Goodwill Donation Center to open in Downtown..Maybe???

[BoulderSooner]

goodwill center coming to 5th and hudson is on the planning commision agenada today

the downtown design review committee is against it, Dowell is against it, DEI the owners of the Regency are against it ... so of course the city staff is recomending approval

http://okc.gov/AgendaPub/mtgviewer.a...doctype=AGENDA item 15

[Bailey80]

I talked to Goodwill on Wednesday and they said they were going to ask for a continuance until Feb. 10 at the Planning Commission today.

Business, property owners protest plans for downtown recycling center

By Brianna Bailey
Oklahoma City reporter - Contact 405-278-2847
Posted: 12:10 PM Thursday, January 27, 2011

Some downtown business and property owners are crying foul over plans to open a new Goodwill Industries donation and recycling center near the Oklahoma City National Memorial.
Goodwill Industries of Central Oklahoma wants to convert a long-shuttered, 5,415 square-foot service station near the corner of Northwest Fifth Street and Hudson Avenue into a collection center for recyclable goods. The center would benefit downtown residents who don’t have access to the city’s curb-side recycling service, as well as create hands-on learning experiences for students in Goodwill’s recycling technician job training program, Jennifer Bradford said, communications and business development coordinator for Goodwill.
“This site is going to be maintained very well and we want this to be a great service to the community,” Bradford said. “We weren’t really expecting opposition from property owners.”
The Park Plaza District Redevelopment Corp., which represents property and business owners near in the Park Plaza area, is fighting plans for the Goodwill recycling center. The group claims the recycling center would drag down their property values and discourage future commercial development in the area.
“It’s just a very peculiar place to put something like that–I don’t know what they were thinking,” developer Rick Dowell said, president of the Park Plaza Redevelopment Corp. “It isn’t in the best interest of the development of this area.”
DEI Communities, which manages the 24-story Regency Tower apartment complex at 333 NW Fifth St., has also voiced its opposition to the recycling center.
An Omaha, Neb.-based real estate investment firm purchased the Regency Tower in June for $17.2 million and the complex is undergoing $1 million worth of renovations.
The proposed recycling center would sit directly across the street from the high-rise apartment complex.
DEI Communities was “surprised” to learn of plans for the recycling center across from the Regency Tower, Troy Arnold, a regional vice president for the property management company wrote in a letter of protest to the Oklahoma City Planning Commission.
“We are also extremely concerned that the addition of the donation center will have a negative consequence on the value of our recent investments and hurt our ability to do business leasing apartments,” Arnold wrote.
Bradford believes misinformation about the recycling and donation center is part of the problem. The center would only be used as a collection and sorting point for recyclables, she said. The materials collected at the site will be processed off site. All of the recyclable will be sorted and collected inside a car bay, off the street and out of sight.
Security guards, “no-dumping” signs and surveillance cameras will discourage after-hours dumping at the recycling center, Bradford said.
The Oklahoma City Downtown Design Review Committee rejected plans for the recycling and donation center earlier this month, claiming the project wouldn’t fit with the surrounding area.
The Oklahoma City Planning Commission is slated to consider approving a special permit for the recycling center on Feb. 10.

[UnFrSaKn]

That whole building is where the new park will be.

EDIT: doh, wrong 5th street.

[BoulderSooner]

good find Bailey .. what amazes me is that even with the Downtown Design review commitee against it and local property owners against it that the city staff recomends approval

[Spartan]

City staff recommends approval based on its compliance with ordinances. This is one of those rare cases where the issues outside the purview of unbiased city staff are in fact quite compelling.

[Kerry]

I donate stuff to Goodwill all the time and I use a facility similar to what is described. It is drop-off only and no sales take place on site but it still looks junky. I have also noticed homeless people in the area at night going throught the stuff dropped off after-hours. I think that would be the biggest problem. I have to think there are areas around downtown that would be more suited for this kind of function.

[metro]

Maybe it will match the back of the main Goodwill the city bought on SW 4th, it's so classy now there are couches and other furniture where bums are actually living in the yard on the backside of the building.

[Kerry]

Maybe it will match the back of the main Goodwill the city bought on SW 4th, it's so classy now there are couches and other furniture where bums are actually living in the yard on the backside of the building.

Bums? Those are called Urban Campers.

[OKCMallen]

Bums? Those are called Urban Campers.

Hehe. Then it's a helluva campground. Almost a state park.

[Spartan]

Complete with wildlife...

[Larry OKC]

The Urban Campers are just securing their spot in the new MAPS 3 park

[swilki]

I am very much for more recycling centers, especially in areas where residents and business don't traditionally have access to such facilities (i.e. downtown). However, there really has to be a better place to put this. Also, if downtown residents are looking for a place to recycle things just head over to Green Star on Main Street.

[mcca7596]

This was denied at the April 28th Planning Commission meeting! Thank goodness. I couldn't find a document which showed the denial, but I watched the meeting in its entirety. The vote was 6-2 against it.

What a horrible impression it would have been to outsiders at the most visited site in the state. A higher use certainly exists for that property, regardless of how long it has been vacant.

Just skip to the end to see the vote:

http://www.okc.gov/AgendaPub/mtgview...doctype=AGENDA

[metro]

Thank goodness.

[swilki]

As much as I love recycling and advocate it on a daily basis, I am happy to see this result. There has to be a better place to put this.

[Pete]

Goodwill just applied for a building permit for this downtown site (minor renovations to the existing structure) so I guess this is moving forward?

[BoulderSooner]

Goodwill just applied for a building permit for this downtown site (minor renovations to the existing structure) so I guess this is moving forward?

it is on the council agenda for next tuesday ... but downtown design was against it and planning commision voted it down .. so i doubt it passes council

[Doug Loudenback]

it is on the council agenda for next tuesday ... but downtown design was against it and planning commision voted it down .. so i doubt it passes council

Thanks for that good report, BolderSooner.

[Thunder]

I hope it goes forward. We need more Goodwill stores. They are opening donation centers...waste of money. They should be opening new stores that will also accept donations.

[Doug Loudenback]

Sounds to me like Crossroads Mall would be a good place for it ... I hear they have space available ...

[Steve]

Not seeing it on Tuesday's agenda...

[mcca7596]

Why are they applying for a building permit then, after being denied by the Design Committee and Planning Comission?

[rcjunkie]

Why are they applying for a building permit then, after being denied by the Design Committee and Planning Comission?

This happens all the time, even though the Design Committee and Planning Commission, the Council can still approve it if they choose, doesn't happen very often, but it has on rare occasion.

[Patrick]

Why are they applying for a building permit then, after being denied by the Design Committee and Planning Comission?

They're building it on the west lawn of city hall, right outside the mayor's window.

[BoulderSooner]

Not seeing it on Tuesday's agenda...

me either steve. I was told that it was going to be on the agenda for the 14th meeting .. i guess it could be on next weeks instead