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Consider setting the date of December 12, 2023, to hold a public hearing to close a public access easement for the Elmer Thomas Connector bike route crossing Lawton Public Schools property located approximately at 753 NW Fort Sill Blvd, consider waiving the fee ($1,000.00 application plus $210.00 for the newspaper notice and $6.00 per owner within 300 feet) for the easement closure, and select an alternate route for the Elmer Thomas Connector bike route.
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INITIATOR: Charlotte Brown, Community Services & Planning Director
STAFF INFORMATION SOURCE: Kameron Good, Senior Planner
Jonathan Stone, Senior Transportation Planner
BACKGROUND: An application has been submitted to close a public access easement. The approximate address is 753 NW Fort Sill Blvd, Lawton, Ok 73507. This request was made by CDBL, Inc. on behalf of Lawton Public Schools. Lawton Public Schools has been working on fencing in all the school properties to increase safety by controlling the points of entry. A building permit was submitted by CDBL, Inc to build a fence around Lawton High, the Shoemaker Center, and the Middle School. In 2013 the Board of Education granted four public access easements across their property for sidewalk and bicycle routes. The Elmer Thomas Connector route starts in Elmer Thomas Park and crosses LPS property between the baseball fields and goes west between the middle school and the Shoemaker Center. To fence across this easement the route will need to be rerouted and the easements will need to be closed. Two Alternative routes are being proposed. After the existing route crosses LPS property it then crosses NW Fort Sill Blvd and goes west down NW Cherry Ave to NW Laird Ave. It goes up to NW Elm then goes west to NW 21st St where it comes down to NW Ferris Ave.
According to City Code and State Statutes, a 30-day written notice must be given to the property owners within 300 feet of the requested area and the private utility companies prior ...
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