Increasing the number of residents living downtown has been seen as one of the keys to preserving the vitality of Lawrence’s central business district, but the recent spurt of downtown apartment construction may create a need for the city to review some of its standards for parking and other infrastructure to support that development.

This week, local developer Doug Compton announced he was planning to buy the Pachamama’s building at Eighth and New Hampshire streets and add four stories to the structure to accommodate 56 new one- and two-bedroom apartments. It would be the third multi-story apartment project that Compton-led groups have built in the 800 and 900 blocks of New Hampshire street, in addition to the five-story Marriott building at Ninth and New Hampshire.

That kind of development is good for downtown within certain design parameters that make sure the structures fit the character of the area. Going up is about the only way to accommodate reasonably dense residential development in the limited downtown footprint.

It does, however, raise some different issues than the city has faced before. For their other New Hampshire Street projects, Compton and his associates have provided for off-street parking in either new or existing facilities. To keep the construction costs down and make the apartments in the Pachamama’s project more affordable, Compton says he doesn’t plan to provide any off-street parking. That’s allowed under current zoning regulations and, unless Compton seeks some tax incentives, the city would have little or no opportunity to revise those plans.

So where are the residents of those 56 new apartments going to park? A few may not have cars, but most will be using city parking lots or parking on residential streets east of downtown. The parking issues East Lawrence will face may not be unlike those that Oread Neighborhood residents feared when the developer sought reductions in the parking requirements for a large development near Kansas University. The East Lawrence problem may be more manageable now, but it will grow if more multistory developments crop up downtown.

It’s great that developers want to invest in downtown, and the additional residents and services those developments will attract bode well for the area’s future. Nonetheless, these developments represent a significant change for downtown that city officials may need to address.