The vision for a major business park near the Lawrence Municipal Airport has shrunk considerably, members of the project’s development team confirmed Wednesday.

“There are a lot of hurdles out there,” said Lawrence businessman Jes Santaularia, who leads the development team.

In June, Santaularia filed plans for a business park and commercial area on 144 acres near the intersection of U.S. Highways 24/40 and North Seventh Street. At that time, Santaularia was labeling the development as the first phase of a 900-acre business and “lifestyle park” that he envisioned for property south, east and west of the airport.

But now Santaularia said he believes the 144-acre development likely will be the first and only phase of the project. Santaularia controls 300 acres of property in the area through a partnership with the Roger Pine family, but Santaularia said he hadn’t been able to forge partnerships with other landowners.

“The likelihood of it ever happening is so remote that it is not in the big picture anymore,” Santaularia said of the 900-acre park. “The ground is just not acquirable. The parties that own those other 600 acres just aren’t interested in the plan.”

But Santaularia said he thinks it is important for the community to move ahead on the 144-acre project. He said the business park could attract new employers to town because the site is a natural for distribution centers, warehouses and other businesses that need to be located near major roadways. The site is adjacent to Interstate 70 and several federal highways.

Santaularia estimates the development, which will include a small amount of retail space geared toward North Lawrence residents and employees of the business park, will generate 1,600 jobs for the community, and produce $54 million in taxes and other revenue for the community during a 20-year period.

The project, though, is still producing concerns among neighbors. Some rural residents in the area already have formed a group to oppose the project. Now, residents of North Lawrence also are expressing concern.

Ted Boyle, president of the North Lawrence Improvement Association, said his group shares many of the same concerns that the rural residents have: stormwater issues, traffic issues and the amount of money the city may have to spend to extend sewer lines to the site.

“We’re not opposed to development because we know it makes jobs for the people, but we’re not sure this is the right way to do it,” Boyle said.

Santaularia said the development could help solve many existing problems that North Lawrence deals with, such as flooding and traffic. Santaularia said his project won’t make any of the existing issues worse but should provide the new tax dollars needed for the city to address the problems.

“We want everyone to know that we’re going to provide a great project to this community,” Santaularia said. “We’re going to provide a catalyst to fix problems in North Lawrence that we’ve had nothing to do with.”

Boyle, though, said North Lawrence residents are wary of those type of promises. He said many North Lawrence residents feel like they have been handed empty promises before when it comes to fixing stormwater issues.

“We want the problems resolved before the development is started,” Boyle said. “That’s the way it is done in other parts of town.”

The Monday meeting will be the first of several for the project. Lawrence-Douglas County planning commissioners are scheduled to hear annexation and rezoning requests at their 6:30 p.m. meeting on Sept. 26 at City Hall, Sixth and Massachusetts streets. Ultimately, city commissioners will be asked to approve the plans.