photo by: Mike Yoder

The construction of a home on a 25-foot-wide property at 437 Elm St., at left, has raised the issue of stormwater runoff in North Lawrence. With little yard to absorb storm water, the neighbors at 439 Elm St., at right, say they have been adversely affected. The Lawrence City Commission approved a provision requiring developers to undergo a stormwater assessment of property before building.

If the North Lawrence Improvement Association and its president, Ted Boyle, were to have their way, homebuilders in North Lawrence would be required to pay for a drainage plan and be more restricted when it comes to the size of their homes.

Now, 10 years after Lawrence adopted codes to allow for residential development on smaller-than-normal lots, the City Commission on Tuesday will be confronted with issues that the association thinks the change has created: adversely affecting the rural atmosphere North Lawrencians covet, and — what’s more — harming the management of stormwater.

Commissioners will also hear potential solutions for relief.

“No other parts of town, no other neighborhood is situated like North Lawrence is,” Boyle said. “We don’t have any hills. It’s water on a flat surface, and it just sits there. Houses are like rocks in a pond; the denser it is, the more prone to flood.

“We will get a change.”

Boyle plans to fight for the city to do away with a zoning category that allows for residential building on 3,000-square-foot lots.

Though city planners have mentioned concerns about the cost to homebuilders, Boyle also wants drainage plans conducted on new developments. And he wants new standards created that would limit how much of the smaller lots could be covered with impervious structures — something city planners are saying may lead to taller, narrower homes, which was “cited as a neighborhood concern.”

‘Build on a pinhead’

In 2006, the city created a designation to allow lot sizes of 3,000 and 5,000 square feet — smaller than the then-minimum of 7,000 square feet. The smaller lots were created because they are more compatible with sizes found in original plans for the city, according to a memo from planning staff sent to City Manager Tom Markus on Tuesday.

The memo states they also fixed an “identified need,” and the 5,000-square-foot lots are “gaining in popularity as an affordable option to accommodate housing in Lawrence,” the memo reads.

City staff thinks — and Boyle agrees — that the 5,000-square-foot lots should remain an option.

According to information provided by the city, there are currently 215 lots that size in North Lawrence, most of which have been developed. More 5,000-square-foot lots are located in downtown and East Lawrence.

To eliminate the zoning would create nonconforming lots and noncompliant homes, leading to troubles for potential homebuyers securing loans for properties that don’t meet zoning codes, the memo states.

Though he thinks the 5,000-square-foot lots should be maintained, Boyle wants to do away with designation for the smaller 3,000-square-foot properties and make sure homes built on the 5,000-square-foot plats don’t take up too much of the area’s green space.

In their information to the City Commission, staff members are not recommending doing away with the 3,000-square-foot zoning designation. Currently, the zoning is available, but there are no properties in Lawrence that are zoned that way.

Boyle said the availability allows home builders the opportunity to take one 7,000-square-foot property and rezone it into two lots — a move that would build density and add to an existing stormwater problem.

“It seems like the city, developers want to build on a pinhead,” Boyle said.

Smaller homes for smaller lots

Another concern Boyle — and others in North Lawrence — have raised is codes that allow property owners to cover too much of the 5,000-square-foot lots with impervious structures and not leave enough soil to soak up water.

With 7,000-square-foot lots, property owners are allowed to cover 70 percent of the space with impervious materials, such as a home, patio or garage. With 5,000-square-foot lots, they can cover slightly more, at 75 percent.

Boyle wants that scaled back in North Lawrence specifically, where there are currently 14 to 17 5,000-square-foot lots that haven’t been developed. But city staff said the changes would “likely create nonconforming conditions” and the current codes “appear to accommodate reasonable development.”

Staff went on to say in the memo that the change could lead to taller homes with a smaller footprint, which they say isn’t desired in the neighborhood.

If the City Commission were to agree on changing the requirement, it would have to be done through an amendment to city code that would alter standards throughout the city, the memo states.

437 Elm

The conversation about lot sizes was mostly prompted by a home recently built at 437 Elm St.

The long, tall home is nestled between two other homes, one of which — belonging to Dale and Donna Sanders — has experienced foundation problems because of water runoff, Donna Sanders has said.

The city’s recent memo provides more information on the property. It was built on a 2,750-square-foot lot — smaller than the minimum the city allows. The memo states it was permitted because the lot was created before current zoning codes were in place.

Further, the home doesn’t surpass the limit of 75 percent of its property being taken up with impervious structures, according to the memo.

Boyle has said he thinks that’s not correct.

More money, more plans

Both the North Lawrence Improvement Association and Matt Bond, the city stormwater engineer, are supporting a plan that would require home builders on 3,000- and 5,000-square-foot lots in North Lawrence to submit a plan with their residential building permits showing how stormwater would be drained.

Much of North Lawrence has previously been designated as within a floodplain. The city agreed in September to spend $5.9 million on construction of a new stormwater pump station to serve the neighborhood.

“It will help to highlight potential localized drainage problems and would require a builder to consider from the beginning of a project how they will provide for stormwater runoff… instead of leaving the impacts of stormwater runoff as an afterthought,” the city memo states.

Planning staff noted the stormwater assessment would cost builders anywhere from $1,500 to $3,000 to have an engineer create the plan.

“But $1,500 to $3,000 is worth it to keep from stormwater flooding the area and your neighbors,” Boyle said. “It’s $1,500 to $3,000 to the expense of the house or $7 (million) to $10 million for another pump down the road.”

City commissioners will discuss the issue Tuesday at City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St. Their meeting starts at 5:45 p.m.