Local economic entities to set Westwin Elements redevelopment agreement into place today

A new Westwin Elements development agreement sets a construction start date of July 1, 2024, for the pilot plant that will provide data on refining cobalt and nickel ore.

That agreement will be making the rounds today among the entities involved in a local $24 million incentive package, starting with the Lawton Economic Development Authority (LEDA) at noon and the Comanche County Industrial Development Authority (CCIDA) at 1 p.m., before concluding with the City Council at 2 p.m.

The three entities are being asked to approve an “amended and restated” redevelopment agreement among Westwin Elements, the City of Lawton, LEDA and CCIDA. The City of Lawton and CCIDA are providing the local economic development package (the City of Lawton, $10 million; CCIDA, $2 million and 480 acres of land valued at $12 million), while LEDA is the entity the City Council has designated to oversee the Westwin project.

The original agreement was approved in February and amended in August, but officials have changed some details to reflect new plans by Westwin: build a pilot plant to provide the data needed for a bankable feasibility study that banks and investors will want to support the full-scale refinery that Westwin CEO KaLeigh Long estimated at more than $732 million. The pilot plant is a scaled-down version of the refinery, one that will be built on 40 acres of land at Southwest 112th Street and Bishop Road (1 mile south of the Goodyear plant).

In August, local and Westwin officials signed a new agreement that specified construction on the plant would begin by Oct. 1 and be completed by March 1. Details still are being worked out, officials have said, and the new redevelopment agreement specifies construction will begin “no later” than July 1, 2024, with all commissioning activities necessary for the pilot plant to be fully operational no later than Dec. 1, 2024. The agreement states the pilot plant complex will include a 4,680 square foot steel building as a preliminary test facility to establish capabilities to refine cobalt and nickel ore, as well as other critical elements. Another 4,906 square foot steel building will house administration, maintenance and storage, along with work on roads, access, parking, fencing, lighting and landscape improvements.

Long has estimated the value of the pilot plant project at $14 million to $16 million, to include construction, equipment and machinery. CCIDA, LEDA and the City of Lawton already have agreed to provide $3 million toward construction costs, as well as allowing LEDA to lease 40 acres for $1 a year (taken from the 480 acres to be ultimately provided for the full-scale refinery) for that project.

The redevelopment agreement includes many of the same provisions included in the original agreement, to include those that tie allocation of the $24 million local incentive package to jobs that Westwin must provide each year, starting with 40 fulltime jobs for the pilot plant in fiscal year 2024 and an additional 45 by June 1, 2026 and 735 by year 5 of refinery operations.

Agreements being put into place also specify LEDA and the City Council will approve provisions to allow LEDA to borrow an amount equal to the incentive package being promised for the pilot plant, and that LEDA will be the entity overseeing the Westwin project. LEDA already controls other economic development projects for Lawton, to include the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District project created for the Republic Paperboard plant expansion. That increased work load is the reason LEDA recently hired former Lawton Deputy City Manager Richard Rogalski as executive director, a role he filled as one of his deputy city manager duties before retiring last year.

Council members have taken other action as well, voting last week to award $2.44 million to M&T Septic & Backhoe Service Inc. to build 7,500 feet of 20-inch water main. That line — to run from West Gore Boulevard south along Southwest 97th Street, then west along Bishop Road three-fourths of a mile to the southeast corner of Westwin site — is one of $7 million in water and sewer infrastructure work the City of Lawton promised as part of economic development incentives. The city already purchased the 20-inch PVC pipe, fittings and values needed for the work and the agreement specifies the project must be done within 90 days of the project start date.

Today’s CCIDA agenda also includes a item giving Westwin permission to begin construction while the authority completes annexation requirements and finishes conveying the property to LEDA. While some of the property already is within the Lawton city limits, city officials plan to annex the sections of the 480 acres that are not, with tentative plans for a meeting on that request at month’s end.