Transcript Staff Writer

A unique project to create student housing with a cozy, single-family neighborhood feel got the nod of the Norman city council on a split vote at Tuesday's meeting.

"It is intended to capture the idea of a neighborhood," said Sean Rieger, attorney for the developer, Capstone Development Company. "We are not an apartment complex."

The Cottages of Norman would be an about 197-unit project, with a bedroom count of about 641, on the north side of Imhoff Road, one-quarter mile east of U.S. Highway 77. The project abuts Crimson Park Apartments and Sooner Mobile Home Park on the west.

Structures are planned to include small individual cottages ranging to multi-unit lodge buildings. It would feature front porches, pedestrian trails throughout, a fitness center, clubhouse and an open area.

Council voted 7-1 in favor of a change in the Norman 2025 Land Use and Transportation Plan from low-density to medium density for 23 of the 33 acres in the project, rezoning from rural agricultural district to planned unit development or PUD for the entire 33-acres of the project.

Ward 2 councilmember Richard Stawicki cast the lone "nay" vote, citing a lack of a transportation plan for the student housing project.

"You are setting up student housing more than a mile from an existing bus loop," Stawicki said. "A transportation option must be provided. ... You understand that I can't just vote for any 'we're working on it' type solution."

Rieger said there had been meetings with the University of Oklahoma, which funds most of the local bus system, but received a response that there would be no extension unless there was more public support.

Developers will contribute to installation of a new traffic signal at Imhoff Road and U.S. 77.

"This project is already in the plans," Rieger said. "They will fund it and Crimson (Park) will too."

Rieger said the project will draw some of the students from the established Norman neighborhoods and alleviate some of the nuisance house problems.

"This gives them their own neighborhood," he said.

Ward 1 councilmember Bob Thompson, whose ward the project will encompass, said he believes the project is a good one and probably the best that could be hoped for in the area.

"This was going to be developed as apartments," Thompson said. "They have answered some of our primary concerns. ... A connection to an open space and a buffer for the neighborhood. I felt I could recommend this neighborhood with probably the best outcome."