Oklahoma: HIV Clinic Pushed Into Zoning Fight

A zoning dispute could force one of Oklahoma's busiest HIV testing sites to relocate next month. For the past year, Health Outreach Prevention Education Inc. (H.O.P.E.) has been operating in a mobile structure behind Tulsa's Community of Hope Church at 2545 S. Yale Ave. The clinic has several contracts with the state Department of Health, and it conducted around 3,000 HIV tests in 2004, said H.O.P.E. Executive Director Kristi Frisbie.

On May 18, H.O.P.E. was cited for zoning violations after a neighbor complained that the mobile building was being used for HIV testing, according to city records. Central to the debate is whether an HIV testing clinic is an appropriate accessory use for Community of Hope, which was created in 1993 to reach out to the local HIV/AIDS community. The testing site is an integral part of the church's mission, said the Rev. Leslie Penrose, its pastor.

In May 2004, the Tulsa Board of Adjustment approved a special exception for the church to use the mobile building for accessory use. H.O.P.E.'s permit to use a mobile structure expired May 26. The clinic is raising money to eventually build a permanent structure on church land.

The development services director in the Tulsa Public Works Department, Jack Page, said the city would not take action against H.O.P.E. until the Board of Adjustment hears the case at its July 12 meeting.

Frisbie said she was not certain where the clinic would go if forced to move. Jeff Hunter, community services division director at the state Health Department's HIV/STD services, said, "HIV prevention in Tulsa would be crippled without H.O.P.E."

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