Elmer Thomas Park’s inclusive playground project may get $250,000 from the City of Lawton

The City of Lawton may allocate $250,000 to the Playground in the Park project.

City Council members will act on the proposal today, allocating the funding to Lawton Enhancement Trust Authority (LETA), which is holding the money being used to expand Elmer Thomas Park’s Playground in the Park to include an interactive area for children with limited mobility. A citizens group has been raising funds for that inclusive playground for several years, and the City of Lawton already has allocated $75,000 to the project through LETA.

Approval today would designate an additional $250,000, with funding to be taken from this budget year’s City At Large Contingency Account. Those funds are specifically allocated toward the inclusive playground project, under the terms of the budget amendment. The council has designated LETA as the entity that provides administration and oversight for the funding, as well as managing the improvements.

It’s not the only budget amendment LETA is seeking.

Members also are seeking $10,000 for its Cultural Preservation Committee, to support “the proper care of historical properties and artifacts that have significant cultural value to the City of Lawton. Those funds, also to be taken from the At Large Contingency Account, are to remain in LETA’s account and be used as needed, officials indicated.

Public hearing rescheduled on easement for bike path

In another recreation-related item, the council is being asked to reschedule a public hearing for closure of a public access point that is forcing city officials to reconfigure the Elmer Thomas Park Connector. The connector is a designated bike path that connects Greer Park on Northwest 38th Street to Elmer Thomas Park off Fort Sill Boulevard.

The council had been ready to hear a petition Dec. 12 that would close a public access easement granted by Lawton Public Schools in 2013 between Central Middle School and Shoemaker Education Center. That easement is the point where the bike trail accesses Elmer Thomas Park, but LPS wants to close it as it continues with plans to install security fencing around Central Middle School, Lawton High School and Shoemaker Center. Closing that access point means moving the trail, which now crosses Fort Sill Boulevard at a pedestrian crossing light near 753 Fort Sill Boulevard.

City officials said the hearing originally scheduled for Dec. 12 must be moved to Jan. 9 because property owners affected by the decision had not received their notification by the required date.

City officials also have a new option to consider for continuation of that trail. City staff members don’t want to close the public access point until they could tell the public how bike riders would get into Elmer Thomas Park after crossing Fort Sill Boulevard. The council’s Streets and Bridges Committee settled on a proposal that would take riders north on Fort Sill Boulevard to Cache Road, then east on Cache Road to tie into an existing bike access created for the Fort Sill Connector.

But a transportation board was to decide today on a another idea, one that would move the existing trail south of Northwest Ferris Avenue after it crosses North Sheridan Road then use Northwest Columbia and Northwest Dearborn to get riders across Fort Sill Boulevard to Northwest 6th Street, then north into the park. Plans already have been discussed about making Northwest 6th Street a dedicated bike way from downtown into the park.