural features.

Enrich natural biodiversity in agricultural areas by promoting practices that provide food, water, and habitat for wildlife and minimize negative impacts. Strategies to achieve the goal include:

• Working with farmers, rancher, conservationists, sustainable agricultural organizations, and other stakeholders to develop a plan to conserve nature in farming and ranching landscapes.
• Implementing optimal mowing strategies, which include harvesting grasses at a growing height of 10 plus inches; creating early successional habitat with burning, disking, and haying every 3-5 years; mowing from the center of a field outward to allow wildlife to escape the surrounding areas; adding flushing bars to mowing equipment to minimize bird injuries and death; leaving 4-6 inches of stubble after harvest to capture snow and water; harvesting or mowing after first frost to avoid disturbing bird nests and improve grass quality; and leaving portions of fields as standing crops.
• Increasing nesting habitat.
• Adopting best practices for fertilizer and pesticide applications.
• Developing landscape conservation cooperatives.
• Encouraging grassland ranching as an ecologically beneficial alternative to cultivation, particularly practices such as “mob grazing” that mimic natural grazing patterns.
• Promoting ranching of bison, which benefit conservation efforts by dispersing seeds, increasing plant biodiversity, and enhancing groundwater recharge.
• Restoring grassland on previously cultivated landscapes, particularly in buffer zones near natural features.
• Encouraging and supporting agricultural parks that combine recreation and food production and foster appreciation for agricultural heritage.
• Promoting sustainable intensification, which increases production and profitability while providing rich sources of habitat for biodiversity.

Establish strategies, procedures and policies that prevent degradation or loss of critical habitat and sensitive areas, such as Cross Timbers, upland forests, wetlands, wildlife corridors, groundwater recharge zones, and riparian areas. Protection methods should ensure that placement of lots, alignment of roads, and installation of structures and infrastructure minimize disturbance of the environmentally sensitive areas using tools such as:

• Directing development to appropriate locations;
• Greenbelt preservation;
• Assurance of no development in protected open space;
• Clustering / conservation subdivisions;
• Pervious surface treatments;
• Density transfers; and/or
• Conservation easements.

Ensure that strategies, procedures, and policies incorporate principles of connectivity, minimal fragmentation, representativeness, and heterogeneity.

Incorporate preventive health care and wellness education into public schools, recreation centers, senior centers, and technical/trade schools.

Using performance standards related to flow quantity, quality, and pattern, modify development regulations, codes, and policies to support the use of green infrastructure/low impact development techniques to mimic natural systems for developments within aquifer recharge zones with moderate or high vulnerability or in areas where streams and riparian areas have been channelized or developed (primarily in the Downtown, UH, and UM LUTAs). Low impact development techniques include but are not limited to:

• Onsite treating or filtering of stormwater contaminants.
• Discharging run-off as sheet-flow after passing through grassy or vegetated open space areas, rather than discharging run-off through concentrated outfalls.
• Creating attractive open space amenities that double as stormwater detention, retention, and / or filtering systems.
• Utilizing pervious pavement, pavers, or asphalt in appropriate locations (i.e. sidewalks, parking spaces, trails, patios, etc.).
• Utilizing planters (at grade or raised), vegetated landscape strips adjacent to roads and parking areas, and alternative curbing designs (allowing stormwater to easily move from impervious areas to pervious areas), to encourage stormwater infiltration and temporary detention.
• Rain Gardens
• Bioswales
• Green streets and alleys
• Green roofs
• Rooftop collection
• Underground detention
• Increased tree canopy preservation/tree planting
• Land/open space conservation
• Cluster development

Establish development regulations to help protect Oklahoma City’s water resources through standards that:

• Require buffers, setbacks, and vegetation conservation requirements to protect riparian and littoral zones and filter waterborne pollutants from development activities and storm water runoff. Buffer widths should be based on water quality function and wildlife habitat needs.
• Encourage natural drainage systems and methods for onsite infiltration and onsite sediment retention.
• Require new developments to maintain or decrease the site’s pre-development runoff rate.
• Allow low-impact development design features such as pervious pavement, rain gardens, landscaped parkways, and alternative curbing designs.
• Reduce the amount of impervious surfaces allowed in buffer zones around Environmentally Sensitive Areas.
• Restore watershed features such as forest, wetlands, and natural stream channels.

Revise the landscape ordinance to include the following:

• Define terms such as invasive species, exotic/non-native species, and native/indigenous species
• Require removal of invasive species from existing sites, and prohibit such species from being planted or maintained in new development.
• Provide a reference list of native plants and drought-tolerant plants.
• Provide incentives for using native and drought-tolerant plants and disincentives for using high-water plants and turf grass.
• Establish requirements for using design practices that minimize the need for supplemental irrigation.

