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Capitol-Medical Center Improvement and Zoning Commission

The Capitol-Medical Center Improvement and Zoning Commission is an 11-member body created to develop and maintain a comprehensive land use plan for the orderly development of the district within and surrounding the State Capitol Complex and the OU Medical Center.

Mission

To promote the general welfare of the State of Oklahoma and private property owners by providing effective direction for the orderly development of the Capitol-Medical Center Improvement and Zoning District through the adoption, maintenance and equitable administration of a comprehensive plan, land use controls, building and zoning regulations with accepted planning principles.

Vision

To see the Capitol-Medical Center District become a fully functioning, mixed-use urban community which supports growth of viable attractive neighborhoods while maximizing the economic development strength of the Oklahoma Health Center, the cultural/political assets of the Capitol and other resources.

General Information

A fixture of state government since the Legislature created its predecessor to develop a portion of rural Oklahoma City to build a new Capitol, The Capitol-Medical Center Improvement and Zoning Commission is an eleven-member body created to develop and maintain a comprehensive land use plan for the orderly development of the district within and surrounding the State Capitol Complex and the Oklahoma University Medical Center (73 O. S., § 82.1 et seq.) The commission directly supervises approximately 950 acres and 20 miles of roadway within district boundaries on behalf of the State. In addition to government and health science center complexes, the district includes historic preservation, single and multiple family residential, office, commercial/retail, and industrial uses.

The master plan for the district coordinates physical development to maximize the potential of, and permit the district the opportunity to grow with optimum benefit to the state property owners and residents of the district. The commission promulgates zoning regulations to support the dictates of the master plan. The commission coordinates district and sub-district development through use of contemporary planning principles and zoning controls. Effective communication and promotion of policies and goals encourage appropriate land use throughout the district and ensure conservation of existing buildings, land and developments values.

The commission has exclusive authority over the zoning and regulation of the utilization of all property in the district. The commission also has the authority to approve or disapprove the location and design of any improvements upon land within the district. In accordance with enabling legislation, no planning or zoning commission or any subdivision of the state thereafter shall have any authority or jurisdiction within the area. The commission is empowered to institute and defend litigation to enforce its rules, regulations, decisions, and orders. The commission meets monthly to review land use permits for compliance with the adopted master plan and established zoning regulations for the district.

Legal Foundations

In 1975, the State Legislature established the Capitol-Medical Center Improvement and Zoning Commission to provide for:

  • Developing the area around the State Capitol and the Oklahoma Health Center.
  • Developing and maintaining a comprehensive master plan.
  • Coordinating the land use within the district.
  • Developing, implementing and enforcing district zoning regulations.

The commission continues to be funded directly by the State of Oklahoma and operates under the control of the Oklahoma state government. Title 73, Section 83 creates the boundaries of the district.

Title 73, Section 83.1

  • Empowers the commission with exclusive authority over zoning and regulation of the utilization of property within the district.
  • Instructs it to defend and enforce its rules, regulations, decisions and orders.
  • Establishes the membership as a diverse group representing all the elements within the district.
  • Title 73, Section 83.3 mandates the following additional responsibilities:
    • Approve location and design of improvements.
    • Conserve natural resources.
    • Ensure efficient expenditure of public funds.
    • Promote safety, convenience and prosperity.
    • Formulate zoning regulations relative to location, character and extent of transportation routes, utilities, buildings, parks and parkways.

Citizens Advisory Committee

  • Created by the Legislature to serve in an advisory role to the commission to represent the citizens of the district.
  • Membership consists of no less than 10 and no more than 15 residents or property owners within the district.
  • Meetings are held the second Thursday of the month at 7 p.m.
  • Members appointed by commission for one-year terms.

Historic Preservation and Landmark Board of Review

  • Created by the commission to maintain information about the area and items of historical significance, to advise owners in historical areas and to prepare findings-of-fact. They also review certificates of appropriateness, rezoning requests and conditional use permits and forward their recommendations to the commission.
  • Members are appointed by the commission for three-year terms.
  • Membership consists of one member each: registered architect, licensed real estate broker, historian, city planner or landscape architect, attorney, chairman of Historical Preservation and Landmark Commission of the City of Oklahoma City or his designee; two members shall be residents or own property in a designated historic district or neighborhood on the U.S. Department of Interior's National Register of Historic Places within the boundaries of the Capitol-Medical Center Improvement and Zoning District; Capitol-Medical Center Improvement and Zoning Commission member serving as ex-officio member of the board.
  • Meetings are conducted the first Thursday of each month at 4 p.m. or meets on call.

