Their decision on the rezoning application is expected at the council’s 6 p.m. meeting Monday.
Last month, the city’s planning and zoning commission voted to deny the application request made by Center Point, Inc. and its partner Howard Memorial Baptist Church, which is located on the southeast corner of Reno and Sunnylane Road.
The two organizations would like to transform the church into a correctional facility for up to 200 inmates. Then the church would minister to the offenders preparing for release, while in turn, Center Point would build a new church for the dwindling congregation.
The agreement between the two parties involves a 20-year-lease to Center Point for $1 per year.
The commission’s unanimous decision to put the brakes on the project serves only as a recommendation to councilmembers, who have final say on the matter, and will hold their own public hearing and discussion Monday.
At the June 28 planning and zoning meeting, commissioners sat through a three-hour discussion attended by concerned residents and community leaders voicing opposition. Church and Center Point officials also attended, but the general consensus on their presentation was that it contained too many deficiencies to warrant approval.
Most of the people at the meeting said they did not want the proposed correctional facility to be relocated from its Oklahoma City location to Del City.
Mayor Brian Linley said Center Point kept “soft-peddling.” Ward 2 councilman Bill Giles said he was looking forward to hearing more information he didn’t hear at the commission meeting before making his final decision Monday.
Both councilmembers were in attendance at the June 28 meeting, as was Sam Tesney of Ward 1.
“It was a very emotional meeting and I listened to the pros and cons of it,” Giles said.
The councilman said he has driven by the church and the surrounding neighborhood trying to gather as much information as possible, he said.
Leading up to Monday’s meeting, Giles said he has not received a lot of public input regarding the proposed correctional facility and was trying to “keep an open mind” even though there was a lot of opposition expressed at the commission meeting.
Tesney, however, had no comment about the prison proposal.
Ward 3 Councilman Ken Bartlett and Ward 4 Councilman Mike Grimmett could not be reached for comment.