Enhance the City’s ability to improve the appearance of existing parks through the following:

• Targeted cleanup and beautification program;
• Seek sponsors to donate funds to improve park signage and lighting;
• Litter and graffiti abatement program.

Enhance public park design standards to allow for public art and innovative design solutions regarding stormwater management, use of native vegetation, open space, and play areas.

Explore the use of artificial turf, alternative materials and or other types of ground covers that do not require heavy maintenance or frequent mowing.

Replace existing high-maintenance, high-water plant material with attractive native plants.

Study the feasibility of allowing community gardens in some park areas and create a community garden pilot program.

Utilize existing natural streams as amenities in public parks, and regularly monitor and maintain stream banks for safety of park users.

Protect the health of park visitors by utilizing the most environmentally friendly least toxic means available of reducing weeds and other pests to acceptable levels.

Revise the landscape ordinance to include the following:

• Define terms such as invasive species, exotic/non-native species, and native/indigenous species
• Require removal of invasive species from existing sites, and prohibit such species from being planted or maintained in new development.
• Provide a reference list of native plants and drought-tolerant plants.
• Provide incentives for using native and drought-tolerant plants and disincentives for using high-water plants and turf grass.
• Establish requirements for using design practices that minimize the need for supplemental irrigation.

Establish strategies, procedures and policies for City construction projects to achieve higher energy efficiency, including:

• Implementing an energy management plan for City facilities.
• Monitoring energy consumption of City facilities, tracking conservation progress, and communicating results to City administrators, employees, elected officials and the public.
• Assessing water use in City facilities to identify opportunities for conservation and implement appropriate measures.

Develop an enforcement mechanism for the City’s Building Energy Code. Develop a healthy building code to support construction of durable, health-promoting and energy efficient buildings that incorporate proven green development practices, locally-sourced and environmentally responsible materials, water conservation fixtures, innovative design and construction techniques, and low waste construction practices. Incentivize their use with shorter approval procedures, priority permits and inspections, and reduced fees.

Identify and remove barriers related to water conservation practices, including rainwater harvesting, graywater irrigation, treated effluent re-use practices, and others.

Develop an inventory of water uses at City facilities. Identify opportunities to reduce water use while sustaining service levels to the public. Implement the most prudent opportunities.

Avoid under-grounding streams to the greatest extent possible. Where feasible, encourage the re-surfacing of buried streams. Limit the use of culverts or other structures that alter natural streams, and require designs that minimize impacts to stream health and function.

Using performance standards related to flow quantity, quality, and pattern, modify development regulations, codes, and policies to support the use of green infrastructure/low impact development techniques to mimic natural systems for developments within aquifer recharge zones with moderate or high vulnerability or in areas where streams and riparian areas have been channelized or developed (primarily in the Downtown, UH, and UM LUTAs). Low impact development techniques include but are not limited to:

• Onsite treating or filtering of stormwater contaminants.
• Discharging run-off as sheet-flow after passing through grassy or vegetated open space areas, rather than discharging run-off through concentrated outfalls.
• Creating attractive open space amenities that double as stormwater detention, retention, and / or filtering systems.
• Utilizing pervious pavement, pavers, or asphalt in appropriate locations (i.e. sidewalks, parking spaces, trails, patios, etc.).
• Utilizing planters (at grade or raised), vegetated landscape strips adjacent to roads and parking areas, and alternative curbing designs (allowing stormwater to easily move from impervious areas to pervious areas), to encourage stormwater infiltration and temporary detention.
• Rain Gardens
• Bioswales
• Green streets and alleys
• Green roofs
• Rooftop collection
• Underground detention
• Increased tree canopy preservation/tree planting
• Land/open space conservation
• Cluster development

Establish development regulations to help protect Oklahoma City’s water resources through standards that:

• Require buffers, setbacks, and vegetation conservation requirements to protect riparian and littoral zones and filter waterborne pollutants from development activities and storm water runoff. Buffer widths should be based on water quality function and wildlife habitat needs.
• Encourage natural drainage systems and methods for onsite infiltration and onsite sediment retention.
• Require new developments to maintain or decrease the site’s pre-development runoff rate.
• Allow low-impact development design features such as pervious pavement, rain gardens, landscaped parkways, and alternative curbing designs.
• Reduce the amount of impervious surfaces allowed in buffer zones around Environmentally Sensitive Areas.
• Restore watershed features such as forest, wetlands, and natural stream channels.

Establish incentives such as a simplified permitting process, reduced application fees, and special recognition for projects that:

• Utilize best management practices or other low-impact development methods for storm water management.
• Bring buried streams to the surface and restore riparian habitat.
• Install bridge systems instead of culverts for stream crossings to help maintain the natural ecosystem associated with the stream.

