Post updated at 4:46 p.m. Monday, Nov. 18:
City commissioners on Tuesday will consider approving a $548,330 payment for an architecture firm to design renovations for the outdoor pool that maintain existing swim space.
The item is on the commission’s consent agenda, a group of items that are generally considered routine and approved with one vote. But some community members are concerned about the city’s continued partnership with SFS Architects Inc., the same company that designed earlier pool designs and played a role in the city’s public engagement process.
After the commission advanced a pool renovation that would have cut open swim space roughly in half, Holly Krebs helped organize a petition that eventually led the commission to scrap the design. The commission asked city staff to explore a renovation of the pool’s current structure instead.
Krebs said she was concerned about the city continuing to work with SFS Architects because she argued the process so far has been flawed and ignored the concerns of community members.
“Because this project has been poorly conducted up to this point, we believe the city should not engage the same public engagement consultants,” Krebs said. “We also believe that a citizen oversight committee that continually reviews and advises on the project plans will ensure better outcomes and greater accountability for the remainder of this project.”
The city partnered with SFS Architecture, Waters Edge and Vireo for the public engagement plan. They commissioned three opinion surveys and collected thousands of comments about the pool. Krebs said the city told her it would be taking over public engagement support for the project moving forward.
Luis Ruiz, director of parks, recreation, arts and culture for the city, repeatedly has ensured that community voices were heard throughout the pool renovation process. He ended the Oct. 15 city commission meeting by saying “We have not ignored public opinion in any way” and “the sentiment that we’re not listening is not really factual.”
But a slideshow presented to city commissioners outlining the results of the public engagement process included only data from multi-select questions that asked survey participants to rank what they’d want at a renovated pool, not any of their specific comments.
Krebs said the rankings didn’t tell the full story. Survey participants likely didn’t consider potential tradeoffs, such as losing open swim space for a lazy river, which could have changed their responses.
She said the petition and extensive public comment from community members was the only way community concerns were properly heard during the process.
“I think it’s telling that they submitted Tuesday night’s item to be on the consent agenda, rather than the regular agenda, so once again, they aren’t providing opportunity for the public to provide input,” she said.
Members of the public can ask commissioners before meetings to pull an item from the consent agenda for discussion, but commissioners don’t have to agree to do so.
City spokesperson Cori Wallace said SFS has developed a plan that reflects community goals. She said the city is optimistic about upcoming community engagement opportunity.
“I think the conversation has now shifted to how community engagement can be a place that builds trust and a high quality, longer term discussion about projects the community cares about,” Wallace said.
She said the city has been in communication with Krebs and is looking for ways to collaborate in the future.
The commission will begin its regular meeting at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 19 at City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St. See this agenda item at this link.
Meetings are open to the public, broadcast on Midco channel 25 and livestreamed on the city’s YouTube channel, youtube.com/@lawrenceksvideo. See the complete meeting agenda at this link.
The commission accepts written public comment until noon the day of the meeting emailed to ccagendas@lawrenceks.org. The commission hears public comment in person during meetings as well as via Zoom. Register for Tuesday’s Zoom meeting at this link.
In other business, commissioners will hold a work session to discuss two possible options for the downtown Lawrence transit station. Read more about that at this link.
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Cuyler Dunn (he/him), a contributor to The Lawrence Times since April 2022, is a student at the University of Kansas School of Journalism. He is a graduate of Lawrence High School where he was the editor-in-chief of the school’s newspaper, The Budget, and was named the 2022 Kansas High School Journalist of the Year. Read his complete bio here. Read more of his work for the Times here.
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