LAWTON — The Lawton Youth Sports Authority is considering two possible sites for the city’s indoor youth sports complex.
The authority voted Thursday to apply to the Oklahoma Commissioners for the Land Office for a lease agreement on the property adjacent to Grandview Sports Complex, located on Southwest 52nd Street. The state agency owns and manages school trust land, including the Grandview site, to generate revenue for public schools and universities.
In a separate vote, the authority approved a nonbinding letter of intent with the Kiowa, Comanche and Apache Intertribal Land Use Committee. The authority is considering leasing the KCA’s tribal trust land at Cache Road and Interstate 44, north of Elmer Thomas Park, for the youth sports complex.
The authority should continue exploring both possibilities for the youth sports complex, said Chairman Brian Henry.
“I think we ought to pursue both options,” he said.
The Grandview site
Eastern Sports Management, which runs Lawton’s youth sports programs, recently recommended building the indoor sports complex on 60 acres at the Grandview site. The company said the property has several advantages, including its location near an existing recreational area and the possibility of adding multiple access points.
The Commissioners of the Land Office’s director of marketing for real estate has asked the authority to submit a nonbinding application for the Grandview site, Henry said.
“She wants to float that around the commissioners’ office to see if anyone has any concern about the proposed use of the land around the Grandview area,” he said. “She did not believe there was, and it’s compatible with what’s there already.”
The CLO will review the application to determine whether the city’s proposed use for the Grandview site is compatible with the agency’s regulations. The agency allows commercial and agricultural uses for the properties it owns but does not sell them, and it does not give special consideration for cities, school districts or other units of local government.
The CLO leases properties to entities based on the land’s fair market value, Henry said.
“To get fair market value, they – ‘they’ being the CLO – will order an appraisal,” he said. “The applicant is responsible for the cost of the appraisal.”
To cover costs associated with pursuing a lease for the Grandview site, the authority will ask the Lawton City Council for limited support and funding up to $10,000.
The KCA site
The authority also discussed securing a long-term lease agreement for an 80-acre tract of the KCA trust land.
Henry said he recently received a letter of intent from the Kiowa, Comanche and Apache Intertribal Land Use Committee concerning a potential lease for the KCA site.
The committee proposed a 55-year lease for the KCA site at the rate of $1 per year, with an option for renewal.
State and local governments may not collect property or sales taxes on federal trust land, according to the letter of intent. However, the committee proposed allowing the city to collect sales taxes on items sold at the youth sports complex, regardless of whether items are sold to Native Americans or non-Native Americans.
Those revenues would be known as the planned development sales tax, and the authority would use them to pay for operations and expansion of the youth sports complex for five years, according to the letter.
“The LYSA shall have the sole discretion for the use (of) such revenue within those purposes during the term,” the committee said in the letter. “The KCAILUC and the LYSA shall negotiate every five years regarding the use (of) the Planned Development tax collections.”
The committee also wants naming rights to any sports buildings and fields at the KCA site, according to the letter.
Henry said the authority will have to consult the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs about leasing that property.
“We still need a meeting with BIA, so my thought would be to get that done as quickly as possible,” he said.
In addition to the letter of intent, the authority voted to hire the Oklahoma City-based law firm Feller Snider to represent the authority in lease negotiations concerning the KCA site.
The authority will ask the Lawton City Council for limited support and funding to cover expenses associated with a possible long-term lease for the KCA site. The amount of funding will not exceed $75,000.