-
City of Edmond City Council Meeting
The Edmond City Council Monday approved modifications to Citylink Routes 3 and 6 and the relocation of the Citylink Transfer Center from its current location at Festival MarketPlace to West 3rd Street, West of South Broadway.
Christy Batterson, Housing and Community Development Manager, Planning/Zoning, told the City Council the move is to help with the increase of businesses that need to utilize the FMP more efficiently as well as the concern of safety for all with the influx of people visiting that area.
“Even though we have signs dedicated for our buses, it's a good problem to have as busy as downtown is, but it's not safe for our passengers and it's not safe for our drivers,” she said. “Our drivers have to worry about enough things around them and we've had several accidents recently of vehicles backing into the buses because they don't see our buses behind them when they're backing up in this area. By moving to the 3rd street location, we hope to have a more efficient and safer environment for our passengers as well as other residents of Edmond.”
Route changes and additions that were recommended by the Edmond Shift Mobility Plan were approved by Council at the Oct. 10, 2022, meeting.
Since then, Batterson said they have identified Route 3 as a route that needs to be adjusted for route efficiency and timeliness.
“We are recommending changing Route 3 to an out and back rather than a loop,” she said. “By doing this one stop that is currently served by Route 3 and Route 6, would only be served by Route 6. However, we do not feel this is a reduction rather than an improvement in service quality.”
In other matters, the Council approved a Professional Services Contract with Brandstetter Carroll, Inc. Architects for the Police Lake Patrol Building and Parks Office Building Project at a cost of $731,469.00.
Police Chief JD Younger told the Council the Edmond Police Department Lake patrol was housed in a residential property until 2015 when major issues were discovered with the structure.
He said they leased a small building from the US Army Corps of Engineers until a permanent solution was identified. In 2017 it was determined a new Lake Patrol headquarters building would be needed.
Younger said while this building will serve as a Lake Patrol headquarters it is being designed with space to allow it to be used as a substation if desired and the design will be scalable to allow expansion in the future, if needed.
He said while working on this project the Police Department reached out to other city departments to determine whether a joint project was possible and if doing so could result in savings for the city. The Parks Department expressed an interest in participating in a joint project based on recent developments in their Arcadia Lake Master Plan.
In January 2023, as part of the Arcadia Lake Master Plan project, the City performed a public survey to determine what improvements citizen’s desire to see funded. The survey yielded responses from 4,029 people. The new or improved amenity that ranked the highest was a lakeside restaurant. The Arcadia Lake Needs Analysis & Master Plan identified a potential restaurant site in Central State Park, in the vicinity of the existing Arcadia Lake Park Office. The master plan notes that at this location “patrons of the restaurant will be able to walk to the existing overlook and walk down to the water’s edge and will experience wonderful views of the lake from this location”. Besides the natural aesthetic benefits of the location, the condition and functionality of the Arcadia Lake Park Office has also been considered.
The current Lake Office is original to the site and does not meet the current and future needs of staff. The office lacks sufficient office and meeting space in addition to deteriorating building and structural conditions.
Considering the unique setting that Central State Park location provides, and the functionality of the existing park office the master plan suggests locating a new lake park office at Edmond Park. In addition to the opportunity to save money by developing a shared facility with the Police Department, the location also gets guest services to a more convenient location. Similarly, lake operations will be more efficient as the location is more centrally located to the areas where services are being provided.
While each department has individual needs for the facility, locating the buildings on the same site will reduce costs through sharing components such as a parking lot and driveway, for example. Further efficiencies of a shared facility are likely to be realized through the design process.
“This significant milestone project that's really been on your radar since 2017,” Younger said. “While the current intent is for a Lake Patrol facility, we are designing it on a footprint that could be expanded depending on what services that area of the city needs into the future. Another reason that this has kind of taken a little bit of time to bring together is City staff has been talking for several years about what services we should co-locate there to make better use out of this structure. I think the staff did a really good job looking at what we need now, potentially what we'll need in the future.”