TDA is dedicated to making economic and community development and redevelopment happen in a way that is informed by the community’s needs and interests. Whether TDA is strategically focused on collaborating with a partner to make something great happen in a particular area, or whether TDA is contacted by a developer who is interested in making something happen with the help of TDA, TDA must look to these plans as the guiding principles on which it chooses to operate. Development of existing plans takes place through an intentional community and stakeholder engagement process which informs the vision and the plan for a particular area.
TDA Five Year Report and Strategic Plan for 2015-2020
TDA’s most recently adopted and followed Five-Year Report and Strategic Plan covered the time period 2015-20.
TDA’s own Strategic Plan update will not take place until TDA receives further guidance from the Mayor’s office on an important strategic economic development alignment effort underway. Mayor G.T. Bynum has formed an Economic and Community Development Coalition (ECDC) that includes the Chairs of a number of Tulsa Authority Boards that play a role in economic and community development. The Mayor’s Office reports each month to the Board of Directors of Tulsa Development Authority on the progress being made by this coalition.
As of the end of the fiscal year 2020, the ECDC has initiated and engaged an outside consulting firm, HR&A Advisors, to evaluate and advise the City of Tulsa on how to unify and unite on strategies, improve operational efficiencies, eliminate duplication and waste, all while maintaining independent financial oversight and review by outside board members. Where the opportunities are and how,
based on best practices from across the country, the City and the various Authority Boards can go about capitalizing on those opportunities is precisely where ECDC hopes to receive insight and help.
The ECDC hopes to complete their work and have a recommended course of action from HR&A Advisors by the end of the calendar year 2020. TDA believes that implementation plans and actions on that recommendation will be initiated in the Spring of 2021. This strategic effort to streamline activities in such a way as to improve outcomes will empower the City of Tulsa, TDA and all of the Authorities to be more impactful in their economic and community development work for all of Tulsa.
Stay tuned for how the ECDC Strategic planning process informs the future strategy that will be put in place in 2021 for TDA.
Other Plans that Impact TDA
In addition to TDA’s own Strategic Plan, TDA executes on its deliverables to the community in accord with a variety of plans in place for that community. The City of Tulsa Planning Office is the number one resource for a list of the current plans that inform TDA’s activities. Whether you are a community member, a developer interested in having a positive impact or a business owner with an interest in locating your business in area where the City is making an investment of time and resources, the starting point are these evolving City plans. TDA’s role is to ensure the Board, staff, Developers and Community are looking at these plans to ensure that all are acting in accord with them.
Current Planning Activity at TDA
Current “planning efforts’ in which TDA is actively involved includes specifically the Unity Heritage Neighborhood Plan.
In early 2019, TDA presented a proposed amendment to the Unity Heritage Neighborhood Plan that would incorporate statutorily required language which would empower TDA to exercise its full powers of an urban renewal authority under the Oklahoma Statutes. Included in those powers would be the power of condemnation through the taking of property using the power of imminent domain. The exercise of this power has statutorily imposed procedures designed to ensure due process is achieved.
The proposed amendment was met with community resistance from North Tulsans who feared the inappropriate use of the power of eminent domain and from the City Council who ultimately tabled the proposed actions to amend. To date, those actions remain tabled while the Tulsa Development Authority together with the assistance and support of the Mayor’s Office formed a new Greenwood-Unity Heritage Citizen’s Advisory Team (GUHCAT) and has been engaging in monthly meetings designed to first educate, inform and lay a common ground of understanding as to the current plans in place for the Greenwood-Unity Heritage area and the value of putting the value of using the full powers of an urban renewal authority when working to transform and overcome generational poverty in a given sector. To view the Unity Heritage Neighborhood Plan Click here. Contact a member of the GUHCAT with questions.
Ultimately by the end of 2020, TDA hopes that the GUHCAT will make a series of recommendations to TDA as to what policies would help counteract the community concerns around topics like declaration of blight, condemnation of property and displacement of longtime residents as an impact of gentrification.
To find out more about the GUHCAT education sessions, visit our Education Page for audio recordings of those meetings, sign-up for our Newsletter, like our Facebook page and follow our Instagram and LinkedIn pages to receive updated information.