Revise policies, codes and development regulations to reduce the risk of damage resulting from flooding and preserve water quality and stream related habitat by avoiding alterations to the 100-year floodplain (as depicted on the FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map). Allow these areas to remain in their natural state to the greatest extent possible. Revised policies should allow positive alterations, such as restoration of natural riparian areas with appropriate vegetation.

Preserve wetlands in their natural state to the greatest extent possible to increase water quality, minimize quantity of runoff, and increase groundwater recharge. Maintain wetland headwaters and avoid the alteration of surface or subsurface drainage patterns that would eliminate, reduce, or severely alter the frequency and volume of water entering wetland areas.

Create a comprehensive wastewater program for areas not planned for service by the City’s sewer system. This includes:

• Locating and mapping all existing decentralized sewage treatment systems.
• Creating policies and regulations regarding septic system design, installation, maintenance, and testing.
• Producing guidelines for alternative wastewater treatment, such as community wastewater systems.
• Developing monitoring, testing, and inspection requirements and responsibilities.
• Partnering with State agencies and other entities.

Develop a comprehensive watershed management strategy that identifies programs, partnerships, actions, and incentives that the City and partners can take to protect the city’s water resources and aquatic areas. The strategy should address the following:

• Creation of a Stormwater Master Plan.
• Update to the City’s sediment control program and establishment of performance measures.
• Coordinated watershed restoration projects.
• Preparation and implementation of Small Watershed Action Plans (SWAPs) and participation in studies to identify needs and opportunities for stream restoration, wetland creation and restoration, and storm water management.
• Identification of opportunities to create wetlands to offset construction and other land development impacts.
• Identification and utilization of “receiving lands” that can absorb storm surge overflows.
• Public education on how to conserve water and minimize chemicals, pathogens, sediment, and nutrients in urban and rural watersheds.
• Acquisition and protection of greenways, river buffers and flood prone areas.

Evaluate the City’s stormwater detention/retention requirements, including the current fee-in-lieu of program, and compare to current best management practices. Based on findings, modify codes, policies and development regulations to update stormwater detention/retention requirements. These requirements should focus on:

• Reducing the risks of property damage due to flooding.
• Managing runoff rates and minimizing stream bank erosion by ensuring that post-development runoff rates do not exceed pre-development rates, even in areas where risks of flooding have historically been low.
• Maintaining surface water quality by managing the release of the first flush stormwater volume in order to encourage settling and filtering of particle and chemical pollutants before releasing water into adjacent water bodies.

Revise development regulations to require the following factors to be addressed in development and redevelopment proposals:

• Preservation of existing natural resources, such as wooded areas, habitat areas, and floodplains.
• Utilization of natural treatments and methods to stabilize or rehabilitate stream and river banks as a means to preserve downstream habitats.
• Integration of a variety of native or compatible non-native, non-invasive plant species.
• Mitigation of impacts of development on habitat, wildlife corridors, riparian and littoral areas, and water quality, through actions such as restoration or re-vegetation of disturbed natural areas and replacement of trees/habitat on-site or off-site.
• Management of invasive plant and animal species.
• Management and maintenance of natural areas, common areas and drainage areas.
• Impact on surface and groundwater supply.
• Impact on water quality caused by land uses and activities.
• Impacts on floodplains, riparian and littoral areas and wetlands and areas with significant landforms.

Revise the landscape ordinance to include the following:

• Define terms such as invasive species, exotic/non-native species, and native/indigenous species
• Require removal of invasive species from existing sites, and prohibit such species from being planted or maintained in new development.
• Provide a reference list of native plants and drought-tolerant plants.
• Provide incentives for using native and drought-tolerant plants and disincentives for using high-water plants and turf grass.
• Establish requirements for using design practices that minimize the need for supplemental irrigation.

Provide the public with resources, tools, and guidance to deal with environmental hazards, such as:

• Information about safe disposal options for household contaminants such as motor oils, paints, computers, televisions, batteries, etc.
• Information on environmental hazards, such as brownfield sites.
• Information about funds available to assist with environmental cleanups.

Establish development regulations that help improve air quality, including:

• Specifying construction controls that reduce airborne dust;
• Increasing landscaping and tree planting to absorb carbon dioxide and air pollutants; and
• Encouraging development patterns and densities that support alternative modes of transportation in the urban LUTAs.

Develop an enforcement mechanism for the City’s Building Energy Code. Develop a healthy building code to support construction of durable, health-promoting and energy efficient buildings that incorporate proven green development practices, locally-sourced and environmentally responsible materials, water conservation fixtures, innovative design and construction techniques, and low waste construction practices. Incentivize their use with shorter approval procedures, priority permits and inspections, and reduced fees.

