LAWTON – Lawton has adopted a new system for choosing tenants to f ill vacant slots at Lak e Ellsworth and Lake Lawtonka’s recreational areas.
The Lawton City Council voted 8-0 Feb. 13 to a pprove a revised version of the city’s lakeside management policy, which creates a bidding system for openings at the lakes’ recreational areas. The goal is to gi ve people a fair chance to le ase camping space.
In the past, peo ple who rented cityowned camping space at School House Slough at Lake Lawtonka sold their space under the guise of transferring their lease to a ne w tenant, said Deputy City Manager Dewayne Burk.
“This practice created a situation that prohibited equal access to citizens that were seeking access to these hig hly desired camping spaces, often r esulting in complaints that they weren’t getting a fair chance,” he said. “That’s why it w as necessary to bring a policy to create some equitable solutions.”
Burk said the co uncil had dir ected city staff to amend the lakeside management policy to inc lude bidding system for determining who would be awarded access to camping sites. Staff made those changes as dir ected, with the exception of the provisions concerning boathouse sales.
Boathouses are not considered conveyances because they aren’t registered with the state a nd are not designed for road transport, according to the po licy. Because of that, the po licy allows owners who sell their boatho use to transfer their boat house slip to the new owner.
The new owner must provide a bill of sale to the city a nd sign a ne w lease for the boathouse slip to establish tenancy, according to the po licy. Additionally, the new owner must also pa y a transfer fee as well as the full rental rate.
“Something to consider is that staff has recently learned there have been some situations where boathouse owners were selling boathouses and declaring the sale of said property for minimal amounts as low as $10,” Burk said. “We all know that there’s no boatho use out there that’s valued at only $10.”
Mayor Stan Booker asked what steps the city could take to ad dress that problem.
“Have you thought through the pr ocess of how to de al with the $10 bill of sale?” he said.
Burk said the pr oblem may solve itself as the city r aises lease rates to matc h the properties’ fair ma rket value.
“What’s been dri ving this market for being able to ba rter those properties out there is the fact that the city ’s not been charging fair market value,” he said. “And so, when you have a higher demand than you do supply, then it cr eates this opportunity for people to cas h in on that.”
Burk said the city is raising rates gradually over the next thr ee years, which should bring those r ates closer to the pr operties’ fair market value. He added that campsite tenants are currently signing new leases with the city.
“I think we have four of them, since w e’ve done those increases, that have surrendered or basically let their leases go,” Burk said. “But we have nearly 20 on the w aiting list. So that should tell you, right now, that demand is still hig her than the supply.”