Last Updated on September 6, 2023, 9:16 AM | Published: September 5, 2023
OKLAHOMA CITY — A controversial property at Kelley and Britton Road offered to the county supposedly for “free” was taken out of consideration for a new Oklahoma County Jail site Tuesday.
In a unanimous vote, the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) voted to remove six properties previously considered that included the controversial site.
Surprising some, Commissioner Brian Maughan joined Commissioners Carrie Blummert and Myles Davidson in the vote to remove the properties after having previously defended the “free” site on several occasions.
Voters approved a $260 million bond package to build a new jail in June of 2022 and the search has been on for a suitable site since.
The move came after the Citizens Bond Oversight Advisory Board (CBOAB) heard multiple impassioned pleas against putting the new jail there from residents nearby and multiple school leaders.
Some distrusted the offer to give the site for free from a company whose job it is to make a profit. They believe that there was more than charity at work in the proposed deal.
Some have objected to any of the proposed sites in the historically Black northeastern part of Oklahoma City complaining that the city for too long has considered the area a “dumping ground” for various disruptive and dangerous industrial sites.
Others, mostly criminal defense attorneys, have objected because of how much time it would take to travel to and from any site beyond the ten minutes originally recommended.
A number of nearby residents objected because of the perceived risks of people being released in the middle of the night with no transportation resources leaving former detainees on foot in the surrounding neighborhoods.
Properties removed
The following properties, as described in the motion, were removed from consideration in the vote Tuesday:
- 77 acres of land located at the NE corner of Kelly (sp) and Britton Road and offered for sale by Bergen Real Estate.
- 38 acres of land located at the SW corner of Portland Avenue and SW 29th Street and offered for sale by South Rail Port LLC, William Kilpatrick, Director of Real Estate.
- Between 80 and 132 acres of land located south of the intersection of Midwest Boulevard and Wilshire Boulevard and offered for sale by the Ted Eckroat and Pat Eckroat Revocable Living Trust.
- 63 acres of land located at SE 29th Street west of the Kickapoo Turnpike and offered for sale by Tsalagi Development LLC, Randy Goodman, Managing Member.
- 60 acres of land located at 900 S. Council and I-40 Access Road and offered for sale by Bigbee LLC, Tammy Ryan Realtor.
- 63 acres of land located near the interchange of I-35 and the John Kilpatrick Turnpike and offered for sale by the Meadows 61 LLC.
Citizens Bond Oversight Advisory Board hears objections
Commissioners followed the recommendations of the CBOAB after a long string of negative comments and objections about the number of proposed sites being on the Eastside, where in many zip codes Black people are in the majority.
In for heavy and passionate criticism was the supposedly “free” land being offered at Kelley and Britton Road.
One highly-regarded resident of the zip code containing the “free” land, Cecilia Robinson, is the long-term Superintendent of Millwood Public Schools on the upper Eastside. Some of the students live near the proposed site.
Robinson said that she lives in a neighborhood near the site and shares concerns that other residents of nearby neighborhoods have about the presence of the proposed jail.
“We deserve the opportunity to prosper”
Millwood Supt. Cecilia Robinson
She pointed to the significance of that zip code, 73111, having the largest percentage of Black/African-American people of any zip code in Oklahoma City.
Robinson said, “We deserve the opportunity to prosper,” in that part of Oklahoma City. “We are tired,” she said about constantly having to fight off proposals that will lower the quality of life for residents in that part of the city.
Oklahoma City Ward 7 Councilmember Nikki Nice spoke to the CBOAB expressing how distressing it was for her to see the part of Oklahoma City in which she lives being treated with such disregard.
Nice joined several others at the hearing arguing against Commissioner Brian Maughan’s contention that the current jail downtown has two schools nearby, also. She and others pointed out that Harding Charter Preparatory High School would be closer to the new jail if built on the “free” site than any of the schools downtown are to the current jail.
More focused on the perceived dangers of having the largest jail in Oklahoma nearby, school officials have objected to the site.
Administrators and parents from Harding pointed out that the school and the proposed jail on the “free” site would share a property line.
Criminal defense attorneys have objected strenuously to the distances that the proposed sites represent and targeted the “free” site in their comments to the CBOAB. Several have argued that with a jail farther away from downtown the time it would take to get detainees released would be longer and more people would be staying in jail longer than necessary.
“It would be utterly absurd for you to put the facility at Kelley and Britton.”
Bob Ravitz, Oklahoma County Public Defender
Bob Ravitz, Oklahoma County Public Defender, said bluntly, “It would be utterly absurd for you to put the facility at Kelley and Britton.” because of its distance from the courthouses and other infrastructure weaknesses like ways to get transportation in that part of the city at all hours.
“I can’t believe anyone would even consider doing something like that,” Ravitz continued.
Ravitz argued that the Broadway extension is an “absolute mess” during rush hour in the morning and then in the afternoon just when the Sheriff’s Office would be trying to transport detainees to and from court.
According to Ravitz and other defense attorneys, the Sheriff’s Office has a hard time getting detainees to court on time at present even with the jail three blocks away from the courthouse.
“When they passed the bond issue, everybody talked about how it needed to be within ten minutes of downtown,” said Ravitz.
The CBOAB voted to request that the BOCC remove the controversial “free” site and another five, which the BOCC did Tuesday.
Now, the CBOAB goes back to a renewed consideration of sites closer to downtown.
Founder, publisher, and editor of Oklahoma City Free Press. Brett continues to contribute reports and photography to this site as he runs the business.
