Residents fear displacement with proposed FISTA expansion, city says nothing is set in stone

Lawton city officials have started to focus on revitalizing areas around the city considered blighted. This led to the creation of the Lawton Revitalize, Invest, Strengthen, and Expand Project Plan Review Committee, or RISE for short. However, as proposals are starting to be shared, some residents living in these target areas have raised concerns that they are feeling forced out of their homes, which they say aren’t blighted at all. 

It started back in 2025, when the City of Lawton commissioned a Blight Study through Garver Engineering. One specific request in the passed resolution was to examine and explore the feasibility of creating the FISTA Innovation District. Additionally, the City of Lawton was gathering feedback for their One Lawton Comprehensive Land Use Plan, also created by Garver. This plan, according to the draft, “establishes a unified vision for Lawton’s growth and development through 2050” using a plethora of information and subdivided plans.

In the Executive Summary of the plan, one of the key recommendations was to invest more into FISTA, specifically expanding the organization South of the downtown area to attract more industry. Additionally, the plan recommends addressing flooding and infrastructure needs to support the redevelopment. 

However, when people started to look more closely, some noticed this proposed expansion was right where their homes were. One page 72 of the plan, the map highlighting a FISTA Innovation District contained the blocks consisting of Ave G through Ave I from 2nd Street to 11th Street. This is just South of the railroad from FISTA and Central Plaza.

James Fisher and Bonnie Blackburn are two residents from the area. Both have invested a lot of money into their homes. Fisher has also invested a lot of money into other nearby homes to try and build the area back up.

Back in March, the City of Lawton held an open forum to discuss the One Lawton plan. Both Fisher and Blackburn were in attendance. City of Lawton Planning Director Christine James was leading the discussion. One of the main points James would make is that the plan wasn’t set in stone and that no action was being immediately taken.

”Nothing is happening tomorrow,” James explained. “That just means this area could potentially be used for FISTA innovation in the future.”

Several others who lived in that neighborhood were also in attendance sharing the same concerns over what this meant for their homes. Fisher felt that what was on the paper was more serious than the city was letting on.

”It’s already got a name on it,” Fisher said. “It’s already been named for FISTA.”

One of the main reasons the area was marked was due to the flood zone that was in the neighborhood. Blackburn said that they haven’t had flooding in their homes for as long as they can remember. Many shared confusion over the idea of getting rid of homes because of flooding, but then investing in economic development in a flood zone. This raised the question of why the flooding wouldn’t be addressed for the residents who live there.

”We have our church down there that just celebrated its 100 year anniversary,” Blackburn shared.

During the meeting, Ward 7 Councillwoman Sherene L. Williams tried to address some concerns. She went on to say that while the proposed use of the land could change, the property owners would still own their properties and it would be up to them what they want to do with their land.

”You don’t have to sell your land,” Williams said.

However, Fisher shared deeper concerns about the direction he felt this was going. He said that he had been part of a community in Wichita Falls that had their land taken by eminent domain. 

“Everybody got about 25 cents on the dollar,” Fisher recalled. “So, that’s what we’re worried about.”

He told the city officials about the amount of money and time that he had invested into the area.

”When you look at that, it shows FISTA on there,” Fisher pointed out. “That’s not saying that somebody can come in and buy that— that’s saying you already have somebody targeted you would like to buy it.”

James said that there might be some confusion between land use and urban renewal. However, another resident responded by saying the One Lawton plan had multiple plans contained within it and that it was more than just land use.

In hopes of further clarification, Mayor Stan Booker came to the table. When asked about what the plan was going to be for the area in discussion, Booker said that as far as he knew, as land became available it would be light industry.

”It could be done in a multitude of ways. There’s no money to go in and buy people out right now,” Booker said.

Additionally, Booker said that if a company wanted to come in, they would have to make deals with the property owners. He also said there’s no money for the city to go and do that. The responses didn’t help the residents who still felt like the city’s intent was very clear with their neighborhood.

Fast forward to now, those same residents have been trying to bring attention to the possibility of this redevelopment and concerns of being forced out of their homes in hopes to prevent it from even being a consideration. 

As they have been calling for community meetings and public attention, the city recently released a public statement over the situation. In the statement, it says that the city has not approved a redevelopment plan nor has the city made a decision to acquire homes. Additionally, it stated that work is still underway and no final vision has been approved. It went on to state that if there were such a decision made, then it would have to be followed up with public hearings.

Those residents met on Tuesday to continue coming up with solutions in response to any action that could be taken by the city.

“If I invest another $100,000 to build,” Fisher said. “I want to know that in 10 years, 20 years, 30 years that house is still going to be there.”