Scissortail Park

[Pete]

I wouldn't say the Cusack property "barely overlaps" Scissortail Park.

In the graphic below you can see the decision not to acquire the Cusack land takes a big bite out of the park and caused the city to completely abandon plans for a dog park.

[Zuplar]

Yeah their parking lot is not worth anywhere near $7 million. These guys must be high. Huge letdown they weren't able to come to terms and figure out some other way to turn around semi's so there wasn't a huge chunk taken out of the lower park.

[Pete]

Yeah their parking lot is not worth anywhere near $7 million. These guys must be high. Huge letdown they weren't able to come to terms and figure out some other way to turn around semi's so there wasn't a huge chunk taken out of the lower park.

The city withdrew their eminent domain case because if they were to take that one lot, Cusack would have lost the ability to load and unload trucks and their entire business would have to be replaced and built to current health codes, hence the huge price tag.

The courts would have set the fair market price through an independent evaluation board and then the city would have been bound by that amount, which is why they dropped the case before things went too far.

It seems Cusack doesn't need all of that lot but things got sideways between the two parties and now the city has completely backed out.

[BoulderSooner]

The city withdrew their eminent domain case because if they were to take that one lot, Cusack would have lost the ability to load and unload trucks and their entire business would have to be replaced and built to current health codes, hence the huge price tag.

The courts would have set the fair market price through an independent evaluation board and then the city would have been bound by that amount, which is why they dropped the case before things went too far.

It seems Cusack doesn't need all of that lot but things got sideways between the two parties and now the city has completely backed out.

I would say that the city withdrew their case because that is what cusack would have argued (whether it is true or not ). And the city attorney’s decided that the risk of a loss in the ed court process was too great. As you said the city would have been bound by the ed panel ruling. Was that a 50% risk 25%. ?? Who is to say Either way the city took the conserve route in this matter

[Johnb911]

I'm curious to see what happens when that part of the park gets built. Does Cusack sell for a boatload of money to a developer? My money (of which there is very little) is on 'yes'

[jn1780]

I'm curious to see what happens when that part of the park gets built. Does Cusack sell for a boatload of money to a developer? My money (of which there is very little) is on 'yes'

Hopefully the city can get the gravel parking lot for a fair price at that point.

[Zuplar]

Like was mentioned Cusack doesn't need the whole lot. Not sure why they couldn't come to some accord where at minimum the City could have purchased most of the lot for a fair value and have only a small section where the trucks could still turn around. Instead they want to make what I consider to be an outrageous claim that the gravel lot is detrimental to their ability to load and unload trucks. I don't buy that argument, but at the end of the day what is done is done. It's very disappointing but like with any public project there are bound to be letdowns.

[Pete]

^

If the city wasn't pretty darn sure that Cusack had a strong case for a high value of that property they would not have dropped their eminent domain action.

[Jersey Boss]

^^^ This. Maybe Cussack saw how OG&E made out quite handsomely and wanted to get their beak wet as well.

[Zuplar]

^

If the city wasn't pretty darn sure that Cusack had a strong case for a high value of that property they would not have dropped their eminent domain action.

I get it. and I get it.

What I'm saying is it's a shame there wasn't some middle ground. Like was stated they don't use the full lot. It's too bad they couldn't have come to terms on the excess, separated the portion that is a gravel lot, and sold the rest to the city, and then minimized how much of a cut out that is there.

[Rover]

^^^ This. Maybe Cussack saw how OG&E made out quite handsomely and wanted to get their beak wet as well.

I don't think what they paid OGE would have factored into valuation there, would it?

It seems natural that the OGE property was more strategically located for the huge CC investment. While not including the Cusack location is inconvenient for the city and would have improved the park, it isn't nearly as strategic or valuable to the city.

[Pete]

What I'm saying is it's a shame there wasn't some middle ground. Like was stated they don't use the full lot. It's too bad they couldn't have come to terms on the excess, separated the portion that is a gravel lot, and sold the rest to the city, and then minimized how much of a cut out that is there.

I completely agree.

Cusack doesn't need that entire empty lot.

