Lawton Boat Club members persuaded the Water Authority not to scuttle their recreation lease at Lake Lawtonka, and agreed to pay a much higher price. The City Council, convening as the Water Authority, also voted to renew the Sunken Bridge Yacht Club campground lease at Lake Lawtonka, and at progressively higher rates.
The Lawton Boat Club has been a faithful steward, providing several amenities and performing all of the maintenance and repairs at its site, the Water Authority was informed.
“We built a food pavilion that we’ve opened up for a lot of uses, such as military retirement ceremonies,” said Michael Mc-Clelland of Lawton, who retired from the Oklahoma Highway Patrol after a 42.5-year career. “We built the boat ramp at no cost to the city.”
“We’ve also protected the shoreline with rocks” to prevent erosion, said attorney and retired Cameron University business professor Bill Ramsey.
“We do the mowing, we pay the water bills and for the repairs,” said Realtor Max Sasseen.
The City of Lawton and the Boat Club “have been partners for a long time,” Sasseen noted. The Boat Club was founded 76 years ago, according to McClelland.
The lease “should not be terminated,” said Ramsey, a Lawton Boat Club member for 42 years. “We encourage you to let us continue to lease it.”
“Our membership is not exclusive, it’s inclusive,” McClelland said. The club “has a lot of retirees,” he said. “I have friends from Burkburnett, Texas, who are members and attend our events.”
“We have paid exactly what the City has said we should pay, but we realize it’s not enough,” Sasseen conceded. Demand for reserved space at Lawtonka “has grown exponentially” since the COVID-19 pandemic, he acknowledged.
In exchange for a new five-year lease, the Boat Club agreed to raise its lease payments more than sevenfold: from $7,000 per year to $50,000 when the current lease expires June 30, and to increase the payments by 20% annually each of the next four years.
“We’re prepared to write the check,” Sasseen told the Authority. “We’re ramping up to something closer to fair market value.”
City Councilman Randy Warren said his goal was to “figure out a way to make it equitable. It belongs to the citizens of Lawton.”
“You came to the table, rather than just complain,” Councilman Allan Hampton said. “I commend you.”
By incorporating the Lawton Boat Club campground into the School House Slough camping area, more than $234,000 from the boat club’s two dozen campsites would flow into the Lawton Water Authority’s coffers, city staff estimated. However, the Water Authority “would be responsible for the upkeep and any improvements,” Deputy City Manager Dewayne Burk said.
Councilman Kelly Harris made a motion to renew the agreement effective July 1, the first day of Fiscal Year 2024-25, at a price of $50,000 with a 20% in crease in each subsequent year of the agreement and “obligations” remaining the same. The council endorsed the motion unanimously.
The Lawton Water Authority also voted without dissent to renew the Sunken Bridge Yacht Club’s campground lease at Lake Lawtonka for another three and a half years after it expired May 1. However, the price tag will increase incrementally, starting at $2,500 for 2025, $4,000 for 2026, and $6,000 for 2027.
Furthermore, “it is the City’s intention to absorb the campground into the School House Slough campground area when the lease extension expires Dec. 31, 2027.
Sunken Bridge Yacht Club is located on “one of the most picturesque sides of the lake, with a view onto Mount Scott,” Burk said. However, some of its sailboats stored there are in “a serious state of disrepair,” he said. The site is not intended to be “a boneyard for old boats.”