Lawrence city commissioners on Tuesday voted against allowing Alvadora Apartments to remove the gate that blocks residents’ access to one of the complex’s two entrances.
Owners of the complex, at 5555 W. Sixth St., sought the commission’s approval to modify its development plan and open up the eastern entrance to the complex. The complex sits just south of Sixth Street between Stoneridge Drive to the west and approximately Stonecreek Drive to the east, a few blocks from Langston Hughes Elementary School.
Rona Bettencourt, onsite property manager and resident at Alvadora, emphasized to commissioners that there is a steep incline between the property’s western entrance and Sixth Street that can cause problems for vehicles.
Particularly after weather like the ice storm and blizzard on Saturday and Sunday, it can be difficult for vehicles to gain enough traction to get up the hill, and it can also be hazardous going downhill when the street is slick.
Bettencourt also said the most efficient way for people to exit the east side of the complex was to go out through the gate, then head east and immediately north to Sixth Street — a route that only passes four houses on Stonecreek Drive.
Fire trucks and ambulances have access to enter the property from the east even if the gate is closed, so that was not an issue for the commission. However, attorney Terry Leibold said that in an emergency, seconds count. Bettencourt also said if there were a weather issue with the west entrance as well as a power failure or a mechanical issue with the gate, emergency services might not be able to get to the residents.
“So we think, from a safety perspective to the residents on the east side, that that ought to be opened up,” Leibold said.
The red pin on the map below shows the approximate location of the gate between the complex and the neighborhood.
Some homeowners in the nearby neighborhood asked the commission to require the complex to keep the gate up, mainly citing concerns about the potential for increased traffic and danger to kids playing outside, though several said they had no problem with pedestrians and their dogs walking through the neighborhood.
Some residents of the apartments said they shared the neighbors’ concerns about safety, and that they thought opening the entrance would be beneficial, particularly to their elderly neighbors. The daughter of a centenarian resident of Alvadora said ambulances did have trouble getting to her mother’s apartment on the east side when she had a stroke last year.
When the complex needed to make repairs to a parking lot near the west entrance, Alvadora residents had to enter and exit through the eastern entrance temporarily. The complex took the gate down because someone who lives nearby kept zip-tying the gate closed, locking residents inside and damaging the gate, a representative of Alvadora told the commission. The complex ultimately put up a snow fence in place of the gate.
“There is a whiff of classism,” Alvadora resident Addison Keegan-Harris said. “There is a whiff that those of us who rent don’t deserve the same rights or the same access to our community as those who own.”
City staff members had recommended the commission approve the complex’s request to get rid of the gate.
The plan had also come before the commission in April 2024, but the applicants did not come to the meeting to advocate for the change because staff had recommended approval at that time as well, and they didn’t realize it would be so controversial. Commissioners denied that request with a vote of 4-0.
On Tuesday, Vice Mayor Brad Finkeldei said the original developers were able to build more apartments on the property because of the eastern entrance, but as part of the 2007 development plan, they had to put a gate across it.
Commissioners agreed that they didn’t think there was a compelling enough reason to make changes to the development plan as it had originally been approved.
However, “What’s deeply concerning to me is that rationale for whether or not the gate should exist is othering those who live in the apartment complex from those who have homes,” Commissioner Amber Sellers said. “And my hope is that that language is not intentional, and that this is a learning opportunity for our community.”
The commission voted 5-0 to deny the revised development plan.
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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.
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