Membership

Nathan Wald
Chair

Paul Manzelli
President of The University of Oklahoma
Designee

Taylor Henderson
Director of the Transportation
Commission Designee

Brian Downs
House Speaker Designee

Tiana Douglas
Senate President Pro Tempore Appointee

Vacant
House Speaker Designee

Hillary Farrell
Senate President Pro Tempore Appointee

Anderson Dark
Governor Appointee

Phoebe Barber
Governor Appointee

Janis Powers
Chair of the Planning Commission of
Oklahoma City Designee

Travis Mason
Chair of the Long-Range Capital Planning
Commission Designee

Laura Stone
Chair, Resident or owns property in Capitol-Medical Center Improvement and Zoning District

Mike Mays
Registered Architect

Carla Splaingard
Licensed Real Estate Broker

Kassy Malone
City Planner or Landscape Architect

Camal Pennington
Attorney

Stephanie Barbour-Cooper
Historian

Susan McCalmont
Chair of the Historical Preservation and Landmark Commission of the City of Oklahoma City or designee

Janis Powers
Ex-officio member of the Capitol-Medical Center Improvement and Zoning Commission

Rachel Smith-Streck
Resident or owns property in Capitol-Medical Center Improvement and Zoning District

Meetings

Historical Preservation and Landmark Board of Review

Date Time Location Documents
Jan. 4, 2024 4 p.m. EGID Central Conference Room, 303 Will Rogers Building, 2401 N. Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City
Jan. 10, 2024 4 p.m. EGID Central Conference Room, 303 Will Rogers Building, 2401 N. Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City
Feb. 1, 2024 4 p.m. EGID Central Conference Room, 303 Will Rogers Building, 2401 N. Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City
March 7, 2024 4 p.m. EGID Central Conference Room, 303 Will Rogers Building, 2401 N. Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City
March 27, 2024 4 p.m. EGID Central Conference Room, 303 Will Rogers Building, 2401 N. Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City
April 4, 2024 4 p.m. EGID Central Conference Room, 303 Will Rogers Building, 2401 N. Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City
May 2, 2024 4 p.m. EGID Central Conference Room, 303 Will Rogers Building, 2401 N. Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City
June 6, 2024 4 p.m. EGID Central Conference Room, 303 Will Rogers Building, 2401 N. Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City
July 1, 2024 4 p.m. EGID Central Conference Room, 303 Will Rogers Building, 2401 N. Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City
Aug. 1, 2024 4 p.m. EGID Central Conference Room, 303 Will Rogers Building, 2401 N. Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City  
Sept. 5, 2024 4 p.m. EGID Central Conference Room, 303 Will Rogers Building, 2401 N. Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City  
Oct. 3, 2024 4 p.m. EGID Central Conference Room, 303 Will Rogers Building, 2401 N. Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City  
Nov. 7, 2024 4 p.m. EGID Central Conference Room, 303 Will Rogers Building, 2401 N. Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City  
1Dec. 5, 2024 4 p.m. EGID Central Conference Room, 303 Will Rogers Building, 2401 N. Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City  

Citizens Advisory Committee

Date TIME Location documents
Jan. 11, 2024 7 p.m. EGID Central Conference Room, Rm. 303, Will Rogers Building, 2401 N. Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City, OK 73105
Feb. 8, 2024 7 p.m. EGID Central Conference Room, Rm. 303, Will Rogers Building, 2401 N. Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City, OK 73105
Mar. 14, 2024 7 p.m. EGID Central Conference Room, Rm. 303, Will Rogers Building, 2401 N. Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City, OK 73105
Mar. 21, 2024 - Special Meeting 7 p.m. EGID Central Conference Room, Rm. 303, Will Rogers Building, 2401 N. Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City, OK 73105  
Apr. 11, 2024 7 p.m. EGID Central Conference Room, Rm. 303, Will Rogers Building, 2401 N. Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City, OK 73105  
May 9, 2024 7 p.m. EGID Central Conference Room, Rm. 303, Will Rogers Building, 2401 N. Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City, OK 73105
June 13, 2024 7 p.m. EGID Central Conference Room, Rm. 303, Will Rogers Building, 2401 N. Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City, OK 73105
July 11, 2024 7 p.m. EGID Central Conference Room, Rm. 303, Will Rogers Building, 2401 N. Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City, OK 73105
Aug. 8, 2024 7 p.m. EGID Central Conference Room, Rm. 303, Will Rogers Building, 2401 N. Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City, OK 73105
Sept. 12, 2024 7 p.m. EGID Central Conference Room, Rm. 303, Will Rogers Building, 2401 N. Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City, OK 73105  
Oct. 10, 2024 7 p.m. EGID Central Conference Room, Rm. 303, Will Rogers Building, 2401 N. Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City, OK 73105  
Nov. 14, 2024 7 p.m. EGID Central Conference Room, Rm. 303, Will Rogers Building, 2401 N. Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City, OK 73105  
Dec. 12, 2024 7 p.m. EGID Central Conference Room, Rm. 303, Will Rogers Building, 2401 N. Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City, OK 73105  

