A church and duplexes may be on the way for a piece of farmground on the Kasold curve that has long been just outside the city limits.

Lawrence Wesleyan Church has filed paperwork to annex and rezone about 38 acres of property where 31st Street and Kasold Drive converge.

Pastor Nate Rovenstine said the church hasn’t yet bought the property — which is south of 31st and east of Kasold — and is still in the preliminary stages of determining whether the project would be feasible.

“We’re not sure how successful we’ll be with what we’re trying to do there,” Rovenstine said. “There have been a number of attempts at development there.”

Rovenstine said the church’s main interest in the property is to use it as a site to build a larger church to replace its current facility at 3705 Clinton Parkway, which is the building that formerly housed the district offices for the Lawrence public schools.

“We’re just running out of space here, and parking especially,” Rovenstine said.

But Rovenstine said the church also would explore opening up some of the 38 acres to private, residential development.

Mary Miller, a city planner processing the applications, said a concept plan submitted to the office shows up to 32 duplexes on the site, in addition to the church building.

The church has filed an application asking for about 30 acres of the property to be rezoned to a multi-family zoning upon annexation into the city. That zoning would allow both a church and the duplex development.

City commissioners at their meeting on Tuesday unanimously agreed to initiate the annexation request, which simply means the annexation is allowed to be studied and sent to the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission for consideration.

Miller said the annexation and rezoning requests likely will be considered by planning commissioners in October. City commissioners ultimately will be responsible for making a final decision on the requests. Rovenstine said it could take several years for the church to raise the necessary funds to build a church.