EDMOND — The city’s effort to drive downtown economic development has attracted national attention by the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

Mayor Patrice Douglas learned this week she is one of eight mayors in the U.S. chosen to take part in the Mayors’ Design Institute scheduled for April at Tulane University in Louisiana.

Douglas will meet with nationally ranked architects specializing in the historic preservation of old buildings. Also included will be a nationally ranked city planner and landscaping design expert. She met with the group in Edmond this week.

“I showed them three projects, all of which focused on our downtown,” Douglas told The Edmond Sun.

The group chose to focus on a redesign concept for the Edmond Police station building should the property be vacated for building the proposed Public Safety Center. They also will consider how a Public Safety Center could be placed on land the city purchased recently on the southwest corner of Littler and Hurd for $435,000 including closing costs.

Douglas emphasized that the City Council has yet to designate a location for the proposed Public Safety Center. Voters nixed a property tax in 2008 that would have funded a new $31.4 million, 83,000-square-foot facility at Main and Kelly.

A 2005 needs assessment study revealed that Edmond’s downtown police station is outmoded due to its limited space and configuration. The proposed building would house the Edmond Police Department, the Central Communications Department and the Emergency Management Department.

Her three-day stay in New Orleans will be paid for by a grant and not cost the City of Edmond a dime. Of equal importance for the Mayors’ Design Institute will be providing a concept of best use for the Downtown Community Center.

“The critical piece is the redesign of the buildings that will remain standing,” Douglas said. “And we know for certain that the police station will.”

Douglas will share her views about the Public Safety Center at a City Council workshop set for 3 p.m. Monday at the Council Chamber, 20 S. Littler. She will request a timeline for the proposed project.

Speaking for herself, Douglas said the Public Safety Center is the most pressing capital need in Edmond. She identified the proposed Intelligent Transportation System as the city’s top traffic priority.

ITS is a fiber-optic, wireless or hybrid communication system of monitoring road events and equipment in the field, archiving data and predicting traffic volume, said Kent Kacir, an engineer with Kimley-Horn and Associates. ITS would help manage special event traffic in the city to improve public safety.

“We need to keep our eye on those two balls while we go through this budgeting process,” Douglas said. “ITS has to be done and the No. 1 building that we need to make sure we’re looking out for the benefit of Edmond citizens is the Public Safety Center.”

Douglas said she will argue for a trigger to begin development of the safety center once the local economy improves. However, she said the current national recession is not a good time to ask for a new tax.

“I think it would likely fail and I’m not willing to see it fail again,” Douglas said.

Construction costs are lower now compared to two years ago, she mentioned. So the city must be shovel-ready when economic conditions warrant, she explained.

Douglas will ask the City Council Monday for all the preliminary work regarding preparations for a public safety center be completed. She will ask for two subcommittees, one to focus on the scale and scope of the proposed Public Safety Center.

“I’m frankly going to ask for them to let me chair the funding subcommittee,” she said. “We still have Council people who are in disagreement and are unsure of scale and scope. We need to nail down the size and cost of that project.”

Douglas said she will advocate for more than one stream of funding because she never has been a fan of raising taxes. A sales tax remains a possibility, she added. A small revenue stream to fund the center may be made possible by state funding, Douglas said. The city’s $8 million Hospital Trust Fund would be another practical source of potential funding, she said.

“I think we need to have the answers (voters) asked about last time about ‘What are you going to do with that spare building and what are you going to do with the space?’” she said. “And so that Tulane study will help us a lot.”



jcoburn@edmondsun.com | 341-2121, ext. 114