To the editor:

A proposal soon will be presented to the Lawrence City Commission calling for $8 million of taxpayer funding for a 150-acre private development industrial park. The project, originally designed for more than 900 acres, was scaled back to try and get commission approval. There is no reason to believe that if the first phase is allowed, more wouldn’t be added later.

In that case, the $8 million would be just the tip of the iceberg. While the 150-acre phase shouldn’t have much impact on flooding in North Lawrence, a 900-acre park would require massive flood-control measures. The $34 million North Lawrence Flood Control Project would kick in. To mitigate flooding in the larger project, the developer has proposed raising Highway 24 by 15 to 20 feet to serve as a levee to keep storm water from North Lawrence. This would start near Teepee Junction and go east to Highway 32.

The first phase proposes a multimillion-dollar turn lane off Highway 24 by the Airport Motel for access to the industrial site. That’s money down the drain once elevating the highway begins.

The public will be asked to pay for all of this work. Nobody really knows what the ultimate cost will be once all is said and done. The citizens of Lawrence deserve good governance, including prudent financial planning and spending decisions based on solid, achievable plans for beneficial and reasonable projects. There are more realistic scenarios for achieving industrial capacity.

We should not be buying a pig in a poke.

Eileen Larson,

Lawrence