Low-income seniors will eventually have another housing option after Ardmore city commissioners approved rezoning 1.35 acres on the city’s east side for an elderly housing complex during their regularly scheduled meeting Monday.
The project, which will be developed by Big Five Community Service Inc., is located behind Dunbar School on the east side of Burton Street SE between East Main Street and 1st Avenue SE. Big Five plans to build four separate buildings that will contain a total of 14 one-bedroom units. The project, which will also include a small community center with laundry and office, is designed so its low-income residents can live independently in an environment that provides support activities such as cleaning, cooking and transportation.
The commissioners also approved conditional use permits for two second-floor apartments at 23 and 25 B Street SW and a duplex at 1010 Carter Street SE.
They also approved a $31,146 bid from Progressive Technology Federal Systems Inc. to digitize the historical information in Ardmore Public Library’s McGalliard Historical Collection, compiled by local historian William A. “Mac” McGalliard.
APL secured approximately $3,500 in donations earlier this year to be used as matching funds for a Oklahoma Humanities Council grant that will pay for part of the project. The remainder of the funding will come from the library’s capital improvement fund.
The digitization effort, which began as an Oklahoma Centennial Project, has also been designated as a We the People historical project through the National Endowment for the Humanities.
McGalliard’s collection consists of photographs, documents, letters, maps and memorabilia documenting Ardmore’s history up through the 1970s. Currently kept in file cabinets, the plan is to have the collection stored digitally to protect it and to allow it to be accessed by a wider range of people.
The collection was donated to the library in 1980. Since then, many people have used its information for personal research and publishing projects. The Oklahoma Historical Society’s application for the National Register of Historic Places lists the McGalliard Historical Collection as one of the resources the public can use to get information about historical buildings.
In other business, the commissioners approved:
- A resolution granting the Hardy Murphy Trust Authority permission to borrow $100,000 to build a new covered riding arena;
- A bid of $969,540.76 from Overland Corporation for the 2008-09 street improvement overlay program; and
- A cross-deputation agreement between the Ardmore Police Department and the Chickasaw Nation’s Lighthorse Police Department.
Steve Biehn, 221-6546
