Iron Gate Soup Kitchen Hits Roadblock For Another Tulsa Location

A downtown soup kitchen trying to find a new home has run into another roadblock.

The Downtown Coordinating Council is recommending Tulsa’s Board of Adjustment deny plans for Iron Gate Ministries to move to a lot near 7th and Kenosha.

People expressed concerns about traffic hazards and it affecting future economic growth for the area.

The soup kitchen has money to build a larger facility to feed the hungry, but they've had trouble finding a new space.

10/25/2016 Related Story:Iron Gate, Hoping To Expand, Hits Another Snag

As part of Iron Gate's $9 million capital campaign, the new kitchen will blend in with area buildings, have a large dining room and space inside for people to wait in line.

The charity presented its plans to the Downtown Coordinating Council, which oversees development inside Tulsa's IDL, and its recommendation can influence the Board of Adjustment's approval for Iron Gate to move there.

Architects presented renderings of the facility which would be much larger than its current space at a Trinity Episcopal Church at 5th and Cincinnati. The dining room would be four times larger than the previous space and would have fewer people waiting outside, they said.

"I think yes it's a needed facility, but if you're asking me if this is the right place, it this the highest and best use for them and the area I would have to say no," Wilson White said.

White, a potential neighbor, doesn’t think the Iron Gate location falls within the guidelines of the downtown master plan.

"We want residential. We want businesses, we want bars, restaurants, we want economic development, we want people moving back in, coming back in and feeling good to come in on the weekends, bring their family and walk around,” he said.

Landowners at the DCC meeting expressed concerns over potential traffic hazards because the kitchen would increase foot traffic around highway ramps that feed into and out of downtown.

"I think it's a 'NIMBY' always," Michael Sager said. "Not in my backyard. The population are disenfranchised folks and sometimes it's tough to deal with, it's tough to have it in your face." 

Sager, who owns property at 3rd and Peoria – which has already been rejected as a site for Iron Gate – thinks the new location could become a traffic issue for people walking to the new kitchen.

"I don't think a pedestrian needs to be crossing a freeway on-ramp or off-ramp, and certainly an area that's only increasing in traffic," Sager said.

Iron Gate said their own traffic engineer thinks the site is workable with the right traffic lighting and signage, which Iron Gate would pay for.

Again, the Downtown Coordinating Council denial is just a recommendation. The Board of Adjustment must make the final decision on the project on November 17th.

The Rev. Steve Whitaker with John 3:16 Mission said the kitchen is essential, but he would like it closer to the mission west of the Brady Arts District.