There are times I think it would be wise for me to live directly across the street from a home improvement center. The quicker I get my supplies, the quicker the project starts, the quicker the ambulance arrives, and everyone wins in that situation. Well, plans have been filed for a new apartment complex across the street from Menards.

A group led by Lawrence businessman Tim Stultz has filed plans for a 55-acre apartment development that would house about 240 apartments. The project would be built on the farm field that is on the south side of 31st Street, across the street from the new Menards home improvement center.

Stultz said he thinks the site offers a good chance for a different type of apartment complex to be developed. He envisions a complex with lots of one-bedroom units that could be marketed as affordable apartment units. These are my words, not his, but it kinds of sounds like a “starter apartment,” much like some neighborhoods are full of “starter homes.” Stultz noted there are lots of employment opportunities within walking distance of the site, and the Peaslee Tech vocational center is just a few blocks down 31st Street.

Stultz, however, hasn’t completed a full design for the project. First, the project must win both annexation and rezoning approvals from City Hall. An annexation isn’t always the easiest process to go through at City Hall, but this piece of property is about as close to being in the city limits as you can be without being in it. The property already is served by highly improved streets — the rebuilt 31st Street and the new Michigan Street. City utilities are right next to the site, as not only is Menards across the street, but the large Connection at Lawrence apartment complex is just west of the property. The soon-to-open South Lawrence Trafficway is just south of the project. The site does have some floodplain issues that would have to be dealt with.

This project probably will get watched closely by others in the development community. Whether it is fair or not, there is a certain amount of unease in some development circles that the current City Commission wants to clamp down on growth, especially on the edges of the community. Those concerned cite the denial of the shopping center proposal for just south of the SLT and Iowa Street intersection. They also point to the fact the commission was less than unanimous in accepting an application for annexation for a proposed apartment complex west of the SLT at the Bob Billings interchange. Acceptance of an application for annexation has always been pretty routine, so when Commissioner Leslie Soden said she didn’t even want to consider the annexation request, that raised some red flags with some.

Again, some of this concern may be fair and some may not. Retail is different from apartments, and the west of the SLT apartment complex is still in process. It hasn’t been denied anything by the city. But if the development of this site becomes an issue, that will be a more concrete sign that there is a changing growth philosophy at City Hall.

Either way, this project continues a trend. South Lawrence is hot with development interest right now. That’s what happens when an area has about $350 million worth of infrastructure investment. Think about it for a moment: The completion of the SLT is about a $190 million project; the widening of U.S. Highway 59 was about $110 million; and the new sewer treatment plant under construction south of the Wakarusa River is about $50 million.

The SLT probably is driving most of the interest at the moment. It is officially scheduled to open in November, but I keep hearing talk that the project is ahead of schedule. I know driving through the construction zone on Kansas Highway 10 east of Lawrence, signs advertising the new exits for the SLT and such are being put in place.

“It is going to change a lot,” Stultz said of the opening of the bypass project. “I just hope we embrace it as a community and see the potential for it to grow our community.”

In other news and notes from around town:

• I hope this doesn’t say anything about my health, but I’ve now visited one of the 21 libraries you should visit before you die.

The lifestyle website Insider has put the Lawrence Public Library on the list of must see libraries not just in America but around the world. Of the 21 libraries listed, only seven were in the U.S. Lawrence was really the only small-town U.S. library on the list, although perhaps you might consider the rare book library in New Haven, Conn., as qualifying as such. Otherwise, the U.S. entries included: the Library of Congress; the New York Public Library; the Boston Public Library, and a space-aged looking library in Seattle.

About the Lawrence library, the website says “it used to be a big, gray, concrete slab.” It notes, however, that the building was redesigned in 2014 and now sports a “sleek, modern look.”

“Now it is like a community center,” the website reads. “It has quiet spaces, lounges, and brings people together on the lawn for outdoor events.”

This list is just the latest the library has landed on. The website Tech Insider created a list of the most beautiful libraries in each state. The Lawrence Public Library represented Kansas on the list. That’s in addition to the previously reported award from the American Institute of Architects and the American Library Association. I know when the design of the library was unveiled it wasn’t universally loved — although, what is in Lawrence? — but you could now make the case that the Lawrence Public Library is becoming the most critically acclaimed piece of architecture in the city.