Boarding house rules to change

The rules for boarding houses in Lawrence soon will be changing, Lawrence city commissioners agreed Tuesday.

Commissioners unanimously approved long-discussed code changes that are expected to make it easier for large houses in non-single-family-zoned areas to be converted into boarding houses.

The changes reduce the parking standards for boarding houses that are more than 3,500 square feet. The new parking standards would require 0.5 parking spaces per bedroom. Currently they are required to provide 0.75 percent parking spaces per occupant of the house.

Smaller houses that are converted into boarding houses will have more stringent parking standards to meet. They’ll be required to provide one parking space per bedroom.

Commissioners approved the plan over objections from some members of the Oread neighborhood who said they were concerned about parking issues.

Rezoning proposal deferred

Commissioners deferred action on another Oread-related code change. Commissioners unanimously agreed to send back to the planning commission a proposal that would change how living units are calculated in RM-32 multi-family zoning districts. Commissioners expressed concern the code changes could create a host of unintended consequences for RM-32 district, the largest of which are in the Oread neighborhood.