Blasting to continue, despite neighbors’ pleas

The Lawrence City Commission on Tuesday declined to put an end to blasting for a new housing development in west Lawrence.

Commissioners said city code was being followed in the blasting to remove underground rock at the construction site, a 170-home development at the end of Harvard Road, west of Wakarusa Drive.

“I don’t see a reason to stop this particular project from going forward,” Commissioner David Dunfield said.

But commissioners promised to review the codes that allow blasting.

Neighbors had asked for a prohibition on all blasting within 500 feet of their houses.

“What if something goes wrong?” asked Dan Wilkus, who lives nearby in the 1100 block of Stonecreek Drive. “Remember, they said the Titanic was unsinkable, and we know what happened there.”

Commissioners asked for a progress report on the blasting to be presented at their next meeting, May 4.

Another survey

The city’s Business Retention Task Force will conduct a survey on the city’s friendliness to business — the third such survey in two years.

But members of the task force say previous surveys only turned up general criticisms instead of details that can be fixed. Those surveys, sponsored by the city and the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce, generally criticized City Hall for a “business unfriendly” attitude.

“We want to get specificity instead of generalities,” said Larry Kipp, a task force member. “Let’s identify the specific problems people see, and then work it.”

Surveys, to be taken in May, would be sent to people who applied for building permits, tax abatements, rezonings or other City Hall processes during the past two years.

Planners mapping potential business parks

Planning officials are creating a map of available industrial land in Douglas County, the first step toward creating a new business park to lure new businesses.

During a discussion Tuesday before the Lawrence City Commission, Planning Director Linda Finger said the map would include four different types of undeveloped land:

• Areas identified for potential industrial use in Horizon 2020, the city-county comprehensive plan.
• Areas identified for industrial use in other “area plans” that focus on different specific parts of the city.
• Land already zoned for industrial use.
• Areas identified for such use by officials.

“We thought we’d start with what is a known quantity,” Finger told the commission.

Officials hope the process leads to the identification of 1,000 acres — preferably in chunks of 300 acres or more — for industrial use.

The map is expected to be unveiled May 5 during a joint meeting of the city and county commissions.

Schedule

Today: Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission, 6;30 p.m. City Hall, Sixth and Massachusetts streets.

Thursday: Arts Commission Percent for Art Committee Meeting, 4:30 p.m. at Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vt.

Monday: Traffic Safety Commission, 7:30 p.m. at City Hall.