Del City hires law firm tied to OKC councilman, could scuttle jail zoning

DEL CITY — Elected leaders here are making good on their promise to legally fight Oklahoma County's choice of 1901 E Grand as the spot for its new county jail — and creating headaches outside of the courtroom for county commissioners along the way.

This week, officials announced that City Manager J.D. Hock and Mueller, Wheeler & Associates, a law firm that represents the city as its municipal attorney, has entered into professional services agreements with Fellers Snider and White & Weddle to represent it as it prepares for a court battle to prevent the jail's construction on 71 acres of land just north of Trosper Park.

Oklahoma County Commissioner Brian Maughan told The Oklahoman he worries Del City's selection of Fellers Snider to represent it might scuttle whatever hopes the county had that Oklahoma City's council would support its decision to build the jail there.

Maughan expects that Oklahoma City Ward 8 Councilman Mark Stonecipher, an attorney who is a director and shareholder at Fellers Snider, would recuse himself from any consideration of a zoning request the current landowner would have to get approved before being able to sell the county the land.

Attempts to reach Councilman Stonecipher on Friday and again on Monday were not successful.

Jail location point of contention

The potential jail location, once the site of a public housing project that since has been torn down, is inside a heavily industrialized area just dozens of yards from Bryant Avenue, Del City's western boundary with Oklahoma City.

Del City has large neighborhoods of single-family homes on its side of the line.

More: Is the hunt for a new jail in Oklahoma County costing taxpayers money? Architects say it is

Generally, it's expected the attorneys representing Del City will argue a jail built at 1901 E Grand would create a public nuisance that could lower the value of nearby properties, increase numbers of people leaving the jail walking through Del City and put burdens on the suburb's police and fire departments.

Additionally, building a jail at 1901 E Grand would violate state law because it would be too close to a nursing center that cares for people with physical and mental illnesses, Del City Mayor Floyd Eason said Monday.

Plus, he said Del City would argue it hasn't been treated the same as other areas of Oklahoma County have whenever potential conflicts involving a jail's proximity to a school have been raised. Other sites have been stricken for that reason. Why not Del City?

"We deserve to be treated the same," Eason said.

The community set aside $150,000 to fund its legal fight.

Eason said himself and other city officials intend to give residents a fuller look at their planned strategies at a town hall meeting set for 6 p.m. on Tuesday, March 26, at the Del City Community Center, 4505 SE 15.

"We are going to battle this ... from three different angles. We are going to hit them with everything we have got," Eason said Monday.

Commissioner: Selection tips fight over county's proposed jail location opponents' way

Even if Del City's court challenge fails, it might not matter.

Based on various public statements about potential jail locations made by other members of the Oklahoma City Council, Maughan said he also expects Ward 7 Councilwoman Nikki Nice, Ward 6 Councilwoman JoBeth Hamon and Ward 2 Councilman James Cooper are opposed to changing 1901 E Grand's zoning.

Even if the request is supported by Ward 1 Councilman Bradley Carter, Ward 3 Councilwoman Barbara Peck, Ward 5 Councilman Matt Hinkle and Mayor David Holt, the deciding vote would fall to Ward 4 Councilman Todd Stone.

Stone, who represents the part of Oklahoma City where Oklahoma County wants to build the jail, has told Maughan he believes there are problems with the Grand Boulevard site, the commissioner said.

A 4-4 vote by the city council effectively would kill the landowner's zoning request.

Time pressure mounts on Oklahoma County to find a suitable site to build a jail

Maughan said Oklahoma County, which already has been denied its preferred location by Oklahoma City's Airport Trust, faces a ticking clock as it tries to get the jail project going,

"I am extremely frustrated — and worried we are running out of time, and not only for the ARPA dollars (which the county wants to use to build an adjacent medical/behavioral health center)," Maughan said Monday. "The deadline to use bond funds is coming up right behind."

Oklahoma County sold its first tranche of $45 million in bonds (out of $260 million) to build the jail a year ago. Ballot language requires the county to have spent 85% of those dollars within three years, and the remainder within the next two.

"You have to have the money in order to be able to go out and make an offer to purchase property, so we couldn't wait to sell those first bonds," Maughan said.

Even with two years remaining to get 85% spent, time grows short, the commissioner said.

"The zoning process takes a while, and then you have to do pre-construction engineering. If you have to bring in additional utilities, that takes time, and then once you begin working, code inspections add more time to that process," he said.

"I fear if this proposition fails and we have to go back to the drawing board, it would put us in peril from being able to successfully execute any other site before running into that deadline problem."

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Del City hires council-connected lawyers to fight jail zoning