The planning commission on Wednesday will discuss advancing six proposed new units of affordable housing at Ninth and Tennessee streets.
Ninth Street Missionary Baptist Church owns the land and is partnering with Family Promise of Lawrence, a nonprofit that aims to serve families in housing crises, to provide the new permanently affordable housing.
The design includes a six-unit building to be constructed at 909 Tennessee St., which is currently a parking lot. An existing four-unit building at 913 Tennessee would remain for a total of 10 units.
The development, dubbed Hope Project, received $300,000 from the city’s affordable housing trust fund.
Planning commission approval on Wednesday would advance the plan to the Lawrence City Commission for final approval. The Historic Resources Commission voted in February to recommend the project.
The city received dozens of public comment letters from the community, almost all supporting the project.
Kyle Thompson of the Oread Neighborhood Association said he sent information on the project to residents, but only heard back from one person voicing their support.
“We’ve generally supported homeless initiatives and different church initiatives in our neighborhood, so I don’t see us objecting in any way,” he said. “I’m supportive of affordable housing. I mean, we need more affordable housing throughout the city.”
Brenda Wahl, executive director of Family Promise of Lawrence, said in a letter to the city that the nonprofit has operated housing programs for more than 11 years and has empowered families to obtain permanent housing.
“This is why the Hope Project will be invaluable to families in our community,” Wahl wrote in the letter.
The plans ask the city to approve a reduction in the number of required parking spaces to 10 from 23, which city staff members support “based on the applicant’s reasoning that demand for off-street parking will be less based on the nature of the use, and because the development is in an area of the city where alternative modes of transportation are available,” according to the agenda item.
Other items related to the project would rezone the lots as residential instead of commercial and allow for a variance from the city code for alley width.
Currently, the north end of the Oread neighborhood along Ninth Street is designated as commercial development and includes restaurants, banks and more. But the lots on Tennessee Street where the project is proposed don’t currently host any businesses and are next to residential areas. A requested comprehensive plan amendment would switch these lots from commercial designation to high-density residential. The amendment must be approved by the planning commission, city commission and county commission.
Another item rezones the land as residential rather than commercial in the city’s development code. A third requests a variance from the city code for alley width because the existing alley is already below code.
City staff members are recommending the development go forward with only small adjustments to bring the plan more fully into compliance with the city’s development code.
Architects of the project with Paul Werner Architects said in a letter to the city that they notified neighbors close to the project, and they did not receive any responses.
Representatives of Family Promise could not be reached for comment ahead of publication.
In other business, the planning commission will consider rezoning an area of land at the southwest corner of West Third and Michigan streets. A similar, previous request was denied in October, and some community members have voiced concerns at possible impacts of the rezoning on the neighborhood.
They’ll also consider a rezoning request from Tenants to Homeowners for a long-planned project southeast of Bob Billings Parkway and Kansas Highway 10. Read more about that in this article.
See the full meeting agenda at this link.
The Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission will meet at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 26 at City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St. Meetings are open to the public and livestreamed on the city’s YouTube channel, youtube.com/lawrenceksvideo.
People may send written public comments to the commission until 10 a.m. the day of the meeting via email to planning@lawrenceks.org. People may also give public comment in person during the meeting or via Zoom; register for the Zoom meeting 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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