LAWTON - Redevelopment of blighted neighborhoods and vacant lots in Lawton is the goal of the Revitalize, Invest, Strengthen, and Expand (RISE) project unveiled Tuesday night for the City Council.
Lawton is having “great success” recruiting new industry, jobs, and commercial development, said Richard Rogalski, executive director of the Lawton Economic Development Authority. “However, these new jobs will place considerable demand on our local and regional housing market.”
Firehawk Aerospace, for example, which will make solid rocket motors, is projected to create 100 jobs, and Leidos, which is engaged in air and missile defense systems and other next-generation defense technologies, is projected to create 134 high-tech jobs during their first year in Lawton.
Lawton also is home to Fort Sill Army post, “an integral part of the Lawton community and an important contributor to the economic strength and vitality of the city,” Rogalski noted.
Approximately 80% of the soldiers and civilian employees assigned to Fort Sill “reside in Lawton,” he said, “making the quality and supply of local housing an important consideration” for Army personnel and their families.
Lawton has a large inventory of housing. However, Rogalski said, “some of the older neighborhoods have become dilapidated, with many structures being demolished, and new investment in reconstruction and remodeling of those remaining homes has not occurred at a stabilizing rate.”
Development and construction of new residential subdivisions also “have slowed,” he wrote, with vacant lots in several areas “remaining open for years.”
Building a new subdivision in Lawton requires construction of water and sewer lines, adequate streets with curbs and gutters, sidewalks, fire hydrants, stormwater drainage, and water in sufficient volume and pressure for fire suppression.
“We need to stimulate residential development here and incentivize redevelopment,” where the infrastructure already exists, said Rogalski, who was Lawton’s city planner approximately 20 years ago.
Data from MLS (a realty multiple listing service) from 2024 and 2025 “showed that 65% of new home sales” in Comanche County occurred outside of Lawton, Rogalski said; only 16% occurred within the Lawton Public School District.
“If this trend were to continue, Lawton neighborhoods would continue to age without new construction to sustain our tax base and maintain property values,” he said.
The Lawton RISE project plan “aspires to increase housing construction within the city by providing an incentive to build and/or purchase homes within Lawton’s municipal limits.”
The RISE plan was prepared under the Local Development Act and is designed to “promote the strategic expansion and diversification of housing opportunities” in Lawton “through the construction of new residential development and revitalization of existing neighborhoods,” Rogalski said.
Redevelopment of existing underdeveloped and potentially blighted areas “increases the value of the redeveloped property, stabilizing and increasing the value of the entire neighborhood,” he said.
The RISE plan was drafted to include “flexible implementation tools,” including reimbursement agreements, pay-as-you-go financing, development financing assistance, performance-based Turn to assistance, and, if authorized, tax apportionment obligations.
Public assistance is intended to “close demonstrated feasibility gaps between development within and outside municipal limits, accelerate projects that otherwise would not occur within the desired timeframe or scale, and increase the long-term tax base of Lawton Public School District and other affected taxing jurisdictions,” Rogalski explained.
The state’s Local Development Act mandates that the first step in reviewing a project plan is appointment of a review committee to make recommendations about that plan; consider and make findings and recommendations with respect to the eligibility of the proposal; and consider and determine whether the plan would have a financial impact on any taxing jurisdiction within the proposed district.
Membership on the review committee would include the mayor, who would chair the panel, and representatives of the Lawton City Planning Commission, the Comanche County Board of Commissioners, the County Health Department, Great Plains Technology Center, and Lawton Public Schools, along with three members representing the public at-large, including one who would represent “the business community.”
The Planning Commission must review the concept and determine whether it conforms to the City of Lawton’s Comprehensive Plan, and make its recommendation to the City Council.
Afterward, the council would hold two public hearings to solicit citizen opinions of the plan.
The council voted unanimously Tuesday night in support of a resolution to “consider approval of the Lawton RISE Project Plan” and creation of one or more tax increment districts to “facilitate the financing of eligible project costs…” Tax increment financing would be “the redevelopment mechanism,” Rogalski told Southwest Ledger.
The resolution directs the Center for Economic Development Law, based in Oklahoma City, to assist LEDA in preparation of the project plan. ___
Mike W. Ray is a fifth-generation, award-winning journalist who has more than 55 years’ experience covering municipal, county, state and federal government in Oklahoma and Texas. He can be reached at mike.ray@swoknews.com.