Partner with agencies, non-profits, and private entities to:

• Implement a sustainable development online forum – an educational and networking resource that will inform the public about local opportunities and the benefits of sustainable development while increasing builder and developer participation.
• Educate citizens on energy and water conservation opportunities both at work and at home.
• Encourage appropriate re-use and reclamation of water in new development and redevelopment to reduce the reliance on potable water use.
• Provide detailed cost-benefit information about green building practices to encourage increased use of such practices in Oklahoma City.
• Reduce reliance on electricity produced by fossil fuel by encouraging the use of renewable energy sources in new development and redevelopment.
• Explore mechanisms (incentives, regulations, programs) to divert demolition debris from landfills and redirect to facilities that can reuse these materials.
• Establish a promotion/award program to showcase innovative development that utilizes low-impact development practices and energy-efficient building techniques / equipment, conserves riparian buffers, and extends greenway networks with hiking/biking trails.

Preserve overall landscape character and natural landforms (rolling hills, native vegetation, etc.) to the greatest extent possible.

Protect and preserve natural resources, by:

• Identifying and mapping valuable natural resources, such as, native prairies.
• Maintaining a comprehensive inventory and assessment of natural resources and critical habitats.
• Identifying opportunities to create an interconnected green infrastructure network throughout and beyond Oklahoma City’s municipal boundaries via existing trail and greenway projects, parks, stream corridors, and natural areas.
• Seeking the voluntary sale of land or dedication of conservation easements on private land that is identified as critical habitat or is necessary to link wildlife corridors.
• Pursuing protection of strategically identified natural areas by placing them in conservation easements or land banks, and reserving them for future use as open space and passive recreational areas.
• Managing invasive plant and animal species.
• Partnering with applicable State agencies and non-profit entities.

Strive to preserve natural open spaces, including native prairies, and re-plant native vegetation to take advantage of their drought tolerance and deep root structures that slow and adsorb stormwater runoff and reduce erosion by anchoring the soil.

Identify and protect critical habitats for state and federally listed threatened or endangered species.

Identify migratory birds and their nesting sites prior to construction. Protect migratory birds and their nesting sites throughout the construction process and refrain from construction near nesting sites until migratory birds are no longer actively nesting and have moved on from the site. Verify compliance with Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

Establish strategies, procedures and policies that prevent degradation or loss of critical habitat and sensitive areas, such as Cross Timbers, upland forests, wetlands, wildlife corridors, groundwater recharge zones, and riparian areas. Protection methods should ensure that placement of lots, alignment of roads, and installation of structures and infrastructure minimize disturbance of the environmentally sensitive areas using tools such as:

• Directing development to appropriate locations;
• Greenbelt preservation;
• Assurance of no development in protected open space;
• Clustering / conservation subdivisions;
• Pervious surface treatments;
• Density transfers; and/or
• Conservation easements.

Ensure that strategies, procedures, and policies incorporate principles of connectivity, minimal fragmentation, representativeness, and heterogeneity.

Require that new development tie into the park and trail system by providing linkages to existing parks or dedicating new park land. Connect existing parks and neighborhoods to create a continuous system of open spaces, for example along stream corridors.

Enhance public park design standards to allow for public art and innovative design solutions regarding stormwater management, use of native vegetation, open space, and play areas.

Replace existing high-maintenance, high-water plant material with attractive native plants.

Enhance the City’s Landscape Ordinance by accomplishing the following objectives:

• Add guidelines and recommendations for landscape design that minimizes the need for supplemental irrigation.
• Clarify responsibilities and standards for landscape maintenance, including within public rights-of-way.
• Incentivize the use of drought-tolerant and native plants.
• Restrict the use of turf grass to the greatest extent feasible.
• Evaluate existing landscape standards for parking lots and consider making revisions that would result in more landscape buffering on parking lot fringes and more internal landscaping.
• Evaluate existing landscape standards to determine whether new standards should be adopted to help screen or buffer parking structures.
• Evaluate existing landscape standards in comparison to best practices and peer cities to determine whether minimum site landscaping standards should be revised and/or restructured to result in increased landscaping.

Pursue grants, partnerships, and programs that accomplish the following:

• Restore tree stands and wildlife habitats in environmentally sensitive areas.
• Acquire land or establish conservation easements in environmentally sensitive areas to reserve as permanent open space and protect wildlife and habitat.
• Establish a comprehensive habitat management program.
• Provide education and resources for proper use of pesticides and fertilizers, with special focus on encouraging integrated pest management and organic practices.
• Provide education about land management practices that address fire suppression, invasive species, use of herbicides/pesticides, and overgrazing.
• Promote the economic and aesthetic value of preserving Oklahoma City’s natural resources such as riparian areas, Cross Timbers forest, grasslands/prairie, bottomland forests, and wetlands.

