Developers of the proposed “iTy” project of eight tiny houses at Sixth and Colorado say they are providing what is recommended in the “Onward Chickasha” Comprehensive Plan that the City Council adopted March 17.
The introduction to the 316-page document mentions housing policies that “should cover a wide range of essentials … including diverse housing options, affordability, safe and high-quality homes…” Local residents have “expressed a clear desire for diverse, high-quality housing options that preserve the city’s historic character while meeting modern needs,” the Comprehensive Plan relates in Goal 1.
Chickasha already needs more housing and probably will need a lot more in the nottoo- distant future.
Entrepreneur Chet Hitt, a California native who has bought a house in Chickasha and has invested several million dollars in downtown revitalization projects, now intends to develop an industrial park on 284 acres he bought adjacent to the municipal airport.
A key element of his plan is a data center powered by an electric generating plant. But Hitt also has scheduled a business recruitment trip to southern California in early October. “We’re going to poke the bear in Governor Newsom’s back yard,” Hitt said.
“My plan,” he told Southwest Ledger, “is to host a seminar for 300 to 400 California business people – particularly in the aerospace industry – and ‘sell’ them on Chickasha and how we could customize a business site and a workforce specifically for them.”
California business owners are likely candidates for relocation because construction costs are cheaper in Oklahoma than they are in California; bureaucratic regulations are not as onerous here as they are there; plus taxes, utility bills, and the cost of living in Oklahoma are much lower than in California.
“We want to recruit entrepreneurs who are looking to create jobs,” said Hitt, a resident of Apple Valley, California, who has invested perhaps $5 million or more in Chickasha in the last two and a half years.
“We’re going out there for the jobs, rather than waiting for them to come to us,” he said. “A group of us are working on marketing the whole community, showing what Chickasha has to offer,” Hitt said. “We not only want to bring them here, we want to keep them here.”
The industrial park plans could conceivably generate 3,000 or more jobs over the next decade, Mayor Zach Grayson believes. “If even half of what I’ve been told is possible actually happens, it will change Chickasha’s trajectory as a community.”
In a letter of support for the Earthly Dwellings project, state Rep. Brad Boles, R-Marlow, wrote that affordable housing is “no longer a mere buzzword but a critical necessity.”
The future of Chickasha’s housing landscape “depends on bold decisions made today,” the lawmaker said. “By embracing inclusive zoning, innovative design” and “practical housing solutions … we can create a city that meets the needs of all residents.”
Jordan Vinyard, art professor and dean of visual and performing arts at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma, also wrote a letter in support of the Earthly Dwellings project.
“I believe this initiative presents a wealth of opportunities for meaningful engagement and connection, particularly with current and former USAO students.”
Vinyard said he and Earthly Dwellings founder David Lewis have discussed “development of an ‘Artist in Residency’ program.” It would “meet a growing need at the university by providing housing for resident artists and practitioners who could significantly enrich the institution’s academic and cultural programming.”
The program also has “the potential to serve as a dynamic bridge between the university and the broader Chickasha community,” Vinyard wrote.