Planning Commission denies retail proposal for Sixth and Wakarusa

The Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission kept its promise Wednesday and rejected a plan for a new retail development in western Lawrence.

The plan would have created, in combination with other existing and anticipated developments at the intersection of Sixth Street and Wakarusa Drive, one of the largest commercial areas in town.

“It’s a violation of Horizon 2020; it’s too big,” Commissioner Andy Ramirez said. “In a vacuum, it would be a good plan.”

In October commissioners approved development on the northwest corner. But they said they wouldn’t be receptive to any new plans that pushed total development at the intersection above 450,000 square feet.

That is the top limit Horizon 2020, the city-county long-range plan, allows for community commercial centers.

“I, for one, am weary of the charges that we ignore our duties,” Chairman Ron Durflinger said in October. “I don’t plan to add to that.”

The plan considered Wednesday for the northeast corner of Sixth and Wakarusa called for 31 retail buildings and three restaurants totalling more than 148,000 square feet  which would bring total approved development at the intersection to more than 550,000 square feet.

As a result, city planning staffers recommended against plan approval.

But Lawrence attorney RoxAnne Miller, representing developer The Woodmont Co., protested the recommendation. She said Horizon 2020 may be amended to increase community commercial centers to 500,000 square feet of construction.

And Miller noted the northeast corner had been approved for commercial zoning in 1997, more than four years before the northwest corner.

If the plan was denied, she said, “Kansas courts will find the denial is unreasonable as a matter of law.”

But Assistant City Manager Dave Corliss, the city’s director of legal services, refuted that argument.

In a memorandum to planning commissioners, he noted the rezoning was contingent on approval of the development plan. Because that plan wasn’t submitted until late 2001, following approval of the northwest corner, the commercial zoning never was completed.

“I believe that a legal attack on the staff recommendations could not be sustained,” Corliss wrote.

Commissioners agreed, saying the plan was good but too big for the intersection. They unanimously rejected the plan; Commissioner Sue Pine was absent.

“Development is a competitive business,” Durflinger said. “Timing is everything.”

The planning commission’s recommendation now goes to the Lawrence City Commission for consideration at a later date.