The City Council authorized the Lawton Industrial Development Authority to incur $40 million in debt to finance “all or a portion of the cost” of various capital improvement projects, including construction of the proposed new aquatic center, repaving Lee Boulevard, and infrastructure upgrades at Lakes Lawtonka and Ellsworth.
LIDA will issue notes in one or more series that will be repaid with revenue generated from PROPEL 2019, a 15-year capital improvements program backed by a 2.125% sales tax. The entire debt must be retired by the end of 2034, when that CIP expires, Mayor Stan Booker told Southwest Ledger. Some, but not all, of the bonds will be tax-exempt.
Projects that will be financed in whole or in part from LIDA’s $40 million in notes include:
• Resurfacing Lee Boulevard (initially from 38th Street to 67th Street, according to City Councilman George Gill): $4 million.
• Replacement of deteriorated water and sewer lines: $3 million.
• Cache Road water line replacement: $1.4 million.
• US-62 interchange (at Goodyear Boulevard): $5.5 million.
• LATS (Lawton Area Transit System) transportation improvements: $2.5 million.
• Construction of the proposed Aquatic Center in Elmer Thomas Park: $19,495,000. Design work on the aquatic center is completed and the City Council received a responsible bid. “We’re ready to award a contract” and are just waiting “until we have the money in the bank,” Councilman Gill told the Ledger recently. The goal of city officials is to have the project completed in time for the 2025 Freedom Festival, he said.
• Youth Sports Complex: $700,000. Those funds “will be used for the design work” on the indoor sports facility, which will be built south of MacArthur High School near the corner of East Gore Boulevard and Southeast 45th Street, said Caitlin Gatlin, the city’s communications manager.
• Pedestrian bridge spanning Interstate 44 at Gore Boulevard: $50,000. Those funds will pay a small bit of the $2,415,000 contract awarded to Haskell Lemon Group. Construction on that project started in July and is projected to be completed in 180 calendar days, by the end of next January, weather permitting. The work will include installation of sidewalks and pedestrian push buttons at street crossings on Gore Boulevard. Push buttons will be installed on the sidewalk crossing the I-44 entry ramp to I-44 westbound (running south) and the I-44 exit ramp from I-44 eastbound (running north). The project extends from approximately 200 feet west of Seventh Street and continues east to Southeast Interstate Drive.
• Lakes gates operation: $355,000. Gatlin said. “Basically, this will be a study and report on the gate operational policies and structural analysis of the dam gates at Lakes Ellsworth and Lawtonka,” she said. “This is an engineered hydraulic analysis that will be submitted to the Oklahoma Water Resources Board for review. We have to do this periodically to ensure dam safety and minimize downstream flooding.”
• Improvements at Lake Lawtonka and Lake Ellsworth: $3 million. Lakes Supt. Jim Bonnarens told the council those projects include repair or replace the roof and ceiling at Ralph’s Resort at Ellsworth, $70,000; replace approximately 40 fouryard front-load trash dumpsters, $30,000; demolish the east campground restroom and showers at Lake Lawtonka and install a pre-cast restroom/ shower facility that also could serve as a severe weather storm shelter, $450,000; construct a new 20-unit dry stall storage facility at Robinson’s Landing at Lake Lawtonka, and a new dry stall at Ralph’s Resort at Lake Ellsworth to replace a unit that was “decimated in a storm a few years ago,” $360,000; pave the parking area at Lake Lawtonka’s School House Slough in concrete, $650,000; improve the roads in the School House Slough campground area, $1.25 million; and install sewage lift stations at Robinson’s Landing and at School House Slough, $200,000.
Bonnarens said 33 trailers at School House Slough campsites use on-ground sewer tanks authorized by the state Department of Environmental Quality. “A lift station would allow those to be sewered and get rid of the tanks because of their potential for contamination,” he said.
The headquarters building at Lawtonka on the east side of state Highway 58 is expected to be demolished, and so is the old store at Robinson Landing, Councilman Randy Warren said. The store at Ralph’s Resort will be repaired by the City of Lawton “in hopes of bringing it back to functioning order in the future,” Gatlin said.
Steve and Sandra Perry notified city officials that they are “no longer interested in extending the lease agreement” for operation and management of Ralph’s Resort; their lease expires at the end of this year. After negotiations between city staff and the Perrys, the City Council acting as the Water Authority voted May 2 to offer the Perrys $300,000 to buy them out.
The city staff was directed to initiate a request-for-proposals for management and operation of the concession area. If a new lessee is found before the end of the year, the city and the Perrys “may agree to terminate” the agreement “prior to the normal expiration date.”
LIDA incurred $30M debt for 4 other capital projects The City Council authorized LIDA to issue $30 million in debt five months ago to finance some or all of four major capital improvement projects. Those included:
• Widening West Gore Boulevard between 67th and 82nd streets (estimated cost: $5.3 million);
• Rebuilding Goodyear Boulevard from Lee Boulevard to Cache Road (estimated cost: $9.2 million);
• Phase 1 of the McMahon Auditorium addition and renovation (estimated cost: $8 million);
• Construction of cells 6 and 7 at the sanitary landfill (estimated cost: $7.5 million).
“This will be structured as a sales tax revenue note,” City Hall spokesperson Caitlin Gatlin said. LIDA will incur the debt and the city will earmark sales tax revenue to make the payments. The loan is scheduled to be retired on June 30, 2036, Gatlin said.