City of Lawton may end lake concession agreements

City officials will weigh recommendations Monday that would end campground leases at two lakes concession areas and put a time frame for expiration on a third one.

The recommendations are being made to the Lawton Water Authority (a function of the City Council), whose members had directed the City Council Fee Committee to analyze and make recommendations on existing leases with Lawton Boat Club, Minnow Marina at Fisherman’s Cove and Sunken Bridge Yacht Club. Those recommendations: don’t renew leases with Lawton Boat Club and Minnow Marina, while extending a lease with Sunken Bridge Yacht Club through 2027, but require the entity to raise its rates.

The action comes as the City of Lawton staff and City Council look at changes to the concession areas at Lake Ellsworth and Lake Lawtonka. The water authority/council already has hired a new concessionaire to operate the convenience store and fueling system at School House Slough while city staff continues to analyze options for other amenities and leases there. City staff is looking at other concession areas as well, including those located near School House Slough on Lake Lawtonka.

Monday’s recommendation for Lawton Boat Club is to not renew the lease that expires June 30 and absorb that entity’s campground area into the School House Slough campground. Existing campers would be allowed to remain in their RV spots, but would have to pay the rates charged for city camping sites, which includes $2,868.75 and $2,712.50, depending on the site. Lawton Boat Club has said it wants to extend its lease.

The recommendation for Minnow Marina on Lake Ellsworth is similar: don’t renew the campground lease and absorb those sites into the city’s lakeside day use area, where campers would pay the same rates set for city sites. Committee members said their recommendation is influenced by the fact it is not economically feasible to build a “sustainable” sewer system and make repairs on an existing waterline, meaning it isn’t feasible to lease the area. The concessionaires have said they want a new, five-year lease.

At the Sunken Bridge Yacht Club on Lake Lawtonka’s east shoreline, the recommendation is to extend the existing lease through 2027, but require rate increases for those campsites equal to the rates paid for city sites (ranging from $2,000 to $6,000 annually), with the ultimate goal of absorbing the campground area into the School House Slough camp area after 2027. Committee members said they were wiling to wait on that action because of improvements that must be made first so lake users have access to a dry slip area suitable for sailboat storage.

In a final item, the Lawton Water Authority will meet in executive session to discuss the purchase of real property at Ralph’s Resort on Lake Ellsworth. City officials said that lease will expire Dec. 31, and the existing lease requires the city to purchase real property added by the concessionaire.