Lawrence city commissioners voted 3-2 to approve a final plan for the Fall Creek Villas, a 14-duplex residential project planned near Kasold and Tomahawk drives. The project had initially been rejected by both the city commission and planning commission before approval.
Fall Creek Villas would bring 28 new housing units to Lawrence. The project was previously denied by commissioners in April 2023 but later given approval with a supermajority vote to overrule a planning commission decision against the development. When the plan was first denied, neighbors had expressed concerns over potential flooding, erosion and density issues tied to the project’s proximity to Deerfield Creek.
Approval of a final development plan is typically an administrative decision made by the planning director, but commissioners asked to review the final plan for this development due to concerns with stormwater management.
Randy Larkin, deputy city attorney, said the commission’s role Tuesday night was to decide whether or not the plan meets the stormwater plan and must approve or deny it based only on that assessment.
According to the meeting agenda, developers worked with city engineers to revise the drainage plan, which now includes a custom drainage system and retaining walls. The project also requires a recorded stormwater management operations agreement with Douglas County before moving forward. City planner Sandra Day said the stormwater plan was rigorously reviewed by city engineers.
Commissioners who voted in favor agreed that, despite concerns raised again by community members, the project met the code requirements required for approval.
“I trust what the engineers have done,” Vice Mayor Brad Finkeldei said. “I do think it’s a considerably better plan in terms of stormwater than what we saw before.”
Commissioners Amber Sellers and Lisa Larsen voted against the project.
“I’m almost a little bit speechless right now,” Sellers said. “We had the ability the first time that we met, that we had this project, to say no. And I think a lot of the reasons why we did not, that some of us did not, say no to that was because we wanted to give an infill development project a chance that no one wanted … This is a project that nobody wants. This benefits no one in our community.”
More than a dozen Lawrence residents spoke against the project. They argued the development would alter the quality of the neighborhood by removing green space. One commenter played construction noises on her phone for the last minute of her public comment time.
Commenters said the developers’ changes weren’t enough to address concerns over stormwater impacts.
“It’s expensive to develop, it’s going to increase our flooding risk, remove green space and the neighbors really hate it,” Patrick Webb said. “So, ask yourself: Will you be proud to tell your kids and family that you destroyed 8 acres of woods, but hey, we gained 14 expensive duplexes?”
Multiple people spoke about their frustrations with the process to approve the development, which included previous rejections from the city commission and planning commission.
Lawrence resident Rich Bailey said he had already raised concerns with the development four times before, so on Tuesday he instead said the project had eroded his trust in the city’s development process.
“I guess I’m just not trusting the process here,” he said. “Why the pretense of a planning commission if the city commission simply disregards their decisions?”
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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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