“Hairy streets” were what Ward 1 councilmember “Midway Bob” Thompson called the City of Norman’s untrimmed arterial roads at a September 2007 council retreat.

“We need to look good as you are driving down our streets,” Thompson said at that retreat.

And then-new City Manager Steve Lewis replied that there was no document that shows what the City of Norman mows and what is mowed by property owners’ associations and other entities like the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma Department of Transportation.

“We’re going to be getting all those areas mapped,” Lewis said at the retreat.

Public Works Director Shawn O’Leary presented to council at Tuesday’s study session the 2008 Right-of-Way Maintenance Program that shows the responsibilities of different entities and how they interrelate.

Part of the challenge to taking care of Norman’s streets is that there are so many of them. The City covers 196 square miles, more than twice as large in area as its closest benchmark city of 92-square-mile Fremont, Calif., and Edmond, with 88 square miles.

And the City has about 650 miles of roads to maintain, with 819 miles of roads in the city limits. The additional roads are private roads, miles of state roads and highways.

“This is not a new issue — we’ve been maintaining right-of-way for a long, long time,” O’Leary said. He said the plan works to maximize resources.

With the growing season having started March 15, street crews are swinging into motion. Norman’s season typically lasts until Oct. 15 or about 30 weeks of maintenance.

Goals of the right-of-way maintenance program improvements are:

• Providing safe, visible, esthetically pleasing and well-drained right-of-way

• Improving turf maintenance throughout the City of Norman

• Maximizing resources for the program

The program stakeholders include the City of Norman’s parks, street and code compliance departments, OU, Cleveland County, ODOT, Norman Public Schools, neighborhood property owner associations, private property owners and the BNSF Railway Company.

He listed priority areas as portal entries into Norman, major arterial roads, major section line roads, downtown and Campus Corner and locations where special events are planned.

The city is supporting those efforts with seven street staff, five parks staff and five code compliance inspectors. An additional two street department personnel have been requested in next fiscal year’s budget, and would primarily be devoted to working on the far eastern rural portions of the city.

“The general citizen thinks we have this army,” he said. “It’s not very many.”

And O’Leary said the City has been working on defining objectives for the program, including redefining areas to be maintained, establishing acceptable levels of service and determining responsible parties.

Current ordinances do not adequately specify the responsibility of adjacent property owners, he said. And current subdivision regulations do not permit gates in fences that abut arterials, so some property owners don’t feel like they have to mow the property by the arterial streets.

“Most people wouldn’t think of not mowing between the sidewalk and the street,” he said. But many citizens don’t think about mowing behind their property to an arterial road.

Levels of service proposed for the right-of-way program include Level A, or mowing every seven to 14 days in medians and beds. It ranges down to Level D, which is mowing every eight to 12 weeks for rural areas like East Franklin Road.

A rainy summer in 2007 created more foliage to deal with in lesser maintained areas.

The 2008 Right-of-Way Maintenance Program initiatives include greater citizen awareness of right-of-way maintenance and encouraging ODOT to improve right-of-way highway maintenance.

The City would maintain its relationship with OU, which O’Leary termed “excellent,” and enhance Cleveland County participation through ongoing interlocal agreements.

A level of service standard would be adopted and current city practices are going to be reevaluated. The program will coordinate closely with the developing Storm Water Master Plan.

A litter crew also has been added to Norman’s staff.

“Trash doesn’t take a rain day,” said Ward 7 councilmember Doug Cubberley.