By D.E. Smoot

Phoenix Staff Writer



City councilors pushed forward with plans to build a facility to accommodate overflow parking at the Veterans Affairs Call Center despite protests from a resident who would be displaced.

A resolution approved Monday by a 7-1 vote states the move is necessary and proper and fulfills a public purpose. That purpose, officials said, is to facilitate future growth at the call center and alleviate parking problems that plague surrounding neighborhoods.

Vice Mayor Robert Perkins cast the sole dissenting vote. Ward IV Councilor Jackie Luckey abstained because he is employed by the call center. Mayor John Tyler Hammons and Ward II Councilor James Gulley, who voted against the measure a week ago, joined the majority vote Monday.

City Manager Greg Buckley said one property owner who had asked councilors to delay the vote until he could bring his plan for a parking lot is now “open to negotiation.”

Another area homeowner who lodged an objection during the Public Works Committee meeting said all he wants is “fair compensation.” Orlin Phillips said he had no problems with the call center, just with those involved with earlier acquisition negotiations.

“If you’re determined to take this property, I just want a fair price,” said Phillips, who owns two of the five tracts needed for the parking project. “I don’t want to take this to court to get just compensation, but I will.”

The resolution approved Monday authorizes the city to begin acquiring through negotiation or condemnation five tracts of land. If property owners refuse to sell, the city has the power of eminent domain by which it can condemn the property and take it through legal proceedings.

The area targeted for the parking project is bounded by F and G streets to the west and east and Callahan Street and East Broadway to the north and south. The company that owns the building in which the call center operates was able to buy some of the parcels required for the project. That property will be gifted to the city.

Once the property is acquired and the parking lot built, the property will be conveyed to the Muskogee Parking Authority. The authority, a public trust,  would realize a financial benefit by leasing space to the call center.

Buckley said the parking project is needed to promote economic development. The VA is Muskogee’s largest employer.

The call center, Buckley said, employs about 350 people. Plans to expand operations there would add an additional 75 to 100  jobs. Buckley said the proposed parking lot would facilitate those expansion plans and “help significantly reduce the impact of parking” in the surrounding neighborhoods.

Ward III Councilor Randy Howard expressed some regrets about his support of the resolution, but cast an affirmative vote “for the greater good of the city.”

Reach D.E. Smoot at (918) 684-2901 or dsmoot@muskogeephoenix.com.