Lawrence city commissioners voted Tuesday to accept a request and begin the process to consider potentially annexing 650 acres of land west of Kansas Highway 10 into city limits.
The commission’s vote on Tuesday does not guarantee the annexation will ultimately be approved, but it does send the request to the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission for consideration.
The land is to the west of Kansas Highway 10 and spans between the Sixth Street interchange and the Bob Billings Parkway interchange.
Although not all of the land included within the boundaries would be included in the annexation, the land would span west as far as East 700 Road in some places. That’s about 2 miles west of K-10 and Sixth Street.
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The proposal also includes rezoning requests. If ultimately approved, the development could include some commercial zoning and low-, medium- and high-density housing surrounding a a conservation easement.
20260303-Annexation-reqThe 650 acres are equivalent to about 1 square mile. The city is about 34.3 square miles. The annexation would increase the area of the city by about 3%.
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The agenda item was on the commission’s consent agenda — a list of items that are generally considered routine and approved with one motion unless a commissioner asks to pull something for discussion. Commissioner Kristine Polian asked to discuss this item because members of the public had reached out with questions about it.
Three members of the public spoke to the commission, voicing concerns about the environmental impacts, how the process would play out, whether the land would be within Lawrence Public Schools boundaries and the infrastructure that would be required to support the annexation.
The land is just within the Lawrence school district’s boundaries, as shown on a Kansas State Department of Education map.
Planning commissioners last week voted to recommend approval of a 63-acre annexation in northwestern Lawrence. The New Boston Crossing development planned southeast of K-10 and Iowa Street is about 177 acres. The proposal for the 650-acre annexation comes from Landplan Engineering, as did the smaller two.
Mayor Brad Finkeldei said there’s “lots of process left” for the latest annexation request.
Vice Mayor Mike Courtney said it’s a “huge chunk of land.”
“This will change the shape and the westward look of Lawrence for our kids and our grandkids. It’s a big deal,” he said.
Commissioners unanimously approved accepting the request. It will go to the planning commission for consideration next, though it was not immediately clear when, and the city manager’s office will notify utility companies and Douglas County Rural Water District No. 1 of the request.
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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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