North Lawrence residents share hopes for city transparency, community-directed plans for corridor

Many of the roughly 200 people gathered Monday to discuss their priorities for the North Lawrence Corridor Study expressed a mix of enthusiasm to strengthen their community’s resources and trepidation about industrial development and the City of Lawrence’s approach to the initiative.

The Lawrence City Commission approved a contract with Kansas City, Missouri-based HNTB Corporation in September to launch a study of the North Lawrence corridor with a focus on North Second Street/U.S. 59 Highway.

Simultaneously, the commission approved an 11-person task force with residents and area business owners members to drive discussion and planning.

The study will be conducted across this year and 2026 with a focus on transportation and infrastructure, placemaking and economic revitalization in North Lawrence.

Bill Madsen, of HNTB, acknowledged that the terminology “North Lawrence Corridor Study” may not be fully accurate, as the project scope also includes unincorporated areas such as a large portion of Grant Township.

“(We’re) really trying to connect some of the major assets in this area that are disconnected, either through levees, through railroads, highways,” he said. “… We are looking for bold visions to start to take all the plans that have been done, synthesize that into this big vision that then we can move forward with an implementation plan.”

The room erupted in conversation and murmurs when an attendee asked about the total cost of the project.

Phase one of two is projected to cost the city $399,650, and includes public engagement events like Monday’s community visioning forum. To date, $8,000 of the nearly $400,000 budgeted for the consulting firm has been invoiced, according to a city staff member. Some attendees remarked to one another on how much the city spends on consultation services.

John Naramore, Grant Township resident and former trustee, expressed confusion about the project goal, shared with many others in the room.

“The goal overall is to develop a whole vision for North Lawrence,” Madsen said. “… We want to know what the community’s idea for a whole vision is.”

He added that the community’s feedback would define the goal of the project. It could lead them to focus on improving basic services, fixing stormwater, keeping development out of agricultural land or preserving the personality of North Lawrence, for example.

Other participant questions were cut short so that the attendees could be collected into working groups to discuss their hopes for the three primary study goals. 

Jerry Jost, Democratic precinct organizer for Douglas County and North Lawrence resident, felt that the explanations given in the introduction were inadequate.

“First of all, I want to know what the corridor is about, what their study is about, how they’re going to use the money, how they’re going to incorporate our voices. This is not working,” he said, referencing the crowded room.

Throughout the evening, folks expressed frustration that they couldn’t hear group leaders or that the environment was too overstimulating and loud to productively provide their input.

“There’s too many people,” Jost said. “They weren’t prepared for this kind of turnout … So my question is, how are they going to start all over to make sure people are involved?” 

Erica H. is a Woodlawn parent and a longtime North Lawrence resident who drives through the corridor everyday. She said members of the community have been talking to the City Commission about stormwater problems for decades, and the issue has yet to be addressed. 

“I wish that they would have just had a community meeting before the study was approved, because I think they could have gotten a lot of really good input for free before they agreed to spend nearly $400,000 on a study,” Erica said.

Melissa Sieben, director of municipal services and operations for the City of Lawrence, said that she and her team executed a pivot last week, going door to door to make sure North Lawrence residents knew about the visioning session.

Some priorities expressed by attendees

As countless opinions and perspectives were shared across Woodlawn Elementary lunch tables, a number of themes arose, including long-delayed stormwater maintenance; safer transportation networks throughout North Lawrence, especially across the the railroad; presence of everyday necessities in the area such as a grocery store; greater points of connection and access to the river; and preservation of agricultural land.

Here are a few more details on some of these suggestions:

• Safer transportation options: Breakout groups highlighted areas where they had transportation safety concerns with orange dots, many of which congregated along the railroad.

Sarah Hill-Nelson, a member of the task force and CEO of The Bowersock Mills & Power Company, said she’s seen adults and children alike crawl under trains, pulling their bicycles with them to get to through. Trains will often stop for hours in the area, leaving folks stranded on either side.

Many proposals included elevated pedestrian and bicycle pathways that would go over the railroad.

Beyond the railroad, multiple collectives made it clear that they wanted more transportation options to enhance safety and create connection throughout the area. In some cases, current structures could be improved or maintained. Welcome additions included expanded city bus routes, more pedestrian and bike bridges across the river and more sidewalks.

• Basic necessities: North Lawrence residents consistently advocated for greater access to everyday necessities.

Ari has been a North Lawrence resident on and off since 1987. At present, they’ve lived in the area for a 13-year stretch.

They said one of the main reasons they attended the visioning session was “because we need basic infrastructure, not new build and not industrial. We need things like a fire station and a grocery store.”

The absence of a grocery store with fresh food in the neighborhood was a concern that reverberated throughout the room.

Some proposed bringing in larger chain grocery stores, such as a Dillons, Aldi’s or even a Trader Joe’s to encourage folks from other neighborhoods to cross the bridge for shopping. Others, like Erica, advocated for local options, some of which already have a presence in the North Lawrence area.

“It’d be nice for them (the city) to partner with people who are already taking on those endeavors, like Pine’s Market and Sunflower Provisions, or the Merc having a satellite,” she said.

Other requests included more mail dropoff locations, a rec center and a pharmacy.

• Grant Township and agricultural land: Grant Township’s presence on the NLCS map was a point of contention and confusion for some attendees.

One of Naramore’s suggestions was the township be pulled from the study scope. He didn’t want the land to be industrialized, but said he would be more open to involvement if NLCS focused on maintaining the land as it is.

Nancy Thellman, owner of Juniper Hill Farm & Table, is on the NLCS task force representing Grant Township.

She said she was surprised by the volume of Grant Township included in the project and was unsure if it means that Lawrence is interested in annexing the township or if they are considering infrastructure, as the area experiences flooding that flows to North Lawrence.

Thellman wanted the study to be mindful of the needs of future generations, including clean water, good soil and plenty of food.

“That’s really a treasure (agricultural land) but it’s often viewed as kind of an easy target for development,” she said. “So that’s what I’m hoping to get out of being part of the task force … is to elevate all of the different things that we have on this side of the city and the county, and that’s tremendous natural resources, plenty of water, plenty of open space, plenty of trails, natural beauty, also arts and recreation.”

Community input and next steps

Shirley Braunlich, North Lawrence resident, said her first reaction to the project is she wants it to do no harm.

“Don’t create gentrification,” she said. “Don’t change the personality of North Lawrence to be something we don’t recognize.”

Erica hoped the city would stay true to its word and thoughtfully incorporate resident and business owner feedback.

“I’m hoping that any data that is collected from each of the tables, they will look at the actual data and find the nuances between what everyone is saying and incorporate that into any plan that they develop,” she said. 

Sieben and her staff said the information from Monday’s session and previous listening sessions would be synthesized into materials for a December open house. People will have a multi-hour window to review the defined topic areas in person and provide more input. A survey will also be available at that time.

When asked how her team will pivot if North Lawrence residents are unhappy with drafts of the plan, Sieben said, “We’ll be looking at how we adjust. Even from when we started this, we had to do some adjustments on sort of timing and how we are doing it, and trying to make sure we could get people here.”

As of now, the open house is scheduled for 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 10 at the Union Pacific Depot, 402 N. Second St. Madsen says, based on community turnout for the visioning session, they might need to relocate and/or expand the hours.

Information about upcoming community engagement events can be found at this link.

Note: This post was updated from a previous version.

Wulfe Wulfemeyer (they/them), reporter and news editor, has worked with The Lawrence Times since May 2025. They can be reached at wulfe@lawrencekstimes.com.

Read their complete bio here. Read their work for the Times here.

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