LAWTON – City officials took steps recently to ensure that the Farmer’s Market building in downtown Lawton has enough parking.
The Council voted Dec. 7 to amend the lease agreement with the Farmer’s Market Institute, a community organization that hosts the farmers market once a week all year long. The amendment allows the city to earmark funds for rebuilding additional areas of the existing parking lot just north of the new Farmers Market building, located on city-owned property at 77 SW Fourth St.
City officials reviewed the lease for that property recently, and the city attorney thought the language in the lease indicated that the Farmers Market Institute, not the city, should be responsible for making improvements to the area around the property, Deputy City Manager Richard Rogalski told the council. In this case, the Farmers Market Institute was asking the city to consider making those improvements.
Rogalski said the council needed to amend the lease agreement to clarify that the Farmers Market Institute is responsible for making repairs to the premises, but the city is responsible for improvements to the property around the site.
Reconstructing additional areas of the existing parking lot will create eight additional spaces. The project will cost about $90,000, which will come out of the proceeds from the city’s hotel/motel tax.