Support and incentivize the adaptive use of existing buildings, infill development, and brownfield development.

Using performance standards related to flow quantity, quality, and pattern, modify development regulations, codes, and policies to support the use of green infrastructure/low impact development techniques to mimic natural systems for developments within aquifer recharge zones with moderate or high vulnerability or in areas where streams and riparian areas have been channelized or developed (primarily in the Downtown, UH, and UM LUTAs). Low impact development techniques include but are not limited to:

• Onsite treating or filtering of stormwater contaminants.
• Discharging run-off as sheet-flow after passing through grassy or vegetated open space areas, rather than discharging run-off through concentrated outfalls.
• Creating attractive open space amenities that double as stormwater detention, retention, and / or filtering systems.
• Utilizing pervious pavement, pavers, or asphalt in appropriate locations (i.e. sidewalks, parking spaces, trails, patios, etc.).
• Utilizing planters (at grade or raised), vegetated landscape strips adjacent to roads and parking areas, and alternative curbing designs (allowing stormwater to easily move from impervious areas to pervious areas), to encourage stormwater infiltration and temporary detention.
• Rain Gardens
• Bioswales
• Green streets and alleys
• Green roofs
• Rooftop collection
• Underground detention
• Increased tree canopy preservation/tree planting
• Land/open space conservation
• Cluster development

Establish incentives such as a simplified permitting process, reduced application fees, and special recognition for projects that:

• Utilize best management practices or other low-impact development methods for storm water management.
• Bring buried streams to the surface and restore riparian habitat.
• Install bridge systems instead of culverts for stream crossings to help maintain the natural ecosystem associated with the stream.

Develop a comprehensive watershed management strategy that identifies programs, partnerships, actions, and incentives that the City and partners can take to protect the city’s water resources and aquatic areas. The strategy should address the following:

• Creation of a Stormwater Master Plan.
• Update to the City’s sediment control program and establishment of performance measures.
• Coordinated watershed restoration projects.
• Preparation and implementation of Small Watershed Action Plans (SWAPs) and participation in studies to identify needs and opportunities for stream restoration, wetland creation and restoration, and storm water management.
• Identification of opportunities to create wetlands to offset construction and other land development impacts.
• Identification and utilization of “receiving lands” that can absorb storm surge overflows.
• Public education on how to conserve water and minimize chemicals, pathogens, sediment, and nutrients in urban and rural watersheds.
• Acquisition and protection of greenways, river buffers and flood prone areas.

Evaluate the City’s stormwater detention/retention requirements, including the current fee-in-lieu of program, and compare to current best management practices. Based on findings, modify codes, policies and development regulations to update stormwater detention/retention requirements. These requirements should focus on:

• Reducing the risks of property damage due to flooding.
• Managing runoff rates and minimizing stream bank erosion by ensuring that post-development runoff rates do not exceed pre-development rates, even in areas where risks of flooding have historically been low.
• Maintaining surface water quality by managing the release of the first flush stormwater volume in order to encourage settling and filtering of particle and chemical pollutants before releasing water into adjacent water bodies.

Revise development regulations to require the following factors to be addressed in development and redevelopment proposals:

• Preservation of existing natural resources, such as wooded areas, habitat areas, and floodplains.
• Utilization of natural treatments and methods to stabilize or rehabilitate stream and river banks as a means to preserve downstream habitats.
• Integration of a variety of native or compatible non-native, non-invasive plant species.
• Mitigation of impacts of development on habitat, wildlife corridors, riparian and littoral areas, and water quality, through actions such as restoration or re-vegetation of disturbed natural areas and replacement of trees/habitat on-site or off-site.
• Management of invasive plant and animal species.
• Management and maintenance of natural areas, common areas and drainage areas.
• Impact on surface and groundwater supply.
• Impact on water quality caused by land uses and activities.
• Impacts on floodplains, riparian and littoral areas and wetlands and areas with significant landforms.

In areas where standard on-site wastewater systems are not feasible (such as in areas with shallow or poor soils), require very low-density development or development that utilizes conservation design and a centralized treatment facility or other environmentally sensitive systems for wastewater treatment.

Pursue methods to reduce the impact of the urban heat island effect on Oklahoma City by:

• Establishing a minimum canopy coverage requirement over paved surfaces such as parking lots.
• Instating a “continuous canopy” requirement for new streets and street reconstruction projects.
• Promoting the use of building and roofing materials that reduce heat island effects.

