KU offering open forums on master plan this week

Kansas University this week will offer a second round of public forums regarding its new master plan.

Lawrence residents as well as KU students, faculty and staff are invited to learn about the process of forming the plan, which will lay out how KU’s physical campus will serve the university and the city over the next 10 to 20 years. It will be KU’s first new master plan since 1997.

One forum designed for Lawrence residents will be from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday at Lawrence High School. Another, designed for people on the KU campus, is set for 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday on the fourth floor of the Kansas Union.

At the forums, planners will share the analysis of the campus that they’ve performed over the past months and some early glimpses at possible land-use options. They will address six different topics: accessibility, cultural resources, landscape and open space, land use, sustainability and resource management, and transportation and parking.

The next set of open forums on the master planning process is set for early in KU’s fall 2013 semester. The master plan is scheduled to be complete in November.