City of Lawton proceeding with plans to buy improvements at School House Slough

City of Lawton staff will proceed with plans to purchase improvements at School House Slough from the previous concession operator.

That decision comes on the heels of a directive given in September to select a new operator for the Lake Lawtonka concession, the largest of Lawton’s lakes recreation areas.

The action stems from a City Council directive to city staff to continue efforts to identify the funding source to purchase the upgrades made by former concessionaire Kent Waller, under the terms of a lease that had existed between School House Slough Incorporated and the Lawton Water Authority (a function of the City Council). The dollar value being used is $2.875 million, the average of three appraisals made of the improvements made by Waller during his two decades of operating the lake area. That action now is possible because the city has received confirmation there is no contamination from the fuel tanks in School House Slough that are close to the Lawtonka shoreline, council members said.

City officials are following the terms of a lease that specified the improvements Waller made to the concession during his tenure would be purchased by the City of Lawton when Waller ended the lease, as he did Dec. 31, 2022. City staff worked for months to obtain the appraisals that would help them set a fair market value on those upgrades so action to buy them from Waller could proceed. The effort had been delayed in recent weeks by the analysis of the fuel pumping system in the cove, which has been inoperable since the concession’s general store closed in 2022.

City staff’s work in recent months has included exploring plans to automate the system so the fuel pumps can reopen.

In addition, city staff has been working since September on an agreement with Lawton businessman Scott James to take over the School House Slough lease, managing its store, fuel pumps, dry and wet stalls, and camping and trailer space. James’ proposal includes a five-year marketing plan that specifies upgrades he would make to the concession each year, ranging from critical infrastructure upgrades and the addition of things such as high speed internet, security lighting and a kayak/paddle boat rental area in year one, to road improvements and a new boat dock by year five.