Lawton City Council approves new annexation process for Westwin plant site

City Council members have agreed to a new annexation of southwest Lawton property that will house Westwin Element’s new cobalt/nickel pilot plant.

The annexation is among the steps the City of Lawton is taking to facilitate plans by Westwin to begin construction of the pilot plant, a scaled down version of the full-scale refinery the company plans to build. The plant is to be located on 40 acres of land at Southwest 112th Street and Bishop Road. Friday’s decision by the council places a 160-acre tract — which includes those 40 acres — into the city limits with a temporary I-4 Heavy Industrial District zoning classification. I-4 is the least restrictive zoning category and one that allows the most intensive industrial uses.

Acting City Attorney Tim Wilson said the council’s decision comes after the original December 2022 zoning approval by the City Council. Wilson said while attorneys were preparing documentation for the new redevelopment agreement among Westwin Elements, the City of Lawton, Lawton Economic Development Authority and Comanche County Industrial Development Authority (CCIDA), staff could only find evidence the notice of annexation had run once, when it is required to run twice. Wilson said the decision was made to confirm the annexation by redoing the process.

CCIDA, the property’s owner, resubmitted a new request for annexation in early December, and that notice of annexation ran in the newspaper twice (Dec. 8 and Dec. 15), as required, Wilson said.

“This will supersede last year,” Wilson said, explaining the new annexation ordinance replaces the one approved by the council a year ago.

Council members also voted to impose an emergency on the ordinance, meaning it went into effect immediately. While the agenda item was posted as a public hearing, meaning members of the public could comment, no one did so.

Wilson said while the property is being brought into the city limits under a temporary I-4 zoning, there are plans to come back to the council “in the relatively near future” to request the I-4 zoning be made permanent.

The 160 acres is part of 480 acres that CCIDA owns in the area directly south of the west industrial park, acreage CCIDA intends to deed over to Westwin Elements should that firm decide to build the full-scale cobalt/nickel refinery in southwest Lawton. This 160-acre tract is located between Southwest 112th and Southwest 97th streets, stretching north from Bishop Road about one-half mile.

Mike Mayhall, attorney for CCIDA, said because CCIDA owns the entire tract and is the one that petitioned for annexation, adjacent property owners did not have to be notified individually. However, public notice was required. City officials said the request falls within specified criteria for annexation: the land is adjacent and contiguous to the corporate city limits, is not part of any other incorporated municipality, and is wholly owned by CCIDA.