Norman up for 'Strongest Town' in North America

Mar. 13—The City of Norman is competing with 15 communities throughout North America for the title of "Strongest Town."

Strong Towns, founded in 2008, is a nonprofit that advocates for sustainable and financially resilient communities, emphasizing a bottom-up approach to urban development.

According to a release, the award will spotlight a city's progress toward safety, financial resiliency, housing, and transportation.

To win, Norman has to earn votes from the public in what is called a "March Madness of Urbanism."

At this point, Norman has made it through the first round and is now in the Sweet Sixteen where it is up against Davis, California.

Voting for the second round closes on Thursday at noon. Anyone can vote at strongesttown.com.

Other contenders include Selma, North Carolina; Groveland, Florida; Medicine Hat, Alberta; New Ulm, Minnesota; Asheville, North Carolina; Edmonton, Alberta; Bloomington, Illinois; Maumee, Ohio; Ukiah, California; Norfolk, Nebraska; Eureka Springs, Arkansas; Rutherfordton, North Carolina; Lawrence, Kansas; and Grand Rapids, Michigan.

In April, the grand champion will be announced.

Matt Peacock, Ward 8 councilor and architect, filed the application on behalf of Norman.

"I've always had a passion for the Main Street area and core of cities, and not just in Norman," Peacock said. "I started reading about Strong Towns about a decade ago, it just really spoke to me. How do we reprioritize downtown's and core areas and not have them be forgotten at the expense of a suburb?"

He said Norman has a major parking problem in the city — not that there isn't enough of it, but that there is too much.

"We have a thousand-space parking lot next to another thousand-space parking lot that are only ever 10% full," he said, referring to a number of shopping areas, including University Town Center.

He said it doesn't make sense for city codes to require so much parking when businesses share adjacent lots, yet since the 1950s, cities have required developers to build these lots.

Peacock garnered the attention of Strong Towns when he changed one word in the city's parking ordinance — "required" to "recommended."

"Oklahoma is the only state in the country funded entirely by sales tax," Peacock told The Transcript.

He said large parking lots make it difficult for shoppers to walk from one store to the next, which results in lost revenue.

Peacock said the move put Norman in the running for North America's Strongest Town.

"That's really the reason why we're in the running this year. It's because we really worked some magic on the code, and gave other cities a playbook on how to make changes without a lot of political fervor and uprisings from the community," Peacock said.

Larry Heikkila, Norman mayor, said changing the parking lot ordinance will help Norman residents to experience a better quality of life.

"I am thrilled about that effort because we are trying to work along those lines and make Norman a better town," Heikkila said. "Matt Peacock and that group have really put in a lot of work. It will be fun not just to be a contender, but a winner."

Peacock said it is important to develop cities within their cores, and not just on the periphery.

"If you talk to any developer, they'll say, 'I never want to do a project in the core. It's too complicated. It's too expensive,'" Peacock said. "Strong Towns methodologies have cracked the code on how to do light touch infill projects that embrace the character of a neighborhood and don't overpower it."

He said there are drawbacks to doing projects on bare land on the outskirts.

"They have no water or sewer running through it, and no roads or electrical services. For every new mile of roadway, the City of Norman is on the hook for it, not the developers," he said. "This illusion is that you can build your way to prosperity is just not true. The more you build, the more you have obligations for."

He said strong towns are walkable and dense.

"Downtown is the one place in the city where you can live without a car," He said. "You could live there and walk to everything you need. You could walk to the store, work, and even to the RTA line and commute up to Oklahoma City on a train."

Brian King covers education and politics for The Transcript. Reach him at bking@normantranscript.com.