Capitol-Medical Center Improvement and Zoning Commission

Application Deadlines

Historic Preservation Review/ Certificate of Appropriateness

The following applications shall be submitted twenty-one (21) days prior to the Historical Preservation and Landmark Board of Review meeting at which the application will be heard:

2024 Deadlines

Capitol-Medical Center Improvement & Zoning Commission

The following applications must be submitted thirty-five (35) days prior to the Capitol-Medical Center Improvement & Zoning Commission meeting at which the application will be heard:

2024 Deadlines

Historic Preservation

As a part of its mission, the Capitol-Medical Center Improvement and Zoning Commission works to preserve historical, architectural and archaeological resources located in the district. To date, the commission has designated three historic districts and one historical landmark:

Any exterior work on properties or sites located within these districts, zoned either Historic Preservation or Historic Landmark, requires a Certificate of Appropriateness to be issued by the commission’s Historical Preservation and Landmark Board of Review or commission staff. Review of projects is subject to the commission’s zoning rules (Oklahoma Administrative Rules, Title 120, Chapter 10) and the commission’s Historic Preservation Standards and Guidelines.

If you are considering a project within a historic preservation district, please review the Historic Preservation Standards and Guidelines and the Application for Historic Preservation Review. For application deadlines and meeting dates, please check the application deadline schedule under Application Deadlines tab.

The Capitol-Lincoln Terrace Historic District was established by the commission in 1974. The following is excerpted from the district’s 1976 nomination to the National Register of Historic Places:

In fact as well as in popular fancy, Oklahoma and oil are one ... a new state and a new industry grown up together. And the Capitol-Lincoln Terrace Historic Preservation District, a compact collection of 153 fine residences standing virtually within the shadow of the state capitol itself, is an eminently fitting symbol of this unique relationship.

Into the breech moved John J. Culbertson, who had donated part of the land on which the Capitol was built. Within a year he had opened up to homebuilders a section southeast of the Capitol that was to become Lincoln Terrace. Before 1918 had ended the first two homes had been constructed. Some 75 were built in the 1920s. Most of the others in the preservation district were erected in the 1930s.

Initial impetus for development came, of course, from the political sector, but oil was a strong contributing factor. In 1920, Oklahoma ranked first in oil production in the United States. Lincoln Terrace soon became the place to live for political leaders, newly rich oilmen, and other notables real and would-be in the young state. When the ITIO-Foster No. 1 blew in on Dec. 4, 1928 some five miles to the south, Oklahoma City changed from capital city of an oil producing state to an oil capital in its own right. The Oklahoma City Field with single wells capable of producing up to 60,000 barrels a day was one of the nation's significant discoveries.

Before long, the procession of drilling rigs marched north and west to engulf the city's east side and the Capitol complex itself. When the city council refused to include state-owned land within authorized drilling zones, then Gov. E.W. Marland, himself an oilman, placed the area under martial law and issued drilling permits in defiance of the city government. Oil derricks, tanks, and miscellaneous drilling equipment soon dotted the state property ... including one rig in the garden of the Governor's Mansion.

This frenzied activity left an indelible stamp on the Capitol-Lincoln Terrace district. Not only was the Lincoln Boulevard esplanade along the west edge of the district an actual working oil field (it contains several producing wells to this day), but the preservation district itself soon acquired a disproportionate number of homeowners who were petroleum industry leaders. A recently compiled list shows at least 32 important Oklahoma oilmen who had or still have homes in Lincoln Terrace.

Included are three former state governors Roy J. Turner, Johnston Murray, and Robert S. Kerr. Other prominent figures to live in the area include General W.S. Key, commander of the 45th Infantry Division in World War II; Orel Busby, justice of the State Supreme Court; George Shirk, former Oklahoma City mayor and long-time president of the Oklahoma Historical Society; Moss Patterson, aviation pioneer; Bishop Thomas Casady, early-day Episcopalian leader; and Leslie Fain, for whose wife globe-circling aviator Wiley Post named his "Winnie Mae” airplane. ...

… A secondary factor in preserving the district is the continuing influence of the city's growing medical complex immediately to the south. University Hospital, teaching facility of the University of Oklahoma Medical School, was dedicated in 1919. From the first, many of the state's best known physicians were residents of the historic district. As the complex grew into the present Health Sciences Center, more doctors, medical personnel, and Center agencies have moved into the district's fine houses.

