The issue of landscaping a 40-foot buffer zone behind the Medical Arts Center will again be a matter of discussion at tonight's Altus City Council meeting, but it will be behind closed doors.

The council will meet in executive session for confidential communications regarding pending litigation between the city and property owner Forrest Ray who, on Sept. 6, was granted a temporary restraining order against the city curbing any actions or demands by the city regarding landscaping of a 40-foot buffer zone behind the center on East Broadway.

At the regular meeting of the Altus City Council on Sept. 4, Ray and co-owner Dr. Charles Carter were handed a deadline to comply with the rezoning contract established in October 2005 that requires them to install the landscaping and otherwise keep the property maintained and pleasing to the eye.

The council voted unanimously (with one council member, Sid Willis, absent) to send a letter to the property owners on Sept. 7 requiring them to present a landscaping plan by Sept. 24 and an additional 30 days to complete the landscaping project, remove tree stumps on the property and to remove an existing driveway and curbs.

A group that calls itself Concerned Citizens of East Commerce had asked that the city take action to force compliance by Oct. 18.

The order signed Sept. 6 decrees that “the City of Altus, its agents, servants, representatives, and all persons acting by and under its authority or in concert with them are restrained from making any demands upon the Plaintiff or taking any action with regards to the Plaintiff and landscaping of the Medical Arts Building on East Broadway in Altus, OK.”

The other major item of iterest at the meeting will be a vote to approve a resolution to apply for a quarter-million dollar grant from the Oklahoma Military Strategic Planning Commission to be used for joint use and development of the Windy Trails Golf Course on Altus Air Force Base.

The resolution would authorize the city to provide a 10 percent match, or $25,000.

The city had previously been awarded $200,000 by the commission: $180,000 for purchase of land adjacent to the base and $20,000 for aircrew recruitment. The new grant is deemed necessary to guard against encroachment at the base that would become an obstacle to the base's growth and hurt its potential to acquire a new mission.