Modify development and subdivision regulations, and City policies to minimize alteration of natural landforms and native vegetation and maximize retention of distinctive natural features for public and private projects.

Establish development regulations that help improve air quality, including:

• Specifying construction controls that reduce airborne dust;
• Increasing landscaping and tree planting to absorb carbon dioxide and air pollutants; and
• Encouraging development patterns and densities that support alternative modes of transportation in the urban LUTAs.

Coordinate with local, regional, and State agencies to pursue initiatives and regulations that help reduce automobile emissions, such as:

• Transitioning commercial and City fleets to alternative-fueled and hybrid vehicles;
• Determining the feasibility of an idling restriction ordinance for all vehicles.

Establish strategies, procedures and policies for City construction projects to achieve higher energy efficiency, including:

• Implementing an energy management plan for City facilities.
• Monitoring energy consumption of City facilities, tracking conservation progress, and communicating results to City administrators, employees, elected officials and the public.
• Assessing water use in City facilities to identify opportunities for conservation and implement appropriate measures.

Develop an enforcement mechanism for the City’s Building Energy Code. Develop a healthy building code to support construction of durable, health-promoting and energy efficient buildings that incorporate proven green development practices, locally-sourced and environmentally responsible materials, water conservation fixtures, innovative design and construction techniques, and low waste construction practices. Incentivize their use with shorter approval procedures, priority permits and inspections, and reduced fees.

Partner with agencies, non-profits, and private entities to:

• Implement a sustainable development online forum – an educational and networking resource that will inform the public about local opportunities and the benefits of sustainable development while increasing builder and developer participation.
• Educate citizens on energy and water conservation opportunities both at work and at home.
• Encourage appropriate re-use and reclamation of water in new development and redevelopment to reduce the reliance on potable water use.
• Provide detailed cost-benefit information about green building practices to encourage increased use of such practices in Oklahoma City.
• Reduce reliance on electricity produced by fossil fuel by encouraging the use of renewable energy sources in new development and redevelopment.
• Explore mechanisms (incentives, regulations, programs) to divert demolition debris from landfills and redirect to facilities that can reuse these materials.
• Establish a promotion/award program to showcase innovative development that utilizes low-impact development practices and energy-efficient building techniques / equipment, conserves riparian buffers, and extends greenway networks with hiking/biking trails.

Protect and preserve natural resources, by:

• Identifying and mapping valuable natural resources, such as, native prairies.
• Maintaining a comprehensive inventory and assessment of natural resources and critical habitats.
• Identifying opportunities to create an interconnected green infrastructure network throughout and beyond Oklahoma City’s municipal boundaries via existing trail and greenway projects, parks, stream corridors, and natural areas.
• Seeking the voluntary sale of land or dedication of conservation easements on private land that is identified as critical habitat or is necessary to link wildlife corridors.
• Pursuing protection of strategically identified natural areas by placing them in conservation easements or land banks, and reserving them for future use as open space and passive recreational areas.
• Managing invasive plant and animal species.
• Partnering with applicable State agencies and non-profit entities.

Establish strategies, procedures and policies that prevent degradation or loss of critical habitat and sensitive areas, such as Cross Timbers, upland forests, wetlands, wildlife corridors, groundwater recharge zones, and riparian areas. Protection methods should ensure that placement of lots, alignment of roads, and installation of structures and infrastructure minimize disturbance of the environmentally sensitive areas using tools such as:

• Directing development to appropriate locations;
• Greenbelt preservation;
• Assurance of no development in protected open space;
• Clustering / conservation subdivisions;
• Pervious surface treatments;
• Density transfers; and/or
• Conservation easements.

Ensure that strategies, procedures, and policies incorporate principles of connectivity, minimal fragmentation, representativeness, and heterogeneity.

Replace existing high-maintenance, high-water plant material with attractive native plants.

Adopt design standards to enable emergency management resources to be highly effective, such as resilient buildings, interconnected transportation networks, and other design considerations that help ensure community safety and recovery.

Pursue grants, partnerships, and programs that accomplish the following:

• Restore tree stands and wildlife habitats in environmentally sensitive areas.
• Acquire land or establish conservation easements in environmentally sensitive areas to reserve as permanent open space and protect wildlife and habitat.
• Establish a comprehensive habitat management program.
• Provide education and resources for proper use of pesticides and fertilizers, with special focus on encouraging integrated pest management and organic practices.
• Provide education about land management practices that address fire suppression, invasive species, use of herbicides/pesticides, and overgrazing.
• Promote the economic and aesthetic value of preserving Oklahoma City’s natural resources such as riparian areas, Cross Timbers forest, grasslands/prairie, bottomland forests, and wetlands.

