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We create award-winning municipal planning projects that are changing the way cities think about entitlement, permitting, and housing policy. Together with our partners at Pattern Zones Co, we solve tough problems around issues like affordability and neighborhood infill by placing design at the center of the conversation.
CLAREMORE, OK
Most planning efforts don’t deliver what they promise. MBL’s Pattern Zoning project in Claremore Oklahoma offers a roadmap for how to change that.
With almost a dozen new buildings completed in downtown and scores more on the way, MBL’s Pattern Zone in Claremore Oklahoma is re-writing the story of missing middle infill in small towns.
A town of just 19,000 people, Claremore has for decades suffered from a lack of investment in their historic downtown. Residential developers had largely turned their back on downtown, opting instead for the green fields of Claremore’s outskirts.
In just a few short years since the Pattern Zone was first implemented in 2021, Claremore has flipped that script. local developers now understand the benefits of building in a urban form, and they are increasingly turning back to downtown, in part because of the convenience the program brings to infill development.
With the success of the program, the City of Claremore is eager to expand it. As President of both MBL Planning and Pattern Zones Co, Matthew Hoffman oversees a partnership that will bring dozens more pre-approved buildings to the city in 2024 via a web-connected portal.
CITY OF BRYAN
MBL led a cross-disciplinary planning team in the development of a comprehensive vision for over two square miles, covering several distinct districts between the Bryan Texas downtown, and Texas A&M University. The plan, which won a national award from the Congress for the New Urbanism in 2020, is both vast in scope and incredibly detailed in its recommendations. Deliverables included definition of and detailed policy direction for five different “experience districts”, along with preliminary designs for catalytic projects and capital improvements within each district. As a preliminary step, the team completed a thorough market economics and demographics study. Following four large public meetings, and months of works sessions with stakeholders, the team proposed a host of new zoning and development ordinances for the area, which were officially adopted in May of 2020.Among several innovative ideas, the Midtown Pattern Zone stands out. This first-in-the-nation zoning and economic development tool dramatically lowers barriers to missing middle housing by pre-approving complete building designs on a parcel-by-parcel basis within the study area. The process will encourage a new class of would be developers to actively engage in the improvement of their own neighborhoods by completely eliminating some of the most time-consuming, costly, and confusing parts of the design and entitlement process.
CITY OF OVERLAND PARK
Together with Pattern Zones Co, MBL led an ambitious project to bring one of the most innovative pre-approved building programs in the country to the City of Overland Park KS.
The team’s approach went well beyond simple pre-approved buildings. Instead, the team questioned almost every aspect of the city’s current entitlement and permitting process with the goal of increasing opportunities for home-ownership.
While Pattern Zones Co focused on the zoning and development code, MBL was tasked with leading a comprehensive review of the city’s building safety policies as they relate to Missing Middle housing. The team was surprised to find that the average permit for a single family house in Overland Park was over 5,000 square feet. Because of this, the building safety department had instituted several policies that, while prudent for these large buildings, had the effect of making it far more difficult and expensive to build smaller more affordable housing types.
Through skillful navigation of Kansas statutes, the International Residential Code, and Overland Park’s own municipal code, MBL was able to recommend new policies that dramatically lower barriers not just for pre-approved buildings, but for every developer who is interested in building smaller more affordable homes in the city.
RUSSELLVILLE
In Partnership with Velocity Group, MBL Planning led a community-wide initiative in the City of Russellville, Arkansas to bring a new vision to the street connecting Arkansas Tech University to the town’s historic downtown.
MBL’s early analysis showed the extent of the work to be done; El Paso Avenue was found to be far behind other nationally recognized urban collegiate corridors when compared on critical metrics including walkability, connectivity, and services. Together, the City and the University tasked MBL with developing a new vision for the corridor, focusing on walkability and the experience of living, working, and playing in the area.
Following intense public input and the design process, the planning team crafted detailed zoning and development codes to support the vision described in the plan. The Russellville City Council ultimately passed the new ordinance unanimously, setting the direction for a new generation of development.
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