"My wife finally turns to me and says, ‘Can you believe how much this community has changed since we first arrived?’” said Davis, now in his sixth year with the chamber. "Suddenly, we looked around and realized that businesses on three of the corners where we sat had undergone major renovations.
"That’s how much this place has changed.”
Lawton’s changes can be directly attributed to the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure orders, which called for the transfer of the U.S. Army’s Air Defense School from Fort Bliss, Texas, to Fort Sill. Thousands of soldiers and their families have relocated to the Lawton-Fort Sill community, perhaps as many as 7,000 of the estimated 10,000 people expected by 2011.
"Ballpark, I’d say we’ve reached 70 percent of that total,” said Lt. Col. John Leggett, Fort Sill’s deputy garrison commander for transformation.
"We’ll probably have another 25- to 30-percent population increase before we’re finished,” he said.
The thought of even more new arrivals is staggering to local residents. They already see a different Lawton, one bursting at the seams in every way imaginable – traffic, schools, financially, housing … the list goes on.
"Lawton has a real boomtown atmosphere,” said Davis, whose luncheon circuit has offered a smorgasbord of eye-popping statistical data on Lawton’s growth. Davis rattles off numbers from various studies with ease and joy:
→Wages increased an average of 8.7 percent in 2008. This year the increase in pay is projected to be more than 10 percent.
→ Housing prices jumped 4.8 percent in 2008. This year they are expected to increase another 7 percent.
→More than 80,000 people visited the Fort Sill post last year for deployment, homecoming and graduation ceremonies.
→Six hotels have been built since 2004, and construction will begin on two more by summer.
→Hotel occupancy rates hover around 85 percent capacity on average.
→The Lawton sales tax revenue for fiscal year 2004 was $576,529. This fiscal year it’s projected to surpass $1.2 million.
"Basically, what we’re seeing is an increase in the quality of life,” Davis said.
"I know someone who hadn’t been here in 15 years. They can’t believe what has happened.”
Everywhere people look, they see the same thing — an increase in activity.
"That’s the thing that jumps out at you, just all the activity,” said Larry Mitchell, Lawton’s city manager. "It’s everywhere. We just hired 11 new firefighters.”
Traffic at Fort Sill’s main gate has increased 20 percent since 2005, according to post spokeswoman Emily Kelley.
On Fort Sill, the activity has been furious. More than 100 new facilities have either been constructed or are on the drawing board through 2017, Leggett said.
By then, Leggett estimates more than $1 billion will have been spent on post construction.
"This is a very dynamic place right now,” Leggett said. "If you thought Fort Sill was some sleepy hollow, you’d be very wrong.”
The recent onrush of activity has spilled over into Lawton and its neighboring communities.
In Lawton, contractors like Steven Barnes describe the housing market as good. More than 1,700 new homes are already scheduled to be built in the southwest section of town by 2020.
Yet the renters’ market has been phenomenal.
"We probably get 20 to 30 calls a day from people wanting to know if we have any rental properties avail-able,” said Valerie Key, a property manager for ERA Johnny Owens Residential. "The rentals are just going so quickly. We had one woman turn in her keys to a rental property Monday. By Tuesday morning, that property was rented.”
But growing pains also are part of the boom, namely on local roads where increased traffic congestion is becoming the norm.
"The traffic can be crazy at times,” said Jim Gallagher, a bus driver with the Lawton Area Transit System.
"It’s becoming really hard to keep a schedule with all the cars, and a lot of side roads already aren’t in that great of condition.
"Cars are just everywhere.”
"I know this might sound strange, but that sagging national economy everyone is talking about, well, we’re just not feeling that here,” Barnes said.
"Lawton is just a great place to be right now.”