Establish development regulations to help protect Oklahoma City’s water resources through standards that:

• Require buffers, setbacks, and vegetation conservation requirements to protect riparian and littoral zones and filter waterborne pollutants from development activities and storm water runoff. Buffer widths should be based on water quality function and wildlife habitat needs.
• Encourage natural drainage systems and methods for onsite infiltration and onsite sediment retention.
• Require new developments to maintain or decrease the site’s pre-development runoff rate.
• Allow low-impact development design features such as pervious pavement, rain gardens, landscaped parkways, and alternative curbing designs.
• Reduce the amount of impervious surfaces allowed in buffer zones around Environmentally Sensitive Areas.
• Restore watershed features such as forest, wetlands, and natural stream channels.

Revise policies, codes and development regulations to reduce the risk of damage resulting from flooding and preserve water quality and stream related habitat by avoiding alterations to the 100-year floodplain (as depicted on the FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map). Allow these areas to remain in their natural state to the greatest extent possible. Revised policies should allow positive alterations, such as restoration of natural riparian areas with appropriate vegetation.

Preserve wetlands in their natural state to the greatest extent possible to increase water quality, minimize quantity of runoff, and increase groundwater recharge. Maintain wetland headwaters and avoid the alteration of surface or subsurface drainage patterns that would eliminate, reduce, or severely alter the frequency and volume of water entering wetland areas.

Revise development regulations to require the following factors to be addressed in development and redevelopment proposals:

• Preservation of existing natural resources, such as wooded areas, habitat areas, and floodplains.
• Utilization of natural treatments and methods to stabilize or rehabilitate stream and river banks as a means to preserve downstream habitats.
• Integration of a variety of native or compatible non-native, non-invasive plant species.
• Mitigation of impacts of development on habitat, wildlife corridors, riparian and littoral areas, and water quality, through actions such as restoration or re-vegetation of disturbed natural areas and replacement of trees/habitat on-site or off-site.
• Management of invasive plant and animal species.
• Management and maintenance of natural areas, common areas and drainage areas.
• Impact on surface and groundwater supply.
• Impact on water quality caused by land uses and activities.
• Impacts on floodplains, riparian and littoral areas and wetlands and areas with significant landforms.

Modify development and subdivision regulations, and City policies to minimize alteration of natural landforms and native vegetation and maximize retention of distinctive natural features for public and private projects.

Preserve overall landscape character and natural landforms (rolling hills, native vegetation, etc.) to the greatest extent possible.

Increase the amount of biodiversity-rich green space in urban and suburban areas by:

• Integrating vegetation to support biodiversity in parks, gardens, trails, and green roofs. Native vegetation that provides food and habitat for native wildlife such as “micro prairies” and urban forests will have the greatest effect.
• Encouraging optimal mowing practices on large lots that are adjacent to natural features.

Enrich natural biodiversity in agricultural areas by promoting practices that provide food, water, and habitat for wildlife and minimize negative impacts. Strategies to achieve the goal include:

• Working with farmers, rancher, conservationists, sustainable agricultural organizations, and other stakeholders to develop a plan to conserve nature in farming and ranching landscapes.
• Implementing optimal mowing strategies, which include harvesting grasses at a growing height of 10 plus inches; creating early successional habitat with burning, disking, and haying every 3-5 years; mowing from the center of a field outward to allow wildlife to escape the surrounding areas; adding flushing bars to mowing equipment to minimize bird injuries and death; leaving 4-6 inches of stubble after harvest to capture snow and water; harvesting or mowing after first frost to avoid disturbing bird nests and improve grass quality; and leaving portions of fields as standing crops.
• Increasing nesting habitat.
• Adopting best practices for fertilizer and pesticide applications.
• Developing landscape conservation cooperatives.
• Encouraging grassland ranching as an ecologically beneficial alternative to cultivation, particularly practices such as “mob grazing” that mimic natural grazing patterns.
• Promoting ranching of bison, which benefit conservation efforts by dispersing seeds, increasing plant biodiversity, and enhancing groundwater recharge.
• Restoring grassland on previously cultivated landscapes, particularly in buffer zones near natural features.
• Encouraging and supporting agricultural parks that combine recreation and food production and foster appreciation for agricultural heritage.
• Promoting sustainable intensification, which increases production and profitability while providing rich sources of habitat for biodiversity.

