It’s the chicken-and-egg issue for growth in Lawrence. Which comes first plans to build sewers or plans to build the developments that will use them?

“If you want to see where future growth is going to go, check out where the sewer line is going,” Planning Commissioner Andy Ramirez said. “That’s usually where the next wave of growth is going to happen.”

It’s true that city officials expect that the next fronts in Lawrence’s growth are where a city “master plan” calls for sewer development on the northwest side, west of Wakarusa Drive along Sixth Street; and on the southeast side, toward the Douglas County Jail.

“In that capacity, sewers are being used to assist planning and how the city’s growing,” said Roger Coffey, the city’s director of utilities.

But officials say it is also true that the master plan for sewers is developed in consultation with city planners, who tell the utility folks where developers are looking to build stores, houses and offices.

So, officials say, it’s not easy to say whether sewer plans and the growth that follows are driven by developers or the city.

“It’s a little bit of everything,” City Manager Mike Wildgen said.

Working together

The reason growth and sewers are so closely linked is simple.

“Public health demands you have a public sewer system,” Wildgen said.

Sewer systems help contain the sprawl of a city, officials suggest.

“In terms of urban density you don’t have room on those lots for a septic system,” Wildgen said. “They need that capacity in the ground. So in an urban setting, you use sewers. And the water generally follows.”

When the city builds sewers on the northwest side of town, they will be hooked to sewer mains that were built by Douglas County before the land was annexed into the city last year.

“The people who own the ground are the ones who initiate it,” said County Engineer Keith Browning. “They want to develop the ground, and they need sewers to do it. Typically, those are done by benefit district.”

Under the benefit district system, the county temporarily finances the cost of the sewer main, then bills the landowner for construction, design and interest costs.

The mains are so expensive that developers are often ready to start building once their construction is over.

“I’m sure that they need to make some money off of their investments to justify it,” Browning said. “I assume that would provide them with pretty big impetus to go ahead with development.”

But, Browning added: “It’s not just that anyone can determine they want to put sewers in and develop an area.”

Developers must work with planners and city-county engineering officials to determine the economic feasibility of putting in sewers.

“Sewers can go almost anywhere where development wants to be,” Coffey said. “The driver of it is economics.”

The obstacle is geography. Thanks to gravity, waste in the sewer system flows most easily when it’s traveling downhill. Put a hill in the way of the sewer system, and expensive technological tricks ensue to keep the waste moving.

That will make development on the city’s northwest side tricky, Ramirez said.

“The topography doesn’t lend itself to doing what we’re doing there,” he said.

Factors in the future

Topography also poses a challenge as the city considers other areas of growth. Right now, Black & Veatch engineers are helping prepare the city’s next sewer master plan and trying to determine how easy it would be for the city to extend service south of the Wakarusa River.

There are other considerations as the city contemplates expanding in that direction. Roads, utilities and emergency services would have to be offered as well.

But Black & Veatch will have the first word on the possibility.

“Sewers,” Wildgen said, “will clearly be a factor in any decision to grow south.”