A spirit of cooperation, not bullying, is the key to preventing conflicts between the university and surrounding neighborhoods.

Kansas University and the city of Lawrence always have been the best of friends. Lawrence officials acknowledge and appreciate the many benefits the university brings to this city, and KU officials recognize how much support they derive from the community that surrounds their campus. Past KU chancellors who had served at other universities have said the “town-gown” relationship in Lawrence was the best they had experienced.

But as both Lawrence and the campus grow, some additional effort may be required to avoid clashes such as the one that recently occurred in the 1300 block of Ohio Street. Dilapidated houses in that block were purchased with the expectation that the land could be used to build new scholarship halls on the edge of the KU campus. Neighbors, however, were dismayed by the march of the campus across the neighborhood border they believed university officials had agreed not to cross. The governor of Kansas, called in to settle the dispute, declared that the houses should go, either removed or demolished.

The issue of the 1300 block of Ohio Street is behind us, but it probably won’t be the last time KU officials seek to expand the campus. How that expansion takes place is of concern to many residents of neighborhoods surrounding the campus and has prompted some city officials to consider increased regulation of how KU expansion takes place. The city has never held KU to the same kind of zoning restrictions placed on other new construction, but that could change.

Whether the houses on Ohio Street should have been preserved as “historic” structures is less important than the issue of where university expansion should occur. This is not unlike any number of other neighborhood planning issues that the city has dealt with through the years. City officials approved special zoning restrictions for Old West Lawrence to prevent existing houses from being destroyed and replaced by multifamily housing. Encroachments into neighborhoods east of New Hampshire Street are considered whenever the downtown business district seeks to expand.

Owners of property adjacent to the campus have little incentive to maintain those houses if they can assume the university soon will be interested in buying that property and razing the houses to make room for new construction. It also is reasonable to consider what type of university buildings are appropriate  both in terms of use and scale  in areas that are adjacent to residential property.

Although the Ohio Street situation proved it is possible to pass local planning decisions on to state officials, it would be far preferable for local officials and residents to arrive at amicable solutions. A “good neighbor” group of university, neighborhood and city officials that has been formed is a step in the right direction. That group is discussing the possibility of a university zoning district, which might give the city reasonable oversight of KU projects.

In a recent Journal-World article, Mayor Sue Hack acknowledged neighborhood concerns about KU projects but added, “I would not want us to be the bullies in this either.”

There is no reason for either the university or the city to play the bully on local planning issues. The interests of Lawrence and KU are closely aligned, and it shouldn’t be impossible for the two entities to arrive at solutions that are satisfactory to both parties.