Some Norman Residents Upset Over Water Quality Ordinance

Gan Matthews, News 9

NORMAN, Oklahoma -- The Norman City Council will vote Tuesday night on a proposed ordinance city planners say is important for water quality-- but which several property owners say is a threat to their rights.

The ordinance would allow for the creation of buffer zones in new subdivisions around creeks and streams in the Lake Thunderbird watershed. No development would be allowed in the zones.

Property owner June McLaughlin opposes the ordinance.

"It appears to me to be an easy way to take land," said McLaughlin. "And I'm not a happy camper."

Many Norman developers had earlier opposed the ordinance, but after the city agreed to reduce the width of the buffer zones from 100 to 25 feet, the developers appear to be reconciled to the ordinance.