Reconstruction Of NW OKC Property Creates Conflict With Neighbors

Jennifer Pierce, News 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- A decade-old eye sore in a Northwest Oklahoma City neighborhood is getting a facelift. The only problem is that some of the people who live near it don't want to see it change.

It is not a home, and not a business. It has sat empty for years. The city council unanimously voted today to rezone the rundown lot from residential to commercial.

"I just don't understand why it's necessary to force this upon us," Pat Greggs said.

That's her reaction to the city council's vote to rezone this lot down the street from her house.

Greggs and a number of other neighbors near northwest 62nd and Portland are at odds over plans to transform this property.

"It was something I was excited about that someone was actually going to look into making this property, you know, attractive," Joey Griffith said.

Amit Gumman wants to tear down this dilapidated building and build his own oasis of health.

"We are really excited about this plan and hope it will be a great landmark for the city," Gumman said.

Gumman practices Eastern medicine and wants to relocate his office here. He says it's a perfect spot.

"It's going to be a beautiful building it's going to be like a buffer between this chaotic intersection so it's going to be like an oasis in the middle of the chaos," Gumman said.

Some residents say his office will create the opposite. They worry about patients driving through the neighborhood or getting into accidents trying to get out of the parking lot into a busy intersection.

Gumman thinks the neighborhood will eventually embrace his idea. He has owned the property for two years and has gone door to door to talk to neighbors, even got a petition of support.

The doctor still has to get permits to build. He says that will happen in a couple months.