Lawrence community members voiced concerns about parking, floodplain development and the golf course in the Alvamar neighborhood Tuesday during city commissioners’ discussion of the draft revised land development code.
The code essentially lays out the city’s guidelines for what can be built where, and what requirements developments must meet.
Despite the revision process being in the works for nearly two years, the majority of Alvamar residents were unaware that the land development code was being revised, Scott Robinson, president of the Alvamar Neighborhood Association, told commissioners on Tuesday.
Part of the draft code changes would aim to increase density in some neighborhoods, and more areas of the city would be zoned for mixed-use development, consultant Elizabeth Garvin said in her presentation.
“Everybody we’ve talked to about this issue is extremely concerned about what these changes will mean to them,” Robinson said.
The neighborhood is opposed to “blanket rezoning changes” to certain zoning that they feel currently protects green space and property values and avoids stormwater issues, Robinson said.
A few folks took the opportunity to raise concerns about the golf course in the Alvamar neighborhood, now called the Jayhawk Club. Some said the course has fallen into disrepair. They worried that the golf course could be redeveloped under the proposed code updates, and they don’t want to lose the course or the green space.
Another change in the draft code is to eliminate minimum parking requirements and instead have parking maximums.
That doesn’t mean the city is prohibiting parking — “the city just isn’t requiring parking. It will be up to the developer, up to the applicant to figure out what the market needs and provide that amount of parking,” Garvin said.
Frequent commenter Chris Flowers said he was concerned that developers could potentially make housing unaffordable for people who might be able to afford rent but might not be able to afford an additional $50 or $100 per month for a parking space.
Phil Englehart asked that the city come up with “a more tailored, a more neighborhood-specific approach to this difficult problem” using analytical resources.
Dominique Sexton shared concerns about floodplain protections and asked that the city ban any residential or commercial development within FEMA floodplain zones.
Commissioners were not asked to take any action on the LDC update Tuesday. Another revision will be posted July 19 following more engagement and feedback, Garvin said.
The Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission is set to vote on the code in late September, Commissioner Brad Finkeldei said.
The Lawrence City Commission will likely have another work session on the code on Oct. 15 and vote on whether to approve it on Nov. 12.
See the full presentation at this link or view the meeting video at this link. See the LDC project page and the complete draft code at lawrenceldc.konveio.com.
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Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at mclark@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
Note: This post has been corrected from a previous version.
