The Journal Record

The “fifth…or sixth…or seventh,” annual Sooner Centurion Economic Summit was held on January 29.

Neil Schemmer, NEDC board chairman, opened up the meeting and was “unsure of exactly how many of these things we’ve had.”

Schemmer got right to business and welcomed David Whitaker, President and CEO of Norman Regional Health System to begin the business portion of the summit.

Whitaker began by pointing out the obvious growth of the health system, citing the construction process at I- and Tecumseh Road as well as last year’s acquirement of the Moore Medical Center.

Whitaker said $10-15 million worth of renovations are also scheduled for the Porter site.

“Even after we open the west side facility things won’t stop,” Whitaker said. “We will begin some major renovations of the Porter campus.”

Norman Regional Health System also has the privilege of being national award winners.

John Hunter, superintendent for the Moore Norman Technology Center (MNTC) was the day’s next presenter. Hunter said the tech center is still growing. With the addition of the Penn campus in 2005, MNTC now holds over 5,500 classes each year and over 49,000 enrollments.

Hunter also said that each graduating class from MNTC has an annual economic impact of more than $104 million. MNTC was also named the 2007 Oklahoma Quality Award Winner for their achievement level.

City Manager, Steve Lewis then presented information from the city of Norman. He said that 2007 was a record year for all construction. The 2007 total was $312,790,820.

Lewis also discussed the future of Norman’s water supply. The city plans to hire a consulting firm to study the best avenues to get enough water to the city. The city currently uses 10.9 million gallons of water per day from the Thunderbird Reservoir, which provides the city with 70 to 75-percent of its water supply.

Lewis touched on the upcoming I-35 corridor improvements scheduled to begin in the fall of 2008. He also mentioned a bill that will be introduced in the 2008 state legislature session that would give back ½ cent of the State portion of sales tax for the improvement of roads. The potential impact for the city of Norman is about $6.9 million a year.

Maxine Bates, president of the Norman Board of Realtors reported on the state of Norman’s housing situation.

“Despite the bleak national picture, real estate markets are local and unique and now is a good time to buy [in Norman],” Bates said. “We have real, regional, manageable, sustainable growth.”

“Coastal areas are dealing with an oversupply of available houses,” Bates said. “Norman does not have an oversupply, but is actually on the brink of a shortage.”

Dan Reeves, president of the Norman Builders Association spoke next. He reported on the losses of new housing starts for the 2006-2007 season.

“Norman is not tracking with the rest of the metro area in new [housing] starts,” Reeves said. “Norman’s new starts are down by 37-percent.”

Reeves presented several graphs representing the number of building permits in Norman for the last 30 years. Besides the oil bust years in the late 80’s, the number of permits granted has never been this low. Reeves cited the cost of permits in Norman compared to surrounding communities as a possible explanation.

“We built the same 3,120 square-foot house in Norman and in Oklahoma City,” Reeves said. “The permit cost $972 in Oklahoma City and $6,661 in Norman.”

Reeves was concerned about the significant decline in permits and urged the community and the city council to come up with a better plan for the future of home building in Norman.

Dr. Joe Siano, superintendent of Norman Public Schools (NPS) finished the morning session of the program. Siano started by recognizing the presenters that spoke before him saying that Norman Schools benefit from their efforts to make Norman a successful community.

Dr. Siano presented several graphs depicting the Academic Performance Index (API) for NPS students. NPS currently ranks higher than the state average with scores of 1382 and 1252 respectively.

Other programs of note include 17 national merit scholar finalists in 2007; full-day kindergarten implemented before state requirements were in effect and before funding was available; over 1,500 students enrolled in college preparatory classes and district-wide health services available by partnering with Norman Regional Health System.

Following the lunch break, Cal Hobson, executive director of operations for University Outreach at OU, introduced the key note speaker for the summit, Governor Bill Anoatubby of the Chickasaw Nation.

The Chickasaw Nation has grown 20-fold since Governor Anoatubby was elected in 1987, according to Hobson.

Anoatubby spoke about how the tribe is pleased to have ties here in Norman. Riverwind Casino has brought nice revenues to the tribe, but Anoatubby noted several other economic development opportunities for the Norman area.

“Chickasaw Nation Industries (CNI) is a big part of our diversification efforts,” Anoatubby said. “There are more than ten different companies under CNI’s umbrella.”

CNI’s diversified businesses include construction, information technology, and medical services, among others. CNI boasts a less than 1-percent turnover margin and a new data center planned for the Norman Business Park on east Highway 9 will bring in nearly 1,000 new jobs to Norman.

Don Wood, executive director for the Norman Economic Development Coalition (NEDC) was the final speaker of the day. Wood presented updates on University North Park and the Norman Business Park.

“NEDC has acquired 60-acres for a future office park,” Wood said. “This will ultimately allow nearly 900,000 square-feet of class-A office space.”

Wood said that NEDC will be able to offer companies office space at below market pricing which will help recruit top-tier businesses. Wood also said that only companies who promise to pay 150-percent of the average county per capita income will be recruited. The average county per capita income is currently $23,339.

Another perk for companies will be direct access to Westheimer Airport.

“This is something that is unlike any other area I’ve seen,” Wood said. “There will be two hangers adjacent to the office building that can hold two planes each.”

NEDC is currently building an office space in the Norman Business Park for SouthWest NanoTechnologies, Inc., a company that is creating leading edge technology. Because of the up-front investment by NEDC, they will own 5-percent of the company.

A new sign at the entrance of the Norman Business Park is being constructed to aid in visibility for the quickly growing area.

For more information about NEDC or the annual summit, contact Don Wood at 573-1900.

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