OKC Plan, 2000-2020 - City of Oklahoma City

The Oklahoma City region is a complex mosaic of overlapping governmental units. The
Oklahoma City metropolitan area, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau encompasses six counties
and 70 municipalities. In addition, the Oklahoma City corporate limits include portions of some 30
school districts. While the individual interests of these governmental units may often conflict, all
residents of the Oklahoma City region share, for better or worse, a common identity and future.
And yet, competition often seems to be the prevailing dynamic in the relationship among the
region=s cities, counties, school districts, and other governmental units. Cities and counties compete
with each other to capture the newest and biggest retail businesses and industrial facilities to beef up
their sales and property tax collections. The added revenues are quickly used up in meeting the costs
of providing a full range of public services—police and fire protection, water supply, sewage
treatment, and road construction and maintenance, to ever growing populations and developed areas.
Despite the many impulses toward competition, the case for regional cooperation is
compelling. Nationally-renowned urban affairs writer Neal Peirce, in his book Citistates, notes that
regions—not cities, counties, or states, have become the primary units which compete in the global
economy. Residents of the region are not only citizens Oklahoma City, Edmond, Norman, Moore,
Midwest City, etc. We are all citizens of the Central Oklahoma Region.
No longer may outlying metro communities claim to be isolated from housing, poverty,
joblessness, and educational problems in the central city. Not only do these problems affect the
entire region’s global competitiveness, but many of these “urban” ills are cropping up in the suburbs
as well.
The City and its municipal authorities cooperate with other jurisdictions in many ways,
including the provision of facilities and services which benefit the region such as water, the zoo, arts
and cultural facilities, roadway improvements, airports, and more. Joint efforts with the Association
of Central Oklahoma Governments, suburbs, and county governments have helped address many
regional issues, such as 911 phone service.
The City’s experience serving 600-plus square miles for more than thirty years gives it
unique abilities and perspectives in dealing with issues over a large and varied area. The City can
lend the benefits of this experience to region-wide multi-jurisdictional agencies. Oklahoma City’s
current status as water supplier for much of the region, may make it the logical choice to be the
regional water source.
Much potential remains for growth in the city and for cooperative ways to achieve mutually
beneficial development patterns with adjacent communities. The plans of all cities in the region
should reflect interdependent cooperation by addressing region-wide issues and relationships with
other cities. Opportunities exist for joint services. Some communities may find a specialized
service niche to fill for other municipalities, such as electricity utility service, code enforcement,
animal control, or construction inspection. Prospects are promising for the reduction of competition
and for the positive evolution of cooperative arrangements while cities retain unique identities as
separate units.
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