New Planning & Zoning Fees Approved

New application fees for the Tulsa Metropolitan Area Planning Commission (TMAPC) and Board of Adjustment (BOA) were recently adopted by the Tulsa City Council. The new, simplified fees will take effect January 14, 2025, and apply to planning and zoning applications within the City of Tulsa.

A major advantage of the new fee structure is the incorporation of flat fees that make it much clearer to applicants how much an application will actually cost, as opposed to the prior approach with low base fees plus various additional fees for notices, etc. The total number of application fees will be reduced from 68 fees with variables to 34 flat fees, providing a more transparent and customer-friendly approach.

At first glance, it may look like all fees are increasing dramatically, but that is mostly because the current fee structure has low base fees but several additional fees that are calculated on sliding scales depending on a number of factors, similar to online concert ticket fees. When all those fees are added up, they are much higher than the base fee. Some applications are slated for an increase, but only to get closer to covering the true cost to process each application type. We have attempted to balance the need to cover more of the cost with the community in mind.

Tulsa Planning Office staff were asked in 2023 to evaluate fees based on the full cost of processing an application. The new, flat fee structure more accurately reflects the cost of processing applications.

Over the past 22 years, BOA and TMAPC fees have been adjusted only a few times. Fees were slightly adjusted in 2002 and Subdivision fees were slightly modified in 2013. TMAPC fees related to zoning, as well as Board of Adjustment fees, were modified in 2016 to include several new categories and processes resulting from the adoption of the updated City of Tulsa Zoning Code. In 2018, fee revisions were adopted to reflect changes in the updated Tulsa Metropolitan Area Subdivision and Development Regulations.