Woodward, Okla. — City Commissioners changed their minds on the rezoning of 5406 Oklahoma Ave from I-2 general industrial to I-3 industrial district after hearing more protests about a possible scrap metal facility being placed on the property.

Commissioners met Monday Oct. 15 to take action on the second reading and final adoption of 3 re-zoning requests that were initially approved, though not unanimously, on Oct. 1. Only 3 of the 5 commissioners were on hand for Monday’s meeting - Mayor Roscoe Hill, Gary Goetzinger and Bill Fanning.

The first request was the property located at 5406 Oklahoma Ave. that is owned by Paul Lord and was being looked at as a possible scrap metal recycling center.

Don Gaston, who owns property adjacent to 5406 Oklahoma that is being leased to Impact Casing, presented a restricted covenant filed in 1981 that would not allow the placement of a scrap facility in the industrial park.

Petra Sullender, who also spoke at the first meeting, voiced more concerns about the possible facility.

Sullender said that she had gotten calls from people concerned the Woodward facility would look like the Thomas Metals facility in Shattuck that has metal and old tires stored there.

"I believe this will create an eyesore as  you enter Woodward from the west and take away from all of the work the community has done to clean up over the last few years," she said.

Sullender was also concerned about nose, dust, soil and water contamination and possible mosquito infestation with old tires being stacked around.

Shawn Thomas of Thomas Metals was at the meeting and tried to address the concerns.

He said the facility is Shattuck is used to store material until an ideal price becomes available at market.

"We pull material from other facilities and place it in Shattuck to be shipped by rail," he said. "Woodward would be just a retail location where people would bring their scrap metal to sell and it would be bundled and shipped either to Shattuck or another location from there."

Thomas said the reason tires are piled up in Shattuck is because they accumulate them until they get a buyer who wants them to shred.

"We don't want to be perceived as junk dealers," Thomas said.

The company also has facilities in Oklahoma City and Thomas said they work closely with law enforcement to catch those less than desirable people that sometimes  come into the scrap metal business.

"We look closely at all the materials that come in and have even had subjects arrested in our yard for the theft of what they are bringing into the facility," he said.

Thomas also said that they do their own phase 1 screenings and that no hazardous materials are allowed in their yards.

"We are property owners too and we are concerned about what our neighbors do as well," Thomas said.

Paul Lord voiced his backing of this project.

He showed pictures of area businesses and what their yards look like and said that it isn't any different than any of the other industrial businesses located nearby.

"We choose Woodward as a place to live, and we don't want anything that will be detrimental to the growth of Woodward," Lord said.

He pointed out the Shattuck yard is located on 10 acres where the Woodward facility is just 2 acres.

"This is just not enough room for that much storage here, Woodward would be a transfer and buying station only," he said.

Goetzinger said he had gotten several calls after the first meeting, with people being very concerned about a recycling facility going in.

Goetzinger, who voted to rezone the property the first time, said after hearing from neighbors and other citizens it would be very hard for him to continue to back this ordinance.

After much discussion the 3 commissioners turned down the rezoning ordinance.

Commissioners did once again approve the other 2 zoning ordinances.

One would change the zoning at 1423 Texas from C-1 neighborhood shopping district to C-2 general commercial district to allow for a storage facility.

Fanning, who voted against the rezoning 2 weeks ago, said he had spoken to the Mosher family, who originally protested the rezoning, and they had told him that they were good with proposed change.

The third rezoning ordinance was approved changing an area near 17th and Webster from R-2 general resident district to C-2 commercial district to allow for construction of a storage facility.

There were no protests. Goetzinger had originally voted against the change, but voted for it on this occasion.

Next the commissioners heard from Barrett L. Williamson, architect on the Streetscape project.

Two bids were received and they selected one from CGC, LLC for a total of $1,485,063.48.

"ODOT (Oklahoma Department of Transportation) has done work with this company in the past and they really seemed to like working with them,"  Williamson said.

Williamson said the improvements that will be made along Main Street should start within 30 days of approval from ODOT.

Alan Riffel said that plans for the Streetscape project have been in the works since 2007, and they have come a long way.

"We realize that the majority of the construction will be taking place during the busiest time of the year for all the retailers downtown," Williamson said.

He is asking businesses to please be patient and to allow alley access, if possible, to their customers since they will not be able to park out front.

"The work that is going to take place will make every business and sidewalk along Main Street handicap accessible," he said.

The plans include new sidewalks, landscaping at intersections, historic street lamps, a historic stop light at 9th Street and the removal of the stop lights at 8th and 10th Streets that will be replaced with 4-way stops, Williamson said.

"The construction is contracted for 180 days and if they go over that mark, then the contractors will be charged $1,000 per day that they are over," he said.

Rick Schlegel will be the inspector for this project, and will hold weekly meetings with the construction manager and the business owners.

These meetings will be used for communication between all parties involved and a place for business owners to voice their concerns with the ongoing construction, Schlegel said.

Williamson said they are not sure if the construction will go block by block or if they will work one side of the street then back down the other.

Commissioners voted to accept the bid and improvement plans, which will now need ODOT approval before construction can start.

Commissioners also met briefly in executive session to discuss, according to the agenda, "to discuss the purchase or appraisal of real property." No action was scheduled or taken after the executive session.

Meeting as the Woodward Municipal Authority, commissioners approved a lease agreement between the municipal authority and UNIVAR USA, Inc. regarding property adjacent to a railroad spur in the industrial park near the airport.