The Lawrence City Commission will consider Tuesday a development plan that would alter the landscape of Alvamar Golf Course and its surrounding area.

A preliminary development plan includes the addition of nine apartment buildings — 292 units — to be located north of a new golf course clubhouse, event center, pools and fitness center, among other amenities.

The project also calls for building a new public street and demolishing the existing clubhouse at 1809 Crossgate Drive.

Unless other significant changes are proposed later, this will be the only instance the project will come before city commissioners, said Amy Miller, the city’s assistant director of planning.

“There will have to be a final development plan, but if the commission approves the preliminary plan and the final is the same or not substantially different, it can be approved administratively,” Miller said.

The plan was proposed by a local group led by Lawrence businessman Thomas Fritzel, who has reached a deal to purchase the golf course and country club contingent on winning approval to construct additional residences and amenities surrounding the course.

Miller said the City Commission will be asked to consider Tuesday three items related to the project: rezoning approximately 51 acres from single-dwelling residential to multi-dwelling residential; approving a special-use permit to allow for the construction of the recreation area; and approving the plan itself.

The Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission previously has recommended all three items for approval.

The latest proposal leaves about 20 acres of the Alvamar area unplanned. With the zoning designation of multi-dwelling residential, that space could allow for up to 1,198 more units in the future, according to a city staff report prepared for the project.

Any future development plans for those sites would be required to go through a public process and City Commission approval.

An earlier proposal included turning about 17 acres south of the new clubhouse into an assisted- and independent-living area comprising 124 units. That development was removed from the application and is not being considered by the commission Tuesday.

The most recent development plans have elicited letters of support and opposition from residents who live near the golf courses.

Some residents raised concerns about increased traffic on Bob Billings Parkway, with people coming in and out of the new nine-building apartment complex. Two residents wrote letters to the city, noting they were already concerned about traffic with the construction of a new interchange at Kansas Highway 10 and Bob Billings.

The plans include the construction of a new public street coming south off Bob Billings, west of Crossgate Drive. It would be the northern entrance to the country club and a route for residents of the new apartment buildings.

According to a city report, planning staff recommended that street be constructed before any other development begins. An expected timeline for the project has not yet been set.

Other concerns from residents centered on the increased residential density.

The nine proposed apartment buildings would house 292 units with a total of 422 bedrooms and 544 parking spaces. It breaks down to slightly more than 18 dwellings per acre.

The maximum number of units allowed for that type of zoning district is 384, or 24 per acre.

The new development will be significantly more dense than the surrounding area. Quail’s Nest at Alvamar, a neighborhood south of the existing clubhouse, has a density of four dwellings per acre. Woodfield Meadows, off Crossgate Drive just north of where the apartments would be located, is five dwellings per acre, and development near Crossgate Drive and Greenbrier Drive is four per acre, according to city figures.

According to a city report, there will be two smaller apartment buildings — each two-story comprising eight units — located at the north end of the complex “as a transition between the existing development to the north and the larger multi-story buildings to the south.”

The city also received several letters of support from area residents, saying it would be an opportunity to help the area thrive.

“If this plan does not materialize, I believe the whole Alvamar group of golf, dining, swimming and tennis facilities will be in serious risk of going downhill for lack of monetary support, leading to a future for the whole area much less desirable than this plan,” wrote resident Dave Rueschhoff.

Another area resident, Joy Carmona, said she and her husband chose to build a home in Lawrence after moving from St. Paul, Minn., partly because of the golf course. She noted the project could bring more people, and tax dollars, to the city.

A representative of the development group did not return a call seeking comment on this story.

The City Commission will meet at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 6 E. 6th St.