Lawrence city commissioners on Tuesday ordered city staffers and property owners at the southeast corner of 31st and Iowa streets to continue negotiating land purchases for road improvements at the intersection.

Commissioners said they didn’t want an impasse regarding the purchase price to result in a poorly constructed road.

“I’m uncomfortable making a decision here that rises out of a dispute between staff and the property owner,” Commissioner Mike Rundle said. “We don’t want to lose sight of building the road well.”

Negotiations had collapsed between the city and Rubenstein Real Estate Co. to buy some of the Rubenstein land between Kmart and 31st Street to make room for some of the improvements.

The issue is money. Jane Eldredge, Rubenstein’s Lawrence attorney, said city officials initially offered $15 per square foot for the needed land, for a total of roughly $200,000.

But Assistant City Manager Dave Corliss said no such offer was made. He said the project budget included a “high-end” possibility of paying $15 per square foot, but since the land in question already contains city utility easements, an offer of $4 per square foot was made, for a total in the neighborhood of $52,000 about the price recommended by an appraiser.

Because of the standoff, Corliss recommended the project proceed without the land.

The resulting design would have shortened a westbound deceleration lane along 31st Street that would benefit Rubenstein; it also would remove the property’s access to a planned traffic signal in front of the post office at 1901 W. 31st.

Eldredge said negotiations should be allowed to continue. If that doesn’t work, she said, a court can resolve the matter a common resolution to condemnation matters.

“All my clients want is to be compensated properly,” she said. “If the dollar amount is questionable, that’s fine. But it’s not fair for the city to say, ‘Do it our way, or we won’t benefit your property.'”

Commissioners agreed. But they also gave preliminary approval to repealing a June ordinance that originally condemned the land in question. As a result, the city probably will end up purchasing less than the roughly 13,000 square feet it originally expected to buy.

“All of our discussions this evening are part of the negotiating process,” Corliss said. “We don’t usually have those discussions here” in public.