When Paul Markham first moved to Lawrence to teach at Kansas University, his home was in what was then west Lawrence.

But if you look at a map today, Markham’s 17-year-old house sits much closer to the center of Lawrence.

“What was west Lawrence is becoming increasingly central,” said the 50-year-old president of the Sunset Hills Neighborhood Assn.

What that means is his neighborhood has become fairly stable and there’s only an occasional development issue arising. The neighborhood’s boundaries are Sixth and 15th streets on the north and south and Iowa Street and Kasold Drive on the east and west.

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“I think there is an advantage of being in more of an established neighborhood,” Markham said. “It’s not quite as volatile. People are not going to be putting up a structure right next to you. It’s very unlikely at this point.”

But when something does come up, those in the neighborhood become active to let City Hall hear their concerns, he said.

” We have made an issue of trying to maintain green space,” Markham said. “And (we) make sure that when decisions are made about buildings they stay within the code restrictions.”

Markham, who is originally from Tremonton, Utah, taught at the University of Maryland before he came to KU in 1990.

He currently trains English as a Second Language teachers and foreign language teachers at KU’s School of Education.

Opposed to recreation center

Sitting behind his house, he gestured toward the church building up the rocky slope adjacent to his backyard.

Concerns from five years ago about what the future held for the church property got him involved in the neighborhood association.

Corpus Christi Catholic Church, the former occupant, had acquired property for a new church and had put the building on the market.

“Corpus Christi Church and the city had talked about perhaps turning that into a rec center,” he said.

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Markham and other neighbors were concerned that a recreation center would bring in many people at all hours, seven days a week. They were concerned the tone of the neighborhood would change.

And they also were hampered by their own neighborhood covenant they couldn’t put up high privacy fences.

That concern brought him to a Sunset Hills Neighborhood Assn. meeting.

The next thing I knew, I was nominated as president and didn’t have a reasonable excuse,” he said, laughing. “And there I was, elected.”

When the church was finally sold to Christ Community Church, another issue arose, he said.

The neighbors disagreed with the congregation’s wishes to put a 74-foot trailer on the church property.

The trailer would have gone between the church’s east side and his home.

“If you put a mobile home in the middle of a single-family residence kind of area, it deteriorates the property values of surrounding homes,” Markham said.

Neighbors said they were sympathetic to the church’s space problems.

“But you can’t erode the property values of everyone around you to take care of your space needs,” he said. “That’s not a viable option, in my opinion.”

Golf course an issue

Another issue for the neighborhood is what will happen to the existing Orchards Executive Golf Course.

The 30.5-acre, nine-hole course lies between 15th Street on the south, Lawrence Avenue on the west, Westdale Road on the north and Oxford Road on the east.

The course had been up for sale for about two years. Neighbors have concerns about what will become of the property, whose fairways and greens provide a parklike setting.

“You don’t want that to become a shopping mall or have it be rezoned for something else,” he said.

Polaris missile

The neighborhood also been concerned about another issue the old Polaris missile in Centennial Park.

About three years ago, the association met with the city to try to get the missile relocated.

“I don’t think it’s fully appreciated where it is,” he said. “A lot of people thought it was simply unused playground equipment.”

He said the neighborhood association talked to the city about getting it moved to the Combat Air Museum at Forbes Field in Topeka.

“Basically we considered it to be out of character with the rest of the park,” he said “It’s a very tall, large, odd object in a park that’s meant to be greenspace with trees and grass. “

The missile is about 50 feet high and about five to six feet in diameter.

“It’s a relic of the cold war kind of era. It was donate many years ago,” he said. “It’s not to the point where people are extremely hostile. It’s just kind of a nuisance. “

Opposition party

Markham said he was a bit skeptical as to how much influence a neighborhood association has. But he’s seen how strong a role neighbors who have reached a consensus on an issue can play.

“They act almost like an opposition party in some ways,” he said.

Sometimes neighborhood associations get criticized for being too “nitpicky,” he said.

But they are trying to protect the lifestyle they currently enjoy, he said.

And they help keep development somewhat under control and have an organized way to provide useful information to the city, he said.

The Sunset Hills association has about 150 members on its newsletter mailing list. It has an annual meeting each fall.