Lawton City Council sets new Lawtonka lake user fees into place

Year-round tenants at Lake Lawtonka will be paying more for the privilege.

City Council members unanimously approved a resolution Tuesday setting new fees for spaces leased for camper and trailer spaces at School House Slough, and for dry and wet stalls and most boathouses at all concession areas of Lake Lawtonka. The new fees go into effect Jan. 1, 2024.

While council members decided last week to raise the fees, Tuesday’s action sets those new fees into city code, via the resolution they approved.

Deputy City Dewayne Burk has said the new fees – which reflect increases up to 25 percent – are the first of three years of increases being recommended by city administrators to ensure lake user fees reflect the fair market value of the amenity. An assessment of fees paid by leasees shows Lawton lake users are paying far less than fees paid by people leasing space at similar recreation areas, including those near Lawton.

Burk said city staff is setting a fee structure they anticipate would increase 25 percent a year for the next three years, to get those fees closer to fair market value. City staff made a new recommendation that council members accepted: while people already leasing space at city lakes would see incremental increases, new tenants would immediately pay a fee based on fair market value.

Burk also said that even after three years, School House Slough tenants still wouldn’t be paying fair market value. Three years of 25 percent increases would raise the annual fee to slightly more than $2,000, when it should be $3,500, under a recommendation made by consultant Halff Associates. That discrepancy could be looked at more closely as the city approaches the three-year mark, he said.

Burk, responding to questions from Mayor Stan Booker, said city staff realizes they should look at the contrast presented by older boathouses and new ones, which pay the same rate regardless of their condition or age.

“We recognize that not one size fits all,” Burk said, adding that despite the discrepancies between boathouses, owners are leasing the same space on the water and city staff doesn’t want to take away an owner’s incentive to improve his boathouse.

Burk said other factors are being weighed: for example, a camping space close to or on the water is worth more than a site further away. City staff also has taken action to eliminate what Burk and Booker called a “black market”: boathouse owners who sell their space on the water under the guise of selling their boathouse. Officials said the City of Lawton owns that lake space and owners have no right to sell or pass it to someone else.

Burk said that under the new fee schedule, new owners would automatically go to the $3,500 fair market value rate. But, he admits policing such instances, as well as activities such as renting boathouses as short-term rentals, are difficult to monitor.

“If it is an Airbnb, we need to do it,” said Ward 8 Councilman Randy Warren, explaining the entity benefitting from renting or selling city property should be the city and its residents.

Ward 4 Councilman George Gill, noting the council’s determination to link the increased revenues to lake improvements, asked how much money would be earmarked for that lake work. Booker said city staff already is creating a $3 million plan for upgrades, which is expected to include roads and restrooms.

While the annual boathouse lease rate at School House Slough would range from $1,293.75 to $3,345 (depending on the site) for existing tenants in 2024, new tenants would automatically go to the $3,500 fair market value rate. That same $3,500 rate would apply to new boathouses at Robinson’s Landing, also located on Lake Lawtonka.

Rates at Lake Ellsworth – primarily a fishing lake – would be on a different schedule because of the differences in the lakes and their users, city administrators said.