Chapter 36 of the Code of the City of Norman contains the Zoning Ordinance. This document regulates the type of development that can occur within specific locations in the City of Norman. The current Zoning Ordinance was adopted by City Council in 1954. While the basic framework of the ordinance remains the same, it has been amended many times. Over the years, the number of zoning districts has expanded from 9 to 33. Zoning Code

Zoning Districts

Five of the zoning districts are overlay districts: Flood Hazard, Airport Height, Historic District, Northern Community Separator, Porter Corridor Zoning Overlay District (PCZOD), and Central Norman Zoning Overlay Zone (CNZOD). While overlay districts do not change the primary zoning of a property, they do place additional regulations on specific properties to implement location based policies: to mitigate hazards in the case of the Flood Hazard and the Airport Height Districts, to maintain unique characteristics of place deemed valuable by the community in the case of the Historic District, or to maintain a buffer between areas designated as needing separation in the case of the Northern Community Separator and the PCZOD. These districts are delineated on the interactive map of the current zoning districts with the exception of the Airport Height District. The Airport Height District is the difference between the ground elevation and a height that will interfere with airport operations and is calculated when a building, which has the potential to protrude into designated flight space, is proposed.
 

Center City Form Based Code

A portion of the city is now covered by the Center City Form Based Code. A form based code is a land development regulation that fosters predictable built results and a high-quality public realm by using physical form as the organizing principle for the code.

 

Zoning Amendment

Parcels of land may be moved from one zoning district to another at the request of the property’s owner with the recommendation of the Planning Commission and the approval of City Council. For instructions about how to file for a zoning amendment see the General Filing page. If the requested use of the property being rezoned is different than the use defined as appropriate for the area by the Norman 2025 Land Use and Transportation Plan (Norman Plan 2025), the land use plan must be amended as well.