A new southeast Lawrence neighborhood will get an exemption from the city’s code requiring sidewalks to be built on both sides of new streets.

Lawrence city commissioners at their Tuesday evening meeting approved a variance for an approximately 15-acre single-family and duplex development south and east of 25th Terrace and O’Connell Road.

Commissioners approved the variance for Fairfield Investors, a group led by Lawrence businessman Bill Newsome, in part because the project originally was approved before the 2006 code change requiring sidewalks on both sides of the street.

The project will include five-foot sidewalks on one side of each street. Newsome told commissioners the requirement to build sidewalks on both sides of the street would add about $1,000 to the cost of each lot, which he said ultimately would be passed on to homeowners.

Commissioners approved the variance on a 4-0 vote. City Commissioner Bob Schumm was absent from the meeting.