The ONE Norman Vision Task Force held a benchmark discussion Wednesday evening to discuss statistics relating to Norman’s job growth, population and income.
Lawrence McKinney, president of Norman’s Economic Development Coalition, and his wife Elizabeth McKinney introduced the discussion by reiterating the task force's vision and strategic plan to improve the quality of life in Norman.
Members present were Mayor Larry Heikkila, Ward 2 Councilmember Lauren Schueler, Ward 7 Councilmember Stephen Tyler Holman, Steering Committee Co-Chairs David Nimmo and Ward 8 Councilmember Matthew Peacock.
Facilitator Craig Knutson, principal at Growing Global LLC, provided the task force with metrics from the U.S. Census Bureau containing a series of benchmarks comparing Norman to other cities of interest: Oklahoma City, Broken Arrow and Edmond.
The first metric introduced found that between 2000 and 2020, Norman grew by 35.5 percent compared to Moore which grew at 57.7 percent and Broken Arrow at 44 percent.
The task force debated whether the growth rate would decline in the future. Members who believed the rate is set to decrease cited Norman's aging infrastructure, difficulty in acquiring home ownership and public schools.
The discussion transitioned into whether OU’s move to the Southeastern Conference would impact population growth and retention of OU students in the state post-graduation.
Evolve Research conducted a survey in 2016 with 300 OU juniors, seniors and graduate students, which found that 3 percent did not plan to move after graduation. Additionally, 55 percent of them said they will move out of state and 14 percent planned to move to the Oklahoma City metro area.
Knutson asked the task force whether diversity was something that should happen naturally or if it's something that should happen strategically. Knutson said Norman is one of the most diverse communities among the state's biggest cities with a 25.2 percent minority population compared to Oklahoma City with 35.7 percent and Tulsa with 37.9 percent.
The consensus among the group was that to foster diversity in the community, Norman needs to become more welcoming to minority groups. Some members cited Norman's history as a sundown town as a reason why minorities may find themselves uncomfortable.
The discussion transitioned to economic development regarding where Norman should attempt to foster jobs.
The task force was in agreement when asked if there are areas of Norman that should be left untouched by development. Ward 5 was frequently mentioned as members said the area is the pillar of Norman meant to remain as a rural area.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Norman's per capita per person income is $16.29 per hour. Several task force members expressed concern about the number and residents' ability to purchase a home.
According to City Manager Darrel Pyle, of Norman’s 44,000 households, 19,000 fall below the median family income at $59,866.
Other members said they had reservations about the statistics and urged Knutson for numbers that excluded Norman's university student population.
Knutson informed the task force that Norman's job rate increased 50 percent slower than Oklahoma City and 7 percent slower than the state over the last few years.
Knutson presented statistics on Norman’s uninsured population which is at 10.9 percent and the poverty rate is at 16.9 percent.
With each statistic, members of the task force reiterated their desire to see numbers that excluded Norman's student population.
The task force concluded that the statistics presented were too general and didn’t provide them with enough information about matters such as home ownership and annual income.
ONE Norman will hold its next meeting on May 10, followed by two more on May 17 and 24 where they will follow up on their thoughts about the metrics discussed on Wednesday.
This story was edited by Alexia Aston and Karoline Leonard. Mary Ann Livingood copy edited this story.
