Lawton City Council looks over $153 million worth of suggested projects

City Council members took a look Thursday at $153 million worth of new projects that could be funded by extending the Capital Improvements Program for another 16 years.

Those projects — plus another $170 million in permanent funding to be split equally between parks and streets — aren’t set in stone. But they do give city officials a starting point for discussions on a final list as the council moves closer to deciding whether they will submit a new CIP extension proposal to city voters Aug. 27. There is a timeframe involved: if the council wants an Aug. 27 election, they must submit a ballot proposition to the Comanche County Election Board by June 12.

Mayor Stan Booker, who has been pushing the new proposal, said residents will be part of the process. Public hearings have been set May 16 and May 20. Booker was careful to say those public sessions are for residents to provide input on things they want in the program, “what needs to be added.” He said those who are against the CIP extension can express those sentiments by voting.

The proposal is the second time Lawton’s existing Capital Improvements Program would be extended. The existing program, an extension voters put into place in 2020, will expire Dec. 31, 2034. The new proposal would extend the program through 2040. Both take the existing 2.125 percent sales tax allocated to capital improvements and extend it beyond its existing termination point. It is not a tax increase, Booker and other supporters said.

Booker and others have compiled a list of projects that total $153 million under rough estimates made on costs, projects ranging from repairing historic structures and creating youth arts programs, to security upgrades for city police and upgrading the city’s storm siren system. Booker also has proposed two quarter-cent designations that would be permanent and dedicated to specific projects: one streets, the other parks. Each category is projected to generate $85 million over its 16-year life.

Booker said the existing CIP extension gave Lawton a way to handle future challenges by planning ahead. He and others say one of the strongest arguments for the extension is that it guarantees a funding source for local matches that typically are mandated in federal and state grants.

“They’re interested in projects that are ready to go,” Booker said of grant programs, adding that technique already has brought Lawton significant funding: Upgrades to West Lee Boulevard west of Southwest 67th Street, planned upgrades to Goodyear Boulevard and future plans for a west Lawton industrial bypass, and loans allowing upgrades to water and sewer lines were secured because local matching funds already were on hand, courtesy of the existing CIP.

Booker pointed to waterlines as an example. Public Utilities Director Rusty Whisenhunt said 23 miles of waterline upgrades already are underway in Lawton, and 475 of the 800 waterline breaks last year were in those areas. Another 23 miles of waterline are expected to be under construction by December, work that keeps the city on track to replacing one-fourth of its waterlines within three years, Whisenhunt said.

It’s not just infrastructure. Ward 5 Councilman Allan Hampton, who is keenly interested in preserving the city’s history, said funding for upgrades for structures such as Carnegie Library Town Hall, the National Guard Armory and Central Fire Station could be used to attract cultural preservation grants.

Booker also cited projects that will benefit specific populations, including $15 million to create a Discovery Lab for STEM education inside Central Plaza (a project federal officials have said is sure to win federal matching funds); and $4 million to build a facility for the victims of sexual abuse and domestic violence. Booker said abuse-related organizations can take the lead role in that facility, using the guarantee of at least 16 years of operational funding to win grants.