Neighbors oppose proposed OKC drunk tank
The reason I post this here is because it is currently located in Bricktown.
Neighbors oppose proposed Oklahoma City inebriate centerby Kelley Chambers
The Journal Record December 10, 2008
OKLAHOMA CITY – Jack and Lynda SmithSchick don’t want the city’s drunk tank in their backyard.
They didn’t really want it there the first time, either.The couple knows the Public Inebriate Alternative center, having had a business in Bricktown near the Walnut Avenue center for 15 years. They moved nine years ago, and now own Architectural Antiques at 1900 Linwood Blvd. – a few hundred feet from the proposed new home for the 25-bed center where police take drunks to sober up as an alternative to arrest if they are not committing any other crimes. It is operated by OKC Metro Alliance Inc., which contracts with the city annually to handle operations at the center.
“We feel like we’ve been struck by lightning twice,” Lynda SmithSchick said.
The inebriate center is at 211 N. Walnut Ave., just north of Bricktown, where it has been for decades.
From 1984 to 1999 the SmithSchicks had their business at 121 E. Sheridan Ave., and found out the hard way they were just about a block from the inebriate center.
When they first entered Bricktown there was little retail activity, and often the people who would hang out near the Architectural Antiques building were those who had just been released from the inebriate center.
The SmithSchicks run one of only about a dozen businesses in the country specializing in large antique fixtures, stained-glass windows, wooden mantles and other antique and unusual items collected from around the world.
Their clients in Bricktown were often greeted by panhandlers and people using the building and surrounding grounds as a bed or restroom.
The building was broken into on three occasions.
Lynda SmithSchick said they had compassion for the plight of the people who would end up at their door asking to use the restroom or the phone, but they were often bothered by those who had no other option than to remain on the streets after a night drying out.
In 1999 the couple needed a new space that was all one floor rather than the three levels they had, and they wanted to get away from the people leaving the inebriate center. They made the move to Linwood Boulevard and set up shop.
All was well until early November when the SmithSchicks received a notice that the city was eyeing a neighboring building, at 1940 Linwood Blvd., as the new site for the public inebriate alternative.
“The irony is that for 15 years we fought it down there and now they want to move it next door to us,” Jack SmithSchick said.
The matter came before the Planning Commission in November but was bumped to December because of one property owner’s health issues.
Jack SmithSchick hit the street and gathered signatures from his neighbors to block the center from coming to their neighborhood.
The request for a special permit for the site is set to be heard by the Planning Commission Thursday. If the Planning Commission approves the special permit it will go before the City Council for final review.
Oklahoma City Police Deputy Chief Johnny Kuhlman said nothing is definite, but the city likes the building on Linwood Boulevard.
Kuhlman said the inebriate center has been on North Walnut Avenue for his entire 26 years on the force.
But the building has fallen into decline and there is no room for expansion. Kuhlman said the building on Linwood Boulevard can be easily accessed from any quadrant of the city for officers bringing drunk people in to dry out for the night.
“We want something centrally located that is easily accessible to officers from all over the city,” he said. “That’s on a main thoroughfare with Virginia and Linwood and that seemed appealing to us.”
The 7,872-square-foot, one-story concrete building was constructed in 1979 and is vacant. The asking price is $300,000.
Kuhlman said the money to purchase and renovate a building will come from $1.2 million designated for the project in last year’s general obligation bond.
After looking around Oklahoma City for a site, Kuhlman said the building on Linwood Boulevard was the best option.
“We wanted something secure,” he said. “This concrete building is built like Fort Knox.”
But nothing is final yet.
“We believe this one fits our needs the best and is the most viable and economically feasible for us,” Kuhlman said. “If for some reason we reach a stumbling block we’ll just continue our search.”
The SmithSchicks hope the city will continue that search elsewhere.
The Planning Commission staff report identifies general standards for the project. Two of those include that the proposed use shall conform to the policies of the adopted comprehensive plan and that it shall not adversely affect the neighboring properties.
The SmithSchicks said having the center there will present the same problems they faced in Bricktown when its occupants are emptied out each morning and adversely affect the area.
Russell Claus, director of the Oklahoma City Planning Department, said the facility has to go somewhere. He said the commission will look at its compatibility and hear from both sides about any possible adverse effects to its potential neighbors.
“The process is to provide for a review so people in the area where the facility is to be located have an opportunity to comment on it, voice their concerns, and hopefully have those concerns responded to in a way that makes them feel more comfortable,” he said.
The SmithSchicks would also like to see the homeless who enter the center be served better when they are released, despite where the center is ultimately placed.
Dan Straughan, executive director of the Homeless Alliance, said he does not have an opinion on the proposed site, but said having the center in that area of town would place it close to a proposed homeless resource center.
The Homeless Alliance has plans for a project called West Town, around Northwest Third Street and Virginia Avenue. Work could begin on the center as soon as the first quarter of 2009 to be a one-stop shop to aid the city’s homeless.
Straughan said the center could draw people away from the inebriation building toward West Town. He said the alliance would also be open to discussing putting the inebriation center at West Town’s campus.
“For that to be close by is a good thing,” he said. “It makes sense for it to be near West Town.”
The SmithSchicks said they fear their property values declining to the point where they couldn’t leave if they wanted to.
Larry Stein, chief deputy with the Oklahoma County assessor’s office, said it would be hard to say how the center could affect property values.
“The assessor’s office is always monitoring values,” he said. “If values go up or go down that will be reflected by our office.”
Regardless of the property value, moving their business from its 40,000-square-foot building is not an option the SmithSchicks want to consider.
“If we move, who’s going to buy this building to fund (us) buying another building?” Lynda SmithSchick said.
Looking at the wall-to-wall antiques, fixtures, doors, and numerous sundry antique décor items at Architectural Antiques at the mention of leaving Lynda SmithSchick said, “Would you want to move this?”
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Originally Posted by bluedogok
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