A Wal-Mart store isn’t the only project developers want to build near the northwest corner of Sixth Street and Wakarusa Drive.

The same developers who proposed the Wal-Mart project are seeking approval for a 236-unit apartment complex directly east and north of the site for the proposed store.

The project tops a list of recent filings received by the Lawrence-

Douglas County Planning Department.

The complex, which is unnamed, would include 14 buildings and have 82 one-bedroom, 116 two-bedroom and 38 three-bedroom apartments.

Bill Newsome, a partner in the development group 6Wak Land Investments LLC, said there was no timeline for construction to begin on the project.

Instead, he said developers would monitor community vacancy rates and rent levels to determine when to start.

“We’re doing this so we’ll be ready when the market is ready,” Newsome said.

Thirteen of the 14 buildings in the complex will be located northwest of Congressional Drive and Sixth Street. One building will be located east of Congressional Drive and north of the proposed Wal-Mart site.

Assistant City Manager Dave Corliss said that building likely would fall under the recently issued building moratorium for the area, which includes the Wal-Mart site. The moratorium doesn’t prohibit the development group from filing plans for the area. It only prohibits the issuance of building permits.

¢ Landowners in Wal-Mart case berated for bypassing zoning appeals board (6-6-03)¢ Past stories about Wal-Mart and other Sixth and Wakarusa development proposals

Newsome said the group was optimistic a Douglas County District Court case would render the moratorium issue moot.

“We clearly think all of it (the moratorium) was illegal and we’ll pursue all the avenues to show that it was not a legal action,” Newsome said.

The planning commission is scheduled to discuss the project at its July 23 meeting.

In other filings received by the planning office:

• Developers are seeking approval to rezone about 130 acres near the intersection of Monterey Way and Peterson Road to allow for the construction of several hundred single-family homes.

The projects would be north and east of where Monterey Way ends as it intersects with Peterson Road. The developers, which include Lawrence real estate executive Doug Stephens and builder Mike Stultz, haven’t submitted plans that show how many homes would be built on the property.

The developers are asking the planning commission to rezone the property from agriculture to RS-2, a single-family zoning designation. Projects with RS-2 zoning typically allow for three to five houses per acre.

Planning commissioners are scheduled to discuss the project at their June 25 meeting.

• Officials with Lawrence’s U.S. Department of Agriculture Service Center are seeking approval for a new office building west of Biltmore and Legends drives in west Lawrence.

The building would replace the current service center at 3010 Four Wheel Drive, which houses the Farm Service Agency, the U.S. Rural Development Office, the Douglas County Conservation Service and the Natural Resource Conservation Service.

Johnathon Alley, an agent with the Farm Service Agency, said the group hasn’t set a date to move the offices.