[RodH]

If Cusack had really wanted to deal they could have traded that lot for adjacent property on the west side of Harvey.

[Pete]

If Cusack had really wanted to deal they could have traded that lot for adjacent property on the west side of Harvey.

Certainly a middle ground could have been reached.

But my understanding is that the docks for Cusack are on the east side and that empty lot is needed to position the trucks.

If they relocate the docks or undertook any major change to that setup, it wold have triggered a whole bunch of modern codes due to their industry.

So in the end, it would have made more sense to just relocate and build anew, and that's why this whole thing was so expensive.

Not unlike what we were told about OG&E having to relocate their facility.

[Zuplar]

That kind of brings up another question, and I certainly don't want to accuse them of anything because I just don't know, but does that mean they are operating on old codes? Kind of would make me not want to do business with a meat company that doesn't adhere to how we do things nowadays. There are a lot of things in general that we used to do that aren't acceptable anymore, so it's just interesting to think about.

[Pete]

That kind of brings up another question, and I certainly don't want to accuse them of anything because I just don't know, but does that mean they are operating on old codes? Kind of would make me not want to do business with a meat company that doesn't adhere to how we do things nowadays. There are a lot of things in general that we used to do that aren't acceptable anymore, so it's just interesting to think about.

They were quoted as saying that they are being allowed to gradually make changes due to the age of the facility, but any significant project would require them to bring everything current all at once.

Not really much different than a lot of remodeling and expansion projects, even in homes. But then you add meat handling on top of that and things get much more involved.

[bradh]

That kind of brings up another question, and I certainly don't want to accuse them of anything because I just don't know, but does that mean they are operating on old codes? Kind of would make me not want to do business with a meat company that doesn't adhere to how we do things nowadays. There are a lot of things in general that we used to do that aren't acceptable anymore, so it's just interesting to think about.

I had the same thought

[Rover]

Not really much different than a lot of remodeling and expansion projects, even in homes. But then you add meat handling on top of that and things get much more involved.

If the new codes address health issues, then it isn't like other remodeling. Seems like food handling should be required to be totally up to date, regardless of the cost if the issue is public health. Handling raw meat would seem to be high up in the concern category.

[d-usa]

I would guess it’s just standard life safety codes: fire, water, electric. No different than the issue currently going on with U-Haul.

[Zuplar]

They were quoted as saying that they are being allowed to gradually make changes due to the age of the facility, but any significant project would require them to bring everything current all at once.

Not really much different than a lot of remodeling and expansion projects, even in homes. But then you add meat handling on top of that and things get much more involved.

That's what I was guessing, which is common. And if it's like what d-usa mentioned, mostly safety, then yeah that's not a huge deal. But I agree with Rover if it has anything to do directly with the food handling, then it needs to be addressed yesterday IMO. I sure as heck hope that isn't the case because that getting out I would think would turn a lot of people off. I'm guessing that are inspected by someone and if it was a health issue they'd have to do something or be shut down.

[Pete]

It's a highly regulated industry so I'm sure whatever they are doing is fine .

In fact, you have to believe that many if not most of similar meat companies have facilities that have been around quite a while.

[hoya]

I see no reason why they couldn't incorporate some kind of space for trucks to turn around in the new park. Of course it sounds like negotiations went south real fast, and nobody was interested in reaching a solution.

[Zuplar]

It's a highly regulated industry so I'm sure whatever they are doing is fine .

In fact, you have to believe that many if not most of similar meat companies have facilities that have been around quite a while.

I agree completely. Seems like all those meat places have been in the same spot since they started. Not surprising at all.

Still kind of makes you do a double take.

[baralheia]

Thanks to Google Maps Street View, you can see the issue with regards to the location of the truck dock and how trucks use that gravel lot to turn around; this link should take you to the view where you can see how it all works. However, the thing that becomes immediately apparent when you look at it is that Cusack only really needs to hold onto that small corner, not the entire chunk of land east of Harvey.

[Pete]

^

Right and it appears the two sides are no longer interested in trying to come to terms on any of that property, which is too bad.