Kendall - Whittier
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KENDALL - WHITTIER Neighborhood Masterplan Planning & Design Team Urbantech, Inc. Fox Architects LandPlan Consultants May 1991 For the Tulsa Development Authority In cooperation with The Tulsa Metropolitan Area Planning Commission (TMAPC) & INCOG KENDALL - WHITTIER NEIGHBORHOOD MASTERPLAN 1991 "The preparation of the plan was funded in part through monies raised by the neighborhood itself including, but not limited to, the Kendall - Whittier Neighborhood Association and the Kendall - Whittier Business Development Association". Prepared for the Tulsa Development Authority in cooperation with the Tulsa Metropolitan Area Planning Commission (TMAPC) and INCOG Revised 4-04-91 (Retyped 11-14-2006) 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Kendall - Whittier Plan........................................................................................................1 2. Sub Area Plans...................................................................................................................13 3. Whittier Square..................................................................................................................36 4. Appropriate Retail..............................................................................................................43 5. Proposed Zoning................................................................................................................46 6. Appendices Appendix A - Kendall - Whittier Neighborhood Survey Results......................................52 Appendix B - School/Park/TU Campus Acquisitions.......................................................58 Appendix C - Neighborhood Redevelopment Projects.....................................................60 Appendix D - The Planning Process.................................................................................63 3 THE KENDALL - WHITTIER PLAN During the 1920s and 1930s the Kendall - Whittier area was at the eastern edge of Tulsa along with the University of Tulsa. It had its own "downtown" business center located along Lewis Avenue between Third and Archer Streets. Since then, Tulsa has grown far to the east and southeast. The neighborhood and its people have aged. Retail, industrial enterprises, and major highways have encroached on its formerly quiet residential streets. Real estate entrepreneurs placed higher density apartments where houses once stood. Aging, the transition of land use in the area, and an economic downturn in the region combined to cause considerable physical and social deterioration beginning in the late 1970s. The area suffered from an alarming crime rate (primarily prostitution and drug related) such that the neighborhood began a very effective law enforcement advocacy during the late 1980s. In 1989 the University, Church, and business elements of the neighborhood banded together to do what had never been done before in Tulsa. They "anted up" 50 percent of what it would cost to produce a neighborhood plan and challenged the city to match it. The city did match the funds and this plan is one of the results. The Plan Area The concept was to focus on the Whittier Square area (Primary Study Area) with general neighborhood planning (Secondary Planning Area) happening in an area bounded by Archer, Delaware, 11th Street, and Utica Avenue. Ultimately, the area was expanded eastward to Harvard during the organizational meetings as the need for other focus studies such as for a park and magnet school site became apparent. The resultant Primary and Plan Areas are shown on the following map. (Kendall - Whittier Plan Area). Goals of the Plan The neighborhood was developed in the 1920's and added to as late as the 1940's and 1950's when later parts of the Daniels Addition were built. Throughout the entire period the University of Tulsa was expanding and during the 1960's small apartment complexes were built to the west of the campus for students and other new residents. During the economic downturn of the 1980's, apartment occupancy and rents fell throughout the city and older marginal areas such as Kendall - Whittier became less competitive and fell victim to more transient residents and the poor. These new residents fed a perception of neighborhood decline which became fact because owner occupancy and reinvestment were discouraged. More modern and suburban retail centers drew business away from Whittier Square which then began to lease to more marginal retail and 4 KENDALL - WHITTIER PLAN AREA MAP 5 adult entertainment businesses. The schools in the area aged and student populations dropped. Crime, primarily drugs and prostitution, became rampant and further destabilized the neighborhood. Building aging, a lack of maintenance and depressed rental incomes caused considerable visual and structural blight. Yet the neighborhood is a key midtown residential and business area with significant pockets of good housing and important institutions such as Hillcrest Hospital and the University of Tulsa. The goals of the plan then include: 1. Revitalize the retail center at Whittier Square. 2. Remove substandard housing stock and encourage renovation and residential maintenance by owner occupants. 3. Improve affordable rental housing opportunities. 4. Implement the Elm and Coal Creek Drainage plans and solve neighborhood flooding problems. 5. Develop an adequate new neighborhood park. 6. Develop a new school as a result of merging three aging facilities (Lincoln, Whittier and Kendall Schools). This project should be given top priority because it, in conjunction with the new park, will do more for the regeneration of the neighborhood than all other projects combined. 7. Accommodate, in an orderly fashion, the growth of the University of Tulsa campus. 8. Encourage the continuation and growth of employment in the area. 9. Continue and enhance the efforts to deter crime in the area. 10. Remove blight, improve the neighborhood's landscaping, and concentrate on making the outside areas accessible to the large population of the aging and handicapped. 11. Encourage public entities to locate, expand, or to commit to remain in the Whittier Square business center including: A. The U.S. Post Office B. The City County Library C. State and Local Social Service Agencies D. Tulsa Police and Fire (Substations) 6 Observations on Existing Conditions Although the Plan observes a functional block of urban area (the Kendall - Whittier Neighborhood) as a whole, other plans exist or are in the process of being developed which address specific functions which also impact the neighborhood, or are impacted by it. They include: 1. The University of Tulsa Master Plan (incorporated into the Kendall - Whittier Plan). 2. The Hillcrest Hospital Development Plan (boarders southern edge of Kendall - Whittier along 11th Street). 3. City of Tulsa Stormwater Management Plans - Master Drainage Plan for Coal Creek (affects the eastern half of the Kendall - Whittier Area). 4. City of Tulsa Stormwater Management Plans - Master Drainage Plan for Elm Creek (affects the western half of the Kendall - Whittier Area). 5. City of Tulsa Major Street and Highway Plan (affects street sizes, designations, and ability to change them). 6. City of Tulsa, District 4 Plan (General Land Use Plan for a wider environment which includes the Kendall - Whittier Area). 7. Various plans being formulated by Tulsa Public Schools for closing, consolidation, and new facilities. 8. Various City Department Master Plans such as Parks, and Police and Fire. 9. Plans of County Agencies such as the City-County Library. 10. Plans of the Federal Government such as for the Whittier Square Post Office facility. 11. The Route 66 Corridor Study (study being started which affects the 11th Street corridor). Existing Conditions - Structural The structural conditions survey done by the Tulsa Urban Development Department clearly shows a broad based deterioration which can be attributed to age as well as conversion of use and neglect. There are three significant areas of structures which should be removed and they are in the midst of other structures which are in need of repair. Urban Renewal designation for these areas is appropriate and should be considered, as well as other mechanisms and funding 7 sources available to assist in arresting deterioration and blight, and promoting revitalization of these areas and the neighborhood as a whole. 1. Northwest Neighborhood (Bounded on the north by the Crosstown Expressway (Martin Luther King), on the east by Gillette, on the south by Second Street, and on the west by Victor). This is a pocket of old wood siding bungalows which are being "squeezed" by commercial and industrial uses on the area's edges. Many of the houses have gone to rental, have been abandoned, or have been partially burned. 2. Western Neighborhood (Bounded by Victor on the west, Third Street on the north, Xanthus on the east, and Sixth Street on the south). This area is similar in problems and character to its neighbor to the north (Northwest). It would probably be the same area, but for the commercial corridor separating the two (Third Street). 3. Central Apartment Area (Bounded on the north by Fourth Place, on the east by Delaware, on the south by Tenth Street, and on the west by Lewis). This area has become an unfortunate mix of higher density apartments on small lots and older frame single family residences which often suffer from neglect. The area has high incidences of transient renters, lender owned real estate, and crime. Conversely, there are also pockets of development which have been maintained or