Design Review Board Appointed
February 01, 2008
Mayor Mike Fahey has appointed eight individuals and two alternates to serve on the City of Omaha’s new Design Review Board.
The board will provide the city planning director and the development community with a mechanism for determining how the city’s urban design goals and regulations as outlined in the code are met in practice.
The members are: Larry Ferguson, Omaha Public Art Commission; Dave Ciaccio, Olsson Associates; Kathie Jeffries, ex-officio, Omaha Planning Board; Mike McMeekin, Lamp, Rynearson & Associates; Bob Peters, the Robert Peters Company; Tim Holland, Holland Basham Architects; Jerry Torczon, BHI Development; and Jay Noddle, Noddle Companies. Larry Jobeun, Fullenkamp, Doyle & Jobeun, and Matt Tondl, HDR Inc., will serve as the alternates. The appointments are subject to approval by the Omaha City Council.
The creation of the board is called for in the city’s Urban Design Element (UDE), approved by the Omaha City Council and adopted as part of the city’s master plan in December 2004. The UDE outlines a strategy for improving the quality of development in Omaha while protecting and enhancing the city’s natural environment.
The inaugural Design Review Board members were selected from the volunteer Technical Advisory Group formed by Omaha by Design to help write revisions and additions to the city’s code that will implement the UDE’s recommendations. The TAG, comprised of development and design professionals as well as others representing civic interests, worked alongside the city’s planning staff, city officials, Omaha by Design and the project’s nationally renowned urban design consultants.
While other municipalities have similar boards for specific districts, Omaha’s Design Review Board will have jurisdiction over the entire city. It will have the responsibility to review any project from a public entity or financed substantially with public funds. It also will act largely as an appeal and consultation mechanism for developers.
“It’s not intended as another layer of government approval,” said Steve Jensen, planning director for the City of Omaha. “The board will get involved when a project does not conform to urban design standards by recommending alternative solutions to help meet those standards. Their input will occur during the standard review and approval process, so it won’t add time to the existing process.”
Members will serve three-year terms. An initial meeting of the board will be organized in the coming weeks.