Ponca City School Board Agrees On Proposal To Family In Eminent Domain Case Involving Elderly Woman

There has been a development in a legal fight over an elderly woman's property and the Ponca City School District, which wants to build a new athletic field where she lives.

The school district on Thursday said its school board came up with a proposal to give to the family.

In a statement the school district said it is "confident this proposal will benefit both the Welch family and the students" at the district, but is not publicly saying what the proposal includes.

Attorneys for the family said they have not seen the proposal yet.

92-year-old Frances Welch's lawyer said she has lived in the same Ponca City house for most of her life. It was built by her father and grandfather.

"She should be embraced instead of kicked to the curb,” Randy Miller, who represents the family, said.

Miller is fighting for Frances to live out the rest of her life in her home. He said Frances has dementia.

"But she can recognize where she is,” Miller said. “And she has the routines that goes through inside this house because she's still ambulatory. She can still walk around."

Her property is adjacent to the high school. The school district said last fall, Ponca City voters approved a bond that included a new indoor space and a new outdoor athletic field for football, soccer, band, and other activities.

In a Facebook post, the district said, "Doing this now allows time for planning and design to continue on schedule... in order to break ground on this property by Jan. 1, 2023.”

"The school board needs to meet with us,” Miller said. “There needs to be some compassion. There needs to be some practical solution. And they're there - we're already talking about those things that will work. If they would just sit down and meet with us."

Randy said he plans to go to the next school board meeting later this month to see the board in person.

"We're certainly going to appear at that and address the school board in that meeting but it's something we could work out right now,” Miller said.

More than 5,000 people have signed an online petition supporting Welch. The school district declined to do an interview Thursday.