In the last true single-family residential neighborhood that touches OSU , “ we could see the neighborhood crumbling ,” Graalman said .
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In the last true single-family residential neighborhood that touches OSU , “ we could see the neighborhood crumbling ,” Graalman said .
thing better .
In the last true single-family residential neighborhood that touches OSU , “ we could see the neighborhood crumbling ,” Graalman said .
From meeting in each others ’ living rooms to getting approval from the City of Stillwater to developing a conservation overlay district , the Westwood Neighborhood Association has turned the neighborhood into a special place .
Although they were told it couldn ’ t be done , Bob and Diane Graalman , Gary and Jane Clark , Jim and Nancy Beckstrom and Mark and Julie Lambert made it their mission to turn things around .
A grassroots movement ary and Jane Clark moved into the neighborhood in 2008 . “ I remember hearing complaints about , in particular , overcrowding ,” Clark said . “ You couldn ' t drive down the street without weaving in and out of cars ( that were ) being parked on both sides of the roads .”
Clark was concerned about children running out into the street and getting hurt .
Thirty-five percent of people in the neighborhood were out-of-town owners .
In years past , neighbors had tried to work together to have the City of Stillwater consider certain safety measures , but those measures faced much opposition in Stillwater and were eventually voted down by the City Council .
Instead of simply being concerned or complaining at the lack of progress , Clark and the small band of neighbors got to work . They knocked on doors and passed out flyers with an invitation to others in the neighborhood to get together , talk about the problems and find possible solutions .
More than 60 concerned neighbors joined them . The WNA , as it became known , was born .
They met in each others ’ living rooms , using sticky notes to share about each problem area they saw , and “ pretty quickly you say , ‘ OK , here ( is where ) most of the responses are coming .’ How do we try to deal with that ?” Clark said . “ And that led to ( coming ) up with about five problem areas that we were concerned about as a community .”
Fortunately , they knew an Oklahoma State University graduate student who was familiar with the concept of a “ Conservation Overlay District .”
Clark , Graalman and the others quickly adapted this idea to the WNA and began researching areas that needed reviewing . They carefully drew up a petition to present to the City .
The idea was that the overlay would have certain restrictions for the neighborhood . For example , with overcrowding issues , the conservation overlay would restrict residents in one house ( other than single-family homes ) to three unrelated persons , instead of the seven people in a house ( at the time ).
“ Stillwater being a college town , just like virtually every other college town in the country , the rental industry is a big , big thing ,” said Mark Lambert of Lambert Construction , Inc ., who with his wife , Julie and their family moved into the neighborhood in December 2005 .
Mark also pointed out that when OSU purchased property north of Hall of Fame Ave . to build the OSU Athletic Village in 2015 , many of the student housing apartments in that area were subsequently torn down .
Students seeking housing began flooding into the neighborhood . Some residences had up to seven people living in the house , some had multiple people crammed into the basement with not even a window as a potential fire escape and one even had a sheet hung across the middle of the living room to separate bedrooms .
Yet the neighbors wanted to be fair to the people who had bought rental properties – about 35 % of the neighborhood – and the new restrictions allowed that rent houses could apply for a special occupancy permit that slowly stepped down the maximum number of unrelated tenants .
Houses had to apply for a permit before Feb . 28 , 2012 , and would be able to have a maximum of five unrelated people living in a home . On May 31 , 2017 , that number was reduced to four before all permits expired May 31 , 2022 .
Neighbors Jim and Nancy Beckstrom , who moved back to Stillwater in 2009 , looked at safety issues with Westwood ’ s relatively narrow streets .
Parking regulations that eventually were adopted included ones such as , “ Don ’ t block sidewalks such that pedestrian traffic is blocked ,” “ Do not park on sidewalks or in front of public or private driveways ” and “ Motor vehicles may not be parked in the grass in a front yard .”
In addition , the restrictions said the host of a party could not permit a minor to possess or consume alcohol , with a violation punishable by a fine of “ up to $ 500 and / or imprisonment of no more than 90 days .”
Once they had a plan in place , they began lobbying the City Council . And this time , the City voted 5-0 in their favor .
“ The number one indicator of decline in a neighborhood is non-resident ownership because they don ’ t
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