New Development Deal To 'Change The Face Of Sand Springs'

Sand Springs is one step closer to getting the economic and public safety boost it has been waiting for.

Back in September, city councilors approved a development agreement with OmniTRAX; Tuesday, city leaders and OmniTRAX representatives met to further iron out the deal.

The old Gerdau steel mill is quiet and the lot is overgrown after sitting empty for years. In that time, OmniTRAX bought the land and is now selling a portion to the city of Sand Springs.

Chief Mike Carter with Sand Springs Police said, "It's going to change the face of Sand Springs and bring this development to life."

To buy the property and build on it, the City used money from the Vision sales tax voters renewed last year. The money will also go to road widening projects to accommodate heavier traffic.

"This is bringing more jobs to our community, it's bringing more opportunity through retail and it's improving our public safety," Carter said.

At the start of the year, buildings along Highway 97 frontage road will be torn down to make room - about 30 acres total.

Carter said, "You have the purple area here, it represents where they are going to try to do retail development. And then you have the blue area that represents the public safety facility."

The Sand Springs police chief has been working closely with other city leaders and OmniTRAX. For the last two years, OmniTRAX has operated out of some of the space; they'll keep operating when the development is finished.

"What they've done is a lot of improvements to train schedules and things that have minimized the traffic obstructions that we used to have in the past," Carter said.

He said the city has been yearning for something more and is optimistic the public will be pleased when they see the vision start to grow.

Once the new public safety building is done, other city offices will take over the old building.

As for the list of retailers, the city isn't releasing that just yet.