Special use permit for jail site near Del City requested by landowner

Owners offering to sell their land at 1901 E Grand Blvd. to Oklahoma County as the location for a new county jail have applied for a needed special use permit that would allow the project to move forward, Oklahoma City officials announced Wednesday.

A request to obtain the needed zoning permit for the 71-acre site was made with Oklahoma City on March 14.

The land is owned by Willowbrook Investments LLC and Garrett & Co. Resources.

The owners initially offered to sell the land to the county for $5.41 million, or transfer its ownership to the county at no cost, in exchange for the downtown jail's current location after that building is demolished. The county authorized negotiating for the property earlier this month.

In its announcement, the city stated it is required to mail written notice of the request to all property owners within 300 feet of the proposed boundaries of the property at least 20 days before it could be considered by the Oklahoma City Planning Commission.

A spokesperson said Wednesday the city hopes to mail those notices soon. It currently has planning commission meetings scheduled on April 11 and April 25.

More: Oklahoma County has chosen a new jail location. But the road to get there is (literally) bumpy

The city said it would make additional public announcements about the request after it is scheduled for hearings, both before the planning commission and city council.

"We are moving the request through the process," the city's announcement stated.

Oklahoma City councilman required to steer clear of site consideration

Ward 8 Councilman Mark Stonecipher, a director and shareholder at the law firm Fellers Snider, asked Oklahoma City Municipal Counselor Kenneth Jordan what he would be required to do if a member of his firm agreed to represent Del City in its efforts to bar Oklahoma County from building a jail at 1901 E Grand Blvd.

"He and I agreed that if a member of Fellers Snider represents Del City and/or other persons protesting a rezoning application made to the Oklahoma City City Council to authorize the jail [site] near Del City, then he should not vote or take part in council actions for the rezoning application," Jordan stated in a text sent to The Oklahoman.

Stonecipher would be required to leave the council's chamber entirely when the issue is brought up before the city council for discussion, Jordan wrote.

"If Stoneciper is recused from voting, there will only be eight members of the council left to vote on the rezoning," Jordan wrote.

Brian Maughan, chairman of Oklahoma County's Board of County Commissioners, earlier expressed fears that any pending request to get the zoning needed to build a jail at 1901 E Grand might end with a tie vote if Stonecipher needed to recuse himself.

Up or down, county just wants a vote on the proposed location

Oklahoma City's announcement about the special use permit filing Wednesday followed a meeting earlier the same day held by Maughan and his colleagues.

After an executive session about ongoing negotiations for the site at 1901 E Grand, commissioners unanimously blasted city officials for what appeared to them to be an indifference to the county's needs to move forward on its plans to design and build the jail.

"I just want to say, we are still waiting on the Oklahoma City Council to take up the issue of a special use permit at 1901 E Grand," said Commissioner Carrie Blumert. "Of course, I was a no on that site and still don't like it, but we need the city council to move as quickly as possible so that we either have a yes, or a no."

Blumert said Oklahoma County risks losing $50 million in federal funds it received as part of its allocation of federal funds through the American Rescue Plan Act ($40 million for an adjacent medical/behavioral health center and $10 million for the jail itself) unless more detailed design and construction planning gets underway.

"We need the city to go as quickly as possible," Blumert said.

Commissioner Myles Davidson echoed Blumert's statements.

"It has been a long, arduous process to get to where we are," said Davidson, who noted a previous council had zoned the property suitably (minus the special use permit) anticipating that a jail might ultimately be located there.

"We have tried to be good partners and worked together with them, and now ... they need to quit kicking the can down the road," Davidson said. "I understand this is a completely different council now ... but this is on them, at this point."

Maughan said Wednesday he believed Oklahoma County was put into the time crunch it is experiencing today because Oklahoma City took so long to consider its first selected site, which was about 50 acres near Will Rogers World Airport at Newcastle Road and MacArthur Boulevard.

"It has been frustrating ... never in our wildest dreams did we anticipate it would take this long," Maughan said, reminding the public that Oklahoma County and Oklahoma City serve the same constituents.

Oklahoma City's police, on average, arrest about 64% of detainees held at the county jail, he also said.

"They are as most-interested in this as anybody should be, in terms of the end user" and the need to maintain public safety throughout both the city and Oklahoma County, Maughan said.

"It is just absolutely essential that they look most expeditiously to do everything within their power to ease this process on through in a quick and timely manner."

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Grand boulevard land owner seeks permit for new county jail near Del City