Residential construction value sees smallest growth as non-residential has largest jump in five years

Aug. 13—Non-residential construction growth accounts for most of Norman's jump to a five-year high in total annual value, a city staff presentation to the Norman Planning Commission showed Thursday.

Staff updated the commission on the 2025 Land Use and Transportation Plan, a 2004 document that outlines a long term vision for the future development of Norman and provides both a guideline for growth and a basis for managing it. The 2025 plan iteration is the successor to the 2020 plan, adopted in 1997.

City staff provide an annual report to assess the pace of development. Norman Planning Director Jane Hudson gave the annual development update with data from calendar year 2021 Thursday.

Construction value trends in Norman saw the largest increase in the past five years, largely due to the non-residential category.

The city saw a $500,000 increase in residential construction value from 2020 to 2021, while experiencing a $221 million increase in non-residential construction. The residential value was the smallest year-over-year growth in the last five years, according to the presentation.

Norman Regional's bond projects accounted for over $192 million of the 2021 commercial construction, which is included in the non-residential category.

Total construction value for 2021 was $560.5 million, an increase of $210.1 million compared to 2020.

Calendar year data for new residential units by type shows 559 single family homes were permitted in 2021. The prediction in the 2025 plan anticipated 353 units.

The 764 total new residential units — a number that includes single family, duplex and multifamily — shows Norman outpaced the 2021 prediction made in 2004 by 285 units.

Norman has a five-year average of 456 single-family units and 628 total new residential units.

Residential units in the current urban service and growth area saw 696 additions, which Hudson said give reason for optimism.

"It indicates we've got the areas developing in the current urban service area where we've already got services available for growth," Hudson said.

Wards 1 through 8 saw 41, zero, five, 18, 131, 218, 83 and 63 new single-family units in 2021, respectively. Ward 4 added 31 multifamily units, and Ward 7 added 168.

City staff noted in the update that the comprehensive plan needs an update in the next year, as it's "fast approaching the end of its planning horizon." The last update was 18 years ago.

Hudson said a request for proposal regarding an update is in the works.

"We had a meeting (Thursday) and a couple last week, so we're working on updating that RFP to get that out and hopefully get started really soon," Hudson said.

The recommendation passed unanimously to move forward to the city.

Sean Rieger, a Norman-based attorney who represents clients in real estate, construction and business matters, said Norman is building under 60% of what city planning experts told the city it needed to support each year.

According to a 2018 study published in the PlanNorman final draft, from 2018 to 2040, Norman requires 23,333 new housing units, which averages out to 1,061 annually. The 2025 plan predicted 594 new units on an annual basis.

The actual five-year average exceeds that at 628 units, but that's still 433 units short of the estimated amount needed to adequately support future growth, according to that PlanNorman final draft.

The PlanNorman draft came before announcements about the University of Oklahoma's move to the Southeastern Conference and plans for an incoming turnpike.

Jeff Elkins covers business, living and community stories for The Transcript. Reach him at jelkins@normantranscript.com or @JeffElkins12 on Twitter.