Last Updated on December 4, 2023, 7:43 PM | Published: December 4, 2023
OKLAHOMA CITY — The location of the new Oklahoma County Detention Center (OCDC or jail) is still up in the air as county commissioners prepare for the possibility of not being able to acquire land near the airport as planned.
And, as they engage in a county-wide search again, residents of Oklahoma City’s historically-Black Eastside once again are alarmed by one site at NE 10th and I-35 getting back on the list of possibles.
The airport land is in question only because the FAA has not responded as to whether they would object to the planned one-story new OCDC facility on land that has not had any buildings on it close to the airport so far.
The uncertainty of waiting on the FAA matched with $50M in ARPA funds needing to be encumbered by the end of 2024, is putting pressure on the commissioners to at least prepare a solid Plan B in case the airport land ends up being unavailable.
“The money has to be encumbered by December of 2024,” Commissioner Brian Maughan told Free Press after the meeting. “And then it has to be totally constructed and completed by December of 2026” for them to receive the $50M in ARPA funds to help with the construction.
Maughan emphasized that something as complex as building a county jail will take considerable time and needs to be in the works to meet those deadlines.
Eastside worries
But, the lingering doubt about the location is wearing on Eastside residents.
“Our community is stressed” once again, said Nikki Nice, City of OKC Ward 7 councilmember during public comments at Monday’s Board of County Commissioners meeting. Nice grew up in the area and Ward 7 includes most of the section of the city that would be impacted if the NE 10th site was chosen.
Nice talked with Free Press when the commissioners were in executive session.
“Where it [the jail] currently resides, we’ve seen the plans, there are ways to build it,” said Nice. “And if, again, we are committed to criminal justice reform, then there are ways to ensure that we work on criminal justice reform.”
Steve Mason, chair of the Jail Bond Oversight Committee confirmed to Nice and Free Press that the list they most recently gave to the commissioners did NOT include the NE 10th site leaving the question open as to how it got on there and why it remains.
State Representative Jason Lowe, whose district is in the area, also spoke a rare occasion for him in front of the commissioners.
Lowe objected to the NE 10th location being considered again and told the BoCC that he had received numerous calls from his constituents who were deeply worried about the NE 10th and I-35 still on the list of properties being considered.
Kevin Maxwell, who identified himself as a third-generation resident of the Eastside spoke out against the NE 10th location.
“Northeast Oklahoma City’s hearts are broken,” Maxwell told the BoCC.
Maxwell asked that the Eastside not be used as “a dumping ground” as residents there perceive it has been used for in the past.
And, as a resident still of that area, he called upon empathy from the commissioners.
“If you don’t want a jail in YOUR backyard, don’t put it in MY backyard,” said Maxwell.
Denyvetta Davis, president of the NE OKC Neighborhood Coalition and long a community-building activist for improving neighborhoods in the area attended the meeting but did not speak to the commissioners.
However, she did talk to Free Press while commissioners were in executive session about why the coalition is against the NE 10th location for the jail.
“For reasons that you’ve heard so many times before … we are rebuilding and trying to rebuild northeast OKC. And a jail is not part of that rebuilding,” said Davis.
She explained that the location is near a Superfund site where the old water treatment plant was for decades and is on a wooded site where they have no idea what is under the surface.
In addition, Davis said the site is much too near:
- Douglass High School.
- JFK neighborhood.
- Historic Carverdale and Edwards neighborhoods.
- Edwards Park.
Myles Davidson took questions from the media after the meeting about the possible locations of the jail. He said that the NE 10th location was an unlikely one in that it was near an environmental clean-up site where there was a lot they did not know about getting the site ready and that because of the soil they would have to spend too much on peering for the foundation.
Dispelling misreporting
Because of careless news reports, the public has been alarmed about three different location scenarios that are not true according to Maughan.
- One report stated that the deadline by which to have the incumbrance completed was “December 24.” Instead, it is December of 2024.
- Another report alarmed the public that the commissioners were going to do away with the Oklahoma City Stockyards to build the jail on that site. Maughan said that the truth is that they have considered land that is adjacent to the Stockyards but not the Stockyards.
- Some people have heard news reports that they were considering a plot of land near Trosper Park on the south side and thought the commissioners were going to take Trosper Park itself. Not true, says Maughan. “It was really the Pat Garrett land. But it has caused people in that area to think we’re going to take away the park,” said Maughan.
The next meeting of the BoCC is December 13, 2023, at 9 am.
Founder, publisher, and editor of Oklahoma City Free Press. Brett continues to contribute reports and photography to this site as he runs the business.
