Lawton City Council to discuss downtown trolley system, expansion of Bishop School

Discussions about a trolley system to serve downtown Lawton mass transit passengers and plans by Bishop School to expand its campus will top the agenda when the City Council meets in regular session today.

Acting in their capacity as the City Transit Trust, council members/trustees will hear a report from LATS and city administrators about plans to help bus passengers who need to access sites in the downtown area that now are easily accessible from the current mass transit transfer center at Southwest B Avenue and Southwest 4th Street. The discussion comes on the heels of a decision the council made earlier this summer to build the city’s first indoor transfer center at a site on Railroad Street and Larrance Street, at Southeast B Avenue.

Some residential opposition to that site centers on concerns for riders who now ride LATS fixed routes to downtown Lawton specifically to access sites such as Lawton Public Library, the Comanche County Courthouse and Lawton Farmers Market. City officials have said LATS could integrate a bus trolley system, linking the new transfer center and downtown sites. LATS General Manager Ryan Landers will provide the details.

Council members also will hear a recommendation from the City Planning Commission to grant P-F Public Facilities zoning to a 40-acre agricultural tract at 2302 Bishop Road. The rezoning will allow Bishop School to proceed with its plans to build a middle school campus on what has long been an elementary facility, officials said.

The now-vacant tract actually is located on the west side of South Sheridan Road and south side of Bishop Road, across from the elementary school. That location is important because it is not within the flight path of Lawton-Fort Sill Regional Airport. Property owners with tracts on the east side of Sheridan Road in that area are within an easement that prevents them from building any new structures because an agreement granted to the airport in 1949 prevents anything taller than “a blade of grass” from being built within the airport easement.

The existing tract now is vacant farmland and would house a new middle school. School officials said future plans include construction of a parking lot, but for now, the school site would be accessed from Sheridan Road.

In other business, the council will continue work associated with the 2023-2024 city budget by setting expenditures of the hotel-motel tax into place. City officials are projecting that tax — imposed on the rental of hotel and motel rooms, and short-term rentals — will generate $1.9 million in the coming fiscal year and those funds are allocated under a formula set by the council. Those include allocations to the Lawton Fort Sill Chamber of Commerce, Lawton Economic Development Corporation and Lawton Enhancement Trust Authority, along with categories for economic development and tourism.

Five entities are funded within the tourism category, to include Museum of the Great Plains, Lawton Philharmonic Orchestra, Lawton Community Theatre, Lawton Heritage Association and Lawton Farmers Market. Three items funded within last year’s budget (McMahon Auditorium Authority, Holiday in the Park and the Freedom Fest fireworks display) were not included in this year’s allocation, allowing slight increases to the remaining five entities.

In a related item, the chamber will provide its annual report on activities, a requirement cited in the agreement signed each year as part of the hotel-motel tax allocation to that entity.