Plans for a new golf course and apartment community in northwest Lawrence are up for approval at tonight’s City Commission meeting.

Commissioners will debate plans for The Links, a project that would have a nine-hole golf course surrounded by 480 apartment units on about 80 acres. The property is about a half-mile north of West Sixth Street and west of Queens Road. The development would be served by an extension of Wakarusa Drive west of Queens Road.

Leaders with the Fayetteville, Ark.-based development company are touting the project as a development that would attract baby boomers and others who are looking for a golfing lifestyle. The project will offer free golf to residents of the apartment complex. The course also will be open to the public for a fee.

The project has won a positive recommendation from the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission, but the League of Women Voters has expressed concerns about the development. The league believes the project does not do enough to protect sensitive lands – specifically steep slopes and stands of mature trees – in the area.