Lawton City Council expects to decide this week on LATS transfer center site

City Council members expect to make a decision this week on exactly where Lawton’s first indoor transfer center will be built.

Discussions have been underway for well over a year as council members (acting in their capacity as the City Transit Trust), city staff, committees and LATS officials try to determine the best site for a facility that will provide ticket sales, restrooms and secure waiting space for passengers. That “center” now is an outdoor area located along Southwest B Avenue at Southwest 4th Street, its location since LATS began operations more than 20 years ago.

The designated site has changed three times since council members first accepted a recommendation to place the transfer center on the site of the old Lawton police station at Southwest 4th Street and West Gore Boulevard. The council changed its mind in 2019, saying that site wasn’t suitable and directing staff to look elsewhere. The first designation was a site west of the Lawton Public Safety Center on Railroad Street before the West Gore Boulevard median at Southwest 4th Street was studied. Both sites have been discarded.

A downtown transfer center site committee voted earlier this year to narrow its recommendations to three sites: an empty commercial tract in the 1200 block  of West Gore Boulevard; and the former police station site for the transfer center, with another tract on Railroad Street and Southwest D Avenue for the maintenance/storage complex The Gore Boulevard site is large enough to hold the transfer center and the maintenance complex, although committee members and residents don’t agree on the need to have the entire LATS structure at one site.

City officials recently indicated another site also is being considered, but have not publicly identified it.

The site decision is important because city staff is ready to negotiate a design contract with Wendel WD Architecture. That contract is expected to contain work ranging from analysis to construction designs and project oversight, but council members delayed giving city staff permission to move forward until they select a site.

Ward 4 Councilman George Gill said the transit trust must select one of the sites recommended by the transportation committee, something he expects to happen at Tuesday’s City Transit Trust meeting.

“Upon a site being selected, I want to direct staff to negotiate with Wendel,” Gill said, adding his recommendation is that Wendel be directed to prepare plans and cost estimates for the transfer center first, then the maintenance facility.

He said the end result would be information for the council/transit trust showing construction plans for separate complexes, as well as what it will cost to build them.

Community Services Director Charlotte Brown, addressing council concerns, said what is contained within that transfer center depends on where it is built.

“The site will determine the facility size,” she said, referencing city and LATS staff concerns about whether the police station site is large enough for a large transfer center that could offer a variety of amenities and enough space for eight buses at one time.

Brown said staff has explored that issue with other systems, asking what they offer customers. While some city and LATS officials have suggested enough space to support retail activities, committee members said they want a bare-bones facility for now, giving current riders what they need.

While Ward 5 Councilman Allan Hampton said city officials also should look at amenities for future ridership, he agreed with Ward 1 Councilwoman Mary Ann Hankins that, for now, simple is best.

“We talked about not having a lot of stuff, just the bare necessities at this point,” Hankins said, adding plans for extensive amenities have “gone by the wayside.”

Gill said preliminary plans center on a facility with “very, very, very minimal conditions, as far as internal use” and that’s why selecting a site first is important. Mayor Stan Booker said those details — specifically, cost estimates — are important to have before the contract is signed.

Brown said that is the point of negotiations with Wendel. The firm was one of three that responded to Requests For Qualifications, a process that allows city staff to select the firm they feel is best qualified. Negotiations then determine the firm’s fee and work details.