James Coburn
The Edmond Sun
EDMOND — Mayor Patrice Douglas and City of Edmond staff will gather a lot of information for her to bring to the Mayors’ Design Institute scheduled for April at Tulane University in Louisiana.
Douglas is one of eight mayors across the U.S. chosen to meet with nationally renowned architects, a city planner, landscaping and design experts to focus on the preservation and redesign of historical properties.
“They are very narrow in who they invite,” Douglas said. “But we got invited. I think it is because we’re a growth community and we have projects that are imminent that are intriguing to them.”
The design institute will examine the best use of downtown’s police station if vacated for new construction, the Downtown Community Center, property recently purchased by the city on the southwest corner of Littler and Hurd, and a parking lot south of the property to be leased to the city by Citizens Bank.
Her concentrated three-day trip will enable Douglas to share opinions with seven other mayors from cities in size similar to Edmond.
Follow-up grants will be made available for cities likely to move forward with their goals.
“They told us they thought we’d be very likely to get one because our project would be in the next three years,” she said. “And they felt we had it concrete enough in our minds. Staff had put together a really good presentation for them (this week).”
If awarded a grant, the city would receive further visits from the design institute to help with the project.
“I’m hopeful this will give us some really good ideas of what that space would be used for with its highest use,” she said.
The property at Hurd and Littler is behind Citizens Bank. It provides the City Council with another option for constructing a new Public Safety Center, Douglas said.
Park land at Main and Kelly also has been mentioned as a destination point for housing the Police Department, the Central Communications Department and the Emergency Management Department.
“The argument against downtown before had been insufficient parking,” Douglas said. “That land (at Hurd and Littler) gives us the option of having that sufficient parking if that’s where the council chooses to put (the Public Safety Center).”
jcoburn@edmondsun.com | 341-2121, ext. 114