Protect and preserve natural resources, by:

• Identifying and mapping valuable natural resources, such as, native prairies.
• Maintaining a comprehensive inventory and assessment of natural resources and critical habitats.
• Identifying opportunities to create an interconnected green infrastructure network throughout and beyond Oklahoma City’s municipal boundaries via existing trail and greenway projects, parks, stream corridors, and natural areas.
• Seeking the voluntary sale of land or dedication of conservation easements on private land that is identified as critical habitat or is necessary to link wildlife corridors.
• Pursuing protection of strategically identified natural areas by placing them in conservation easements or land banks, and reserving them for future use as open space and passive recreational areas.
• Managing invasive plant and animal species.
• Partnering with applicable State agencies and non-profit entities.

Strive to preserve natural open spaces, including native prairies, and re-plant native vegetation to take advantage of their drought tolerance and deep root structures that slow and adsorb stormwater runoff and reduce erosion by anchoring the soil.

Identify and protect critical habitats for state and federally listed threatened or endangered species.

Establish strategies, procedures and policies that prevent degradation or loss of critical habitat and sensitive areas, such as Cross Timbers, upland forests, wetlands, wildlife corridors, groundwater recharge zones, and riparian areas. Protection methods should ensure that placement of lots, alignment of roads, and installation of structures and infrastructure minimize disturbance of the environmentally sensitive areas using tools such as:

• Directing development to appropriate locations;
• Greenbelt preservation;
• Assurance of no development in protected open space;
• Clustering / conservation subdivisions;
• Pervious surface treatments;
• Density transfers; and/or
• Conservation easements.

Ensure that strategies, procedures, and policies incorporate principles of connectivity, minimal fragmentation, representativeness, and heterogeneity.

Using performance standards related to flow quantity, quality, and pattern, modify development regulations, codes, and policies to support the use of green infrastructure/low impact development techniques to mimic natural systems for developments within aquifer recharge zones with moderate or high vulnerability or in areas where streams and riparian areas have been channelized or developed (primarily in the Downtown, UH, and UM LUTAs). Low impact development techniques include but are not limited to:

• Onsite treating or filtering of stormwater contaminants.
• Discharging run-off as sheet-flow after passing through grassy or vegetated open space areas, rather than discharging run-off through concentrated outfalls.
• Creating attractive open space amenities that double as stormwater detention, retention, and / or filtering systems.
• Utilizing pervious pavement, pavers, or asphalt in appropriate locations (i.e. sidewalks, parking spaces, trails, patios, etc.).
• Utilizing planters (at grade or raised), vegetated landscape strips adjacent to roads and parking areas, and alternative curbing designs (allowing stormwater to easily move from impervious areas to pervious areas), to encourage stormwater infiltration and temporary detention.
• Rain Gardens
• Bioswales
• Green streets and alleys
• Green roofs
• Rooftop collection
• Underground detention
• Increased tree canopy preservation/tree planting
• Land/open space conservation
• Cluster development

Establish development regulations to help protect Oklahoma City’s water resources through standards that:

• Require buffers, setbacks, and vegetation conservation requirements to protect riparian and littoral zones and filter waterborne pollutants from development activities and storm water runoff. Buffer widths should be based on water quality function and wildlife habitat needs.
• Encourage natural drainage systems and methods for onsite infiltration and onsite sediment retention.
• Require new developments to maintain or decrease the site’s pre-development runoff rate.
• Allow low-impact development design features such as pervious pavement, rain gardens, landscaped parkways, and alternative curbing designs.
• Reduce the amount of impervious surfaces allowed in buffer zones around Environmentally Sensitive Areas.
• Restore watershed features such as forest, wetlands, and natural stream channels.

Revise the landscape ordinance to include the following:

• Define terms such as invasive species, exotic/non-native species, and native/indigenous species
• Require removal of invasive species from existing sites, and prohibit such species from being planted or maintained in new development.
• Provide a reference list of native plants and drought-tolerant plants.
• Provide incentives for using native and drought-tolerant plants and disincentives for using high-water plants and turf grass.
• Establish requirements for using design practices that minimize the need for supplemental irrigation.

Enhance the City’s ability to improve the appearance of existing parks through the following:

• Targeted cleanup and beautification program;
• Seek sponsors to donate funds to improve park signage and lighting;
• Litter and graffiti abatement program.

Enhance public park design standards to allow for public art and innovative design solutions regarding stormwater management, use of native vegetation, open space, and play areas.

Explore the use of artificial turf, alternative materials and or other types of ground covers that do not require heavy maintenance or frequent mowing.

Replace existing high-maintenance, high-water plant material with attractive native plants.

Study the feasibility of allowing community gardens in some park areas and create a community garden pilot program.

Utilize existing natural streams as amenities in public parks, and regularly monitor and maintain stream banks for safety of park users.

Protect the health of park visitors by utilizing the most environmentally friendly least toxic means available of reducing weeds and other pests to acceptable levels.