Developers are seeking tax incentives for a soccer complex, a flight school, a velodrome arena, a walking trail, a wildflower park, thousands of single-family homes and more along Kansas Highway 10.
The Lawrence City Commission on Tuesday will hear a presentation from the group behind the projects, the K-10 Development Group, which is led by Wichita developer Phil Bundy.
The package of developments are anchored by two large plans: one west of town on newly annexed land, and one south of K-10, a project formerly known as the New Boston Crossing.
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The developers are seeking to link the projects, which would also include a flight school for women by the Lawrence Municipal Airport, with a STAR bond district.
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City commissioners will not vote to approve any part of the developments or incentives on Tuesday.
Instead, they will give direction to city staff about a key part of the incentive request: The developers want to use sales taxes from the new Costco to help pay back the STAR bonds they would use for the development.
What are the developments?
The 1059: Formerly known as the New Boston Crossing, a proposed development in south Lawrence has changed dramatically in recent years to now feature a large soccer complex operated by Sporting Kaw Valley, a nonprofit youth soccer program.
Original plans for high-density housing were met with strong community opposition due to the development’s location in the Wakarusa River Valley floodplain.
The development has now shifted to its current form, which includes retail buildings and the soccer complex on the northern part of the development, with a walking trail and 70 acres of open space conservation area to the south.
Beacon Landing: West of K-10, on a recently annexed piece of land, the same developer is proposing to build 1,200 single-family homes, 500 rental units and a series of attractions.
The development’s major attraction would be the Free State Arena, a multi-sport, multi-event facility, with a cycling track as its core piece. It could hold up to about 5,000 people.
The project will also include the Wildflower Meadow Park, a 51-acre educational nature park with native prairie and butterfly-supporting habitat.
At a presentation to the Lawrence Board of Realtors last week, developers said they intend to use local home builders and source construction materials from local suppliers as much as possible.
Centennial Flight School: The final part of the developer’s loop around K-10 would involve adding a women’s flight school near the Lawrence Municipal Airport north of town.
It would include flight and aviation maintenance training, as well as a residence hall. The developers are working with the Ninety-Nines, an international organization of women’s pilots. (Read more about that proposal in this article.)
What incentives are they requesting?
The developers are seeking to link the developments with a STAR bond district.
STAR bonds, or sales tax and revenue bonds, are a type of state financial incentive that uses increases in sales tax revenue in a district to fund a project.
They are being used to fund the KU Gateway development and the new Kansas City football team stadium in Wyandotte County.
The STAR bond proposal for this series of K-10 developments would entail the city issuing bonds, which are purchased by private investors, and using that money to help pay for initial infrastructure needs related to the projects.
Since the projects are all on the outskirts of town, they would require substantial new infrastructure investment, including water pipes and road extensions.
Then, over the course of a maximum of 20 years, nearly all new sales tax revenue generated from a set project area would be redirected to pay back the bond debt, instead of going to the city’s general fund.
That can include city and state sales tax, which is something the developers noted at the meeting of the board of realtors. The state levies four times the amount of sales tax as the city on most purchases, which means much of the cost of the project would be paid for by the state.
The developers say the bonds are helpful because they provide the upfront finances to fund significant infrastructure developments. If revenue from the projects fall short of what’s needed to pay back the bond debt, the private investors take those losses, not the city.
But the bonds mean the city would see little additional revenue from the developments for the years the project is paying back the bond debt.
Plus, the K-10 development group’s STAR bond district doesn’t just include the new projects. It also includes Costco.
Why include Costco?
The development group said including Costco was necessary to get the project started.
For the first few years of development, The 1059 and Beacon Landing would likely not generate much new sales tax revenue as they are being built.
So, the developers proposed including the new Costco, which should start generating new sales tax revenue when it opens at the end of the month.
That means the city would forgo much of Costco’s sales tax revenue in a gamble that the developments around K-10 would be worth the sacrifice in the long term.
Meeting info
General public comment will start at 5 p.m., followed by the commission’s regular meeting at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 13 at City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St. The complete meeting agenda can be found at this link.
The commission accepts written public comment emailed to [email protected] until noon the day of meetings. The commission also hears live public comment during meetings, both in person and virtually.
City commission meetings are no longer livestreamed on YouTube. In order to watch the meeting online remotely, attendees must join via Zoom at this link, which also allows participants to provide public comment virtually. Meeting recordings are uploaded to the city’s YouTube channel the next day.
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Cuyler Dunn (he/him), staff reporter, has worked with The Lawrence Times since April 2022. He can be reached at [email protected].
Read his complete bio at this link. Read more of his work for the Times at this link.
More coverage: Expanding Lawrence
Cuyler Dunn/Lawrence Times
Cuyler Dunn/Lawrence Times
