EDMOND — Edmond residents have more at stake with the proposed Public Safety Center than purely a safety issue, attorney Barry Rice said this week at a meeting of the Central Edmond Urban Development Board.

The former city councilman plans to take his vision for downtown and the Public Safety Center to a City Council Workshop set for 3 p.m. Sept. 28 at the City Council Chambers, 20 S. Littler.

“My contention all along is a new public safety center is more than public safety, it’s a planning and zoning issue, land use, an economic development issue, a quality of life issue,” Rice said.

Police Chief Bob Ricks told The Edmond Sun that the need for a Public Safety Center in Edmond did not go away on Nov. 4 when voters chose not to approve a property tax to fund a proposed $31.5 million new facility.

The current police station at 23 E. First St. was deemed inadequate due to its configuration and limited space after a 2005 needs assessment study. The proposed building would combine the Edmond Police Department, the Central Communications Department and the Emergency Management Department.

Large pieces of homicide or rape evidence such as sheets and blankets do not receive preliminary forensic testing at the Police Department because space is not available, Ricks said. Investigative files remain in offices stacked in boxes beside desks and along the walls.

The Committee to Stop Higher Property Taxes led by Rice, former Mayor Randel Shadid and developer Pete Reeser collected more than $14,000 in contributions to defeat the Nov. 4 ballot proposal for a property tax to fund the proposed Public Safety Center, Shadid has said.

The political action committee voiced opposition last year to the ballot initiative due to ad valorem tax, cost, size and the proposed location at Barnett Field at Main Street and Kelly.

A city survey found that voters agree there is a need for a Public Safety Center in Edmond but had objected to its funding mechanism.

“I’ve done some studying,” Rice said. “I’m hoping as this task force moves forward and the Public Safety Center issue comes up, that they look at more of a MAPS-type project more than just the Public Safety Center.

Oklahoma City voters approved the Metropolitan Area Projects sales tax in 1993. The capital improvement program has resulted in upgraded cultural, convention, sports and entertainment programs.

“With Oklahoma City getting ready to propose their new MAPS project and the successes they’ve had, and in talking about downtown, we really need to pay attention to downtown (Edmond) now before we lose what we have,” Rice said.

Rice proposes that the City of Edmond purchase all 33 parcels of land from Edmond Road to Sixth Street, and then from Broadway to the railroad tracks. The city already owns nine of these parcels, a total of 2.4 acres, he said. Private owners own 5.4 acres and public rights-of-way include 3 acres, he added. The city could purchase 10-12 acres of land in this area, he said.

“What a better location to enlarge downtown than that location right there,” Rice said. “You already have the historic (former) senior center where we can build a bridge to the market place; where we could add parking for downtown; where we could build a light rail station and an Amtrak station; where we could build a Public Safety Center and still have land left over for green space.”

Rice said the county assessor’s evaluation for all the private property is $3.2 million. The cost basis for acquiring the land would be less than $9 per square foot, he said.

“You talk about the bridge to the Festival Market Place, you could also put a pedestrian bridge over the railroad tracks to the … old historic lumber yard and the pecan orchard,” Rice said. “That can be incorporated, and now you’re talking about a 15- to 20-acre inner-city park or facility.”

Rice said the potential benefits of an Edmond MAPS project would be an economic boon for Edmond in the same way the OSBI Forensic Science Center and the University of Central Oklahoma Forensics Science Institute are attracting state lawmakers to consider relocating the Medical Examiner’s office on the UCO campus.

“I’m here looking at my fifth-generation grandchildren living in town and the long-term interests of Edmond,” Rice said. “Not just public safety, let’s look at the whole picture.”