The Lincoln Terrace East Historic District was established by the commission in 2018. The following is excerpted from the district’s 2004 nomination to the National Register of Historic Places:

The Lincoln Terrace East Historic District is comprised of buildings, mostly homes, built primarily in Period Revival styles such as Tudor Revival, Colonial Revival, Prairie School, Mission Revival, and Italian Renaissance Revival styles. The vast majority of buildings are single story, domestic buildings that have brick or mixed-masonry walls, prominent chimneys, engaged porches, and multiple gables. While many of the buildings look similar it is clear upon inspection that no two are alike. They differ considerably in detail (i.e. brick color, level of ornamentation, orientation, gable and/or chimney placement). The buildings are similar in design and feel to those in the Capitol-Lincoln Terrace Historic District, but much smaller in scale. Like the Capitol-Lincoln Terrace Historic District to the west, Lincoln Terrace East has remained relatively undisturbed, and retained the character, setting, and feeling that it originally embodied when initially developed. ...

The Lincoln Terrace East Historic District is significant as a reflection of the residential development of Oklahoma City during the period from 1925 to 1942. This is communicated through the spatial layout of the neighborhood and the character of the middle class homes that dominate it. The district is a distinctive entity marked by street patterns, setbacks, house sizes and a unity of design.

The Wilson-Harn Historic District was established by the commission in 1978. Originally established as Classen’s North Highland Parked, and now a part of the Lincoln Terrace neighborhood, the Wilson-Harn Historic District was named after William Freemont Harn, original homesteader to the area, and his philanthropist niece, Florence Wilson. The addition was developed by Anton Classen, an early Oklahoma City real estate baron and civic leader. During the 1920s and 1930s, Wilson-Harn was home to several prominent state and national figures, including:

Johnston Murray – the 14th governor of Oklahoma (1951-1955) and son of Gov. “Alfalfa Bill” Murray (421 N.E. 15th St.).

Wirt Franklin – a state and nationally known figure in the oil industry who helped found the Independent Petroleum Association of America and sought the imposition of tariffs on foreign-produced oil in order to protect Oklahoma and national oil industries (1515 N. Lincoln Boulevard).

Jewell Hicks – an architect with the architectural firm Layton, Hicks and Forsythe, who is credited with designing the State Capitol, the Governor’s Mansion and many other significant buildings across the state (400 N.E. 14th St.).

James Brazell – a former lumber and oil businessman who is credited with owning the first automobile in Oklahoma, and was, at one time, the oldest licensed pilot in the state (440 N.E. 14th St.).

The district contains homes of many architectural styles that were prominent from the 1890s to 1920s, including Prairie, Georgian Revival, Neoclassical, Federal and Spanish Revival.

The Maywood Presbyterian Church was designated a historical landmark by the commission in 1986. The site of the Maywood Presbyterian Church is located in the Maywood addition, which was platted in 1893 by Capt. David F. Stiles and James Geary. Stiles was well-known as the provost marshal that resided over Oklahoma Station during the land run of April 1889. Geary opened the first bank in Oklahoma City in 1889. The church is sited adjacent to Stiles Park, the first park in Oklahoma City.

The Maywood Presbyterian Church, which now houses the Oklahoma Department of Commerce, was completed in 1907, the year of statehood, and was the first permanent church structure erected in Oklahoma City. The cornerstone of the church was laid on Nov. 24, 1907, eight days after Oklahoma became the 46th state. The church was constructed by two congregations, the Cumberland and Presbyterian branches of the Presbyterian Church, whose denominations had split over differences arising during the Civil War.

The newly-formed congregation remained in the Maywood Presbyterian Church until Christmas of1946. Two other congregations called the church home from 1946-1977, when the church became vacant. In 1980, the church was condemned by the City of Oklahoma City, transferred to the Oklahoma City Urban Renewal Authority, and then sold to a company that renovated the church and constructed an addition to be used for offices.

Architecturally, the church has elements of both Romanesque (round, arched windows) and Italian Renaissance (“quoins” or dressed stones at the corners laid so that faces are alternately large and small). Initially, the church was surrounded by stately homes and commercial buildings, but all original construction in the Maywood addition was demolished during the Urban Renewal era to make way for the Centennial Expressway and a modern office park.

Zoning Resources

All zoning inquiries and requests should be sent to the commission using the contact information below.

For zoning information outside of the district, please refer to the City of Oklahoma City’s Zoning Map.

If you live in an unincorporated area of Oklahoma, please contact your county government offices for zoning assistance.

Resources

Location

Will Rogers Memorial Office Building
2401 N. Lincoln Blvd., Suite 126
The Capitol-Medical Center Improvement and Zoning Commission
Oklahoma City, OK 73105

Contact

Phone: 405-522-0440
Fax: 405-522-0051
Email: beverly.hicks@omes.ok.gov

Last Modified on Aug 19, 2024