County commissioners suggest housing buffer for western growth

Two Douglas County commissioners want planners to come up with more middle ground in the design of a long-term growth plan west of Lawrence.

“I think the issue became one of planning principles,” Commissioner Charles Jones said.

Jones and Commissioner Nancy Thellman on Wednesday night asked the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission to add a buffer of “medium-density” housing in an area east of East 902 Road. The area is southwest of Lawrence, near Lake Pointe Drive.

The area just east of the South Lawrence Trafficway curves to the east toward U.S. Highway 59. The land-use plan covered a wide area west of Lawrence and the trafficway, but the only contentious portion was how to designate the land just east of the trafficway’s curve.

Some landowners just east of East 902 Road had asked their area to be classified as a “high-density” residential area because they expected developers to look there as the city grows to the west. Other landowners north of there have asked their property be classified as “low-density” residential.

The Lawrence City Commission has already approved this compromise. County Commissioner Jim Flory did not support sending the plan back to the planning commission, and he said planning staff members came up with a compromise for landowners east of the trafficway.

“This whole sector plan is important to lay out that first step in planning, which is inevitable, which is growth to the west,” he said.

But Jones said the plan needed a better transition, and he and Thellman agreed to ask planners to develop an option where the area just east of East 902 Road would become a “medium-density” residential area instead as part of the plan.

In other news, commissioners also agreed to temporarily put on hold a $3 million improvement project along Douglas County Road 438, also known as the Farmers Turnpike, west of Lawrence. Jones said if the federal government approves a new stimulus package, the county could be in line to receive the $3 million in federal money to complete the project instead of using county funds.