Annexation of hundreds of acres along U.S. Highway 40 helped push the growth of Lawrence city limits to one of its fastest rates in history during 2001, but city officials said it wasn't the start of a land-grabbing trend.
Figures from the Douglas County Appraiser's office show Lawrence annexed 844 acres into the city limits last year, compared with just 298 acres in 2000.
Nearly 700 acres were added in one fell swoop, as city commissioners approved a mass annexation involving more than 30 land tracts north and south of Highway 40 between Wakarusa Drive and the South Lawrence Trafficway.
The annexation was required before the city could issue debt for its share of a $17 million improvement of Sixth Street, which will require only a sliver of the annexed land. But the annexation also represented the single largest addition of developable land to city limits since the Alvamar development was annexed in the 1960s.
It's not a sign, though, the city is following the lead of several Johnson County communities routinely adding land mass several hundred acres at a gulp.
"Last year was a unique year," said City Manager Mike Wildgen. "There really aren't too many of those areas left where you will see us do annexations that are in triple-digit acreages."
Some possibilities
Not many, but a few. Wildgen said it appears possible the city would need to annex several hundred acres along O'Connell Road in the near future, if it hopes to secure funding to improve the road. The city also may want to consider a mass annexation of property farther north and west of the current city limits because new sewer improvements undertaken by landowners will increase development pressures throughout the area.
A report due out in May studying the feasibility of a new wastewater treatment plant for the community also may force the city to look at large scale annexations, depending on where it recommends a plant be built.
Some city officials believe bigger may be better when it comes to annexations.
"From a planning standpoint there are a lot of reasons to argue for more of these big annexations," said long-range city planner Bryan Dyer. "It helps us in drawing lines for roads and that sort of thing, but on a more basic level, it gives people the foreknowledge that the area is going to be urbanized.
"It would make it less likely that somebody will think the field or timber that is next to a house they are thinking about buying will always be there. It should give people the expectation that in the near future, the area is going to change."
'Realistic' plans
Mayor Mike Rundle said he wouldn't mind seeing larger annexations rather than the piecemeal approach used by the city for years.
"But it needs to be done in realistic amounts and as part of a realistic plan," Rundle said. "There is no point in annexing a big area into the city if it is going to sit there for 10 years without any improvements.
"The city has to take some responsibility to make sure the necessary infrastructure is going to get done. It doesn't have to be done right away, but it think it should be at least in the planning stage and probably in a capital plan before we annex big areas of land."
Mark Buhler, sales manager at Stephens Real Estate, said he thinks many developers would support a more aggressive annexation policy because it would make it easier to plan for the future. But he's not sure it will happen.
That's because larger annexations likely would mean the city would have to force some property owners to come into the city before they are ready.
"Government is a very personal business, and nobody in their right mind looks for people to frustrate by making them do something against their will," said Buhler, a former county commissioner. "It may be the right thing to do for all the right reasons, but that doesn't mean it isn't a bloody battle."
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