Clashing forces in the battle over houses in the 1300 block of Ohio Street are gearing up for their last chance to sway the governor to their side.

By Friday afternoon, about 15 people had reserved speaking slots at a public hearing, set for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Douglas County Courthouse. Gov. Bill Graves scheduled the hearing after deciding he didn’t have enough information about “feasible and prudent alternatives” to the wrecking ball.

Opponents of Kansas University’s plan to demolish three dilapidated, century-old homes and replace them with a scholarship hall say they’ve prepared a handful of such alternatives to present at the hearing. KU officials continue to argue those alternatives don’t exist.

The Lawrence Preservation Alliance and the Oread Neighborhood Assn. say professional inspections confirm the houses can be renovated. They have submitted renovation proposals to the governor that include KU scholarship housing and private sector rental housing.

Alternative sites

The organizations also have identified other KU-owned property they contend would be a more appropriate location for scholarship halls. Those sites include vacant land at 15th Street and Alumni Place, vacant land on Stewart Avenue and recently purchased land at 1300 La., said Janet Gerstner, Oread Neighborhood Assn. secretary.

Adrien Vlach, executive director of the KU Student Housing Assn., said his organization had discussed buying one or more of the properties in the 1300 block of Ohio Street. The association is not affiliated with the university.

His organization operates two cooperative houses  at 1614 Ky. and 1406 Tenn.  with housing for 38 students. There almost always is a waiting list, especially for Sunflower House, the property on Tennessee Street.

Vlach acknowledged rehabilitating the houses would be expensive and that it was unlikely his organization would have enough money to tackle the projects alone. He said KU probably would need to sell the property at a low rate and that his group was seeking grants for the project.

“It’s not an option right now, but we’d like to see it be an option,” he said.

But KU spokeswoman Lynn Bretz said the university continued to believe that tearing down the houses was the only reasonable choice. That’s what KU will try to impress upon the governor at Tuesday’s hearing.

Renovating such “very severely dilapidated structures” would be cost-prohibitive, she said.

Historic environs

The university’s plans have been put on hold because of a state preservation officer’s ruling in March that demolition would harm the historic value of nearby Usher House, 1425 Tenn. That house, now occupied by Beta Theta Pi fraternity, is on the National Register of Historic Places.

KU Chancellor Robert Hemenway in June appealed the state preservation officer’s ruling to Graves, who originally intended to make a decision without public input. He changed his mind July 8, and letters flowed into his office from proponents and opponents of demolition. He announced the public hearing on Aug. 7.

Graves won’t personally attend Tuesday’s hearing. Instead, a lawyer from his office will supervise.

Graves spokeswoman Kristin Heuertz said those who had registered to speak by 5 p.m. Friday would be guaranteed time to comment Tuesday. Additional public comment may be taken as time allows.

Graves has not set a deadline for a decision.

“The governor can take as much time as he needs to make a fully informed decision,” Heuertz said.

Bretz said the university believed the neighborhood could benefit from the scholarship halls.

“We are convinced that we could build something on Ohio Street that would be of a style and scale that would be appropriate for the neighborhood and nearby Usher House,” she said. “We’d like to work with the residents in achieving that goal.”

Greg Hickam, president of Oread Neighborhood Assn., hopes Graves rules out demolition altogether.

“We’re hopeful that Gov. Graves can see the logic and rationality of our arguments,” Hickam said. “But one never knows about such things.”

Staff writer Terry Rombeck contributed to this report.