Opposition is emerging in the Oread Neighborhood, as property owners consider rebuilding a home that was destroyed in a July 31 fire.

The fire started after fireworks were shot outside the residence, 1005 Ind., and ignited a couch on the porch, fire officials said. The fire caused about $360,000 in damage, and the structure will likely have to be torn down.

As the owners look to rebuild a similar rental home on the property, an issue with parking could stand in their way, said Rob Farha, agent of record for Crimson Properties, LLC, which owns the house that contained eight bedrooms.

The house was grandfathered into a current Lawrence city code that requires homes in Lawrence to have parking on the property. There aren’t any parking spots on the Indiana property, which meant the occupants had to park on the street or sometimes in a friendly neighbor’s driveway.

Now that the house is destroyed and must be rebuilt, the code requires the owners to include six parking spots on the property if the new home is built to be occupied by eight people, which is the owners’ desire, Farha said.

The ownership group has requested a variance to the city code, saying it’s not possible to rebuild a home of the same size on the property and allow for parking, Farha said.

“We’re hoping that they would see an exception,” Farha said. “We didn’t purposely destroy the house; it was an accident, and we’re hoping they see that and let us put back exactly what we had there.”

Many homes in the Oread Neighborhood are converted to apartments and rented to groups of college students attending nearby Kansas University. Some homes in the neighborhood have parking off the alleys behind them. But not enough room exists on the Indiana property for both parking and a house of the same size, Farha said.

“There is no solution we can find to put in any parking,” he said.

But some neighbors don’t buy it, saying that the code is in place for a reason and that the owners are just looking out for their own business interests.

“This situation is about an investment and money, and we’re not as interested in that personal investment, but rather what’s good for the neighborhood,” said Candice Davis, vice president of the Oread Neighborhood Association.

If the city allows the requested variance, the occupants of the new home would have to park on the street, as before, which is unreasonable and leaves the street cluttered, Davis said. Parking in that block is limited to one side of Indiana Street.

“We’re concerned about maintaining some stability and livability in the neighborhood,” Davis said. “When you have too many requests for variances, pretty soon these codes don’t mean anything.”

The owners received a variance on another property at 1334 Ohio, a home that initially housed 14 people. The owners reduced the occupancy to 12 and added a fourth and a fifth parking spot behind the home, Farha said.

He said the group of property owners is willing to work with neighbors regarding the Indiana home, but the neighbors should also recognize the work and care they’ve put into the seven homes they own in the neighborhood, which he said were dilapidated until they cleaned them up.

“There’s a fine line : to make everybody happy,” Farha said.

The variance request for the Indiana home will be heard by the city’s board of zoning appeals on Oct. 2, said Scott McCullough, city planning and development services director.