Lawrence city commissioners on Tuesday approved annexation and rezoning requests for nearly 300 acres of land in western Lawrence for a new development, Beacon Landing.
The land — 288 acres total — is west of Kansas Highway 10, south of Sixth Street (aka U.S. Highway 40) and mostly north of Bob Billings Parkway/North 1500 Road, though a small portion near the highway is south of it. The westernmost portion of the annexation request reaches as far as East 800 Road.
A majority of commissioners voted in favor of each of seven requests related to the development, though many of the votes were not unanimous.
Jeff Crick, director of planning and development services for the city, told commissioners it’s probably the largest single annexation request in the last three decades.
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The plans include 111 acres of residential zoning — 70.1 acres for low-density housing (R-2, about four to six units per acre with 5,000-square-foot lots); 16.9 acres for medium-density housing (R-3, about seven to 15 units per acre); and 23.5 acres for high-density housing (R-4, 16 to 32 units per acre).
Another 126.7 acres will be rezoned to commercial center district, and 51 acres will be rezoned from agricultural to open space.
“This is a great opportunity to develop a big portion at once, a master-planned community, and that’s what we intend to do,” Corby Rust, with Landplan Engineering, told commissioners.
The land is within Lawrence school district boundaries. Mayor Brad Finkeldei said some school board members had said they were in favor of the requests and would like to see more housing built in the district.
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Developers with Landplan Engineering are seeking tax incentives from the city and sales tax and revenue bonds, or STAR bonds, to help pay for development of the area as well as 1059 (formerly New Boston Crossing), the development slated for southeast of K-10 and Iowa Street. However, the tax break requests were not part of Tuesday’s agenda.
In response to a question from Finkeldei, Deputy City Attorney Randy Larkin said the city cannot consider an incentive application for land that is not annexed into the city.
However, commissioners can require specific types of development in an area if they are giving developers tax incentives. Commissioners already approved annexation for the 1059 development in March 2023.
The city needs more housing: a recently completed study projected that the city will need 6,315 additional units — 2,920 for sale and 3,395 for rental — over the next 10 years in order to meet demand.
During public comment on Tuesday, 17 community members spoke regarding the plans, roughly split between those in favor and those opposed. Several people who spoke against the plans and some who said they were in favor voiced concerns about the lower density proposed for much of the residential zoning in the development.
Xavier Carrasco Cooper, a recent Bishop Seabury Academy graduate, spoke about the sprawl it creates when people have to drive everywhere, saying it can decrease community-building and access to food.
“Generally, expanding Lawrence just to the far reaches will end up being more burden on the government to maintain it instead of focusing on the areas we already have and building them up,” he said.
Trent Santee, a builder in town, urged commissioners to approve the requests. He said he wants to put in houses that are affordable and economical, and that has to be done at scale — 50 houses at a time, for instance.
“The infill and density is not going to solve our housing issue by itself,” he said. “We have to figure out annexation. We have to do this, and we have to work together.”
Emily Hill, founder of Bowersock Capital Partners, said she’s passionate about this community and downtown Lawrence. She said she believes downtown is struggling because the city has allowed too much commercial development on its peripheries.
“I think there is a better way of handling this than just a short-term decision to annex property without being totally confident that we know what the plan is and we know how it’s going to impact the heart of Lawrence,” Hill said.
Finkeldei said the commission has annexed multiple properties since he’s been on — first elected in 2019 — and he said he didn’t think anything had been built on any of them.
“It’s a very long process,” he said. “… If you approve an annexation today, you know, you’re building houses two, three, four years from now.”
In addition, he said projects get rezoned frequently as plans changed.
Commissioner Amber Sellers said she didn’t see the proposal as taking away from downtown but rather as “another opportunity district.”
“I think people have to understand that there are aspects of downtown that are wonderful, but there are also individuals in our community that don’t see themselves in downtown, and they don’t participate in things downtown because it doesn’t speak to the culture and vibe of them,” Sellers said.
Vice Mayor Mike Courtney asked whether the city would be obligated to build $50 million of projects in the capital improvement plan for westward expansion. Finkeldei and Larkin said Tuesday’s vote did not obligate the city to create infrastructure.
City Engineer Dave Cronin said projects in the area would be phased in as they’re needed, and there are a number of developer-driven projects in the CIP. Additional development west of K-10 could eventually require infrastructure such as a new pump station and a water tower. Sellers said the infrastructure plans in the CIP aren’t necessarily tied directly to this project.
Looking ahead, Commissioner Kristine Polian said she had concerns about the incentive application.
“I hate it. I mean, I don’t love it,” she said. “… But I get it, and I want growth to be successful as possible. But we have to control it at the next step, significantly.”
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