WRITER: Bremen Keasey

Martin Park in northwest Lawrence no longer being maintained, parking lot closed due to city budget cuts

UPDATED 10:10 a.m. Oct. 10 A park in northwest Lawrence has been largely closed since the start of the month because of budget reductions in the city’s Parks and Recreation department. The city earlier this month ceased maintenance and blocked off the lone parking lot and main entrance to Martin Park, a 19-acre property at East 1130 Township Road, in part because of a reduction in staffing for park ...

Lawrence City Commission votes to rezone sites in west Lawrence for possible affordable housing development

Lawrence city commissioners have voted to rezone about 6 acres of land in west Lawrence that could help pave the way for affordable housing developments by the Lawrence-Douglas County Housing Authority. At its meeting Tuesday, the commission voted unanimously to rezone two adjacent sites — 5015 Legends Drive and 1311 Research Park Drive — from the “Industrial Business Park” category to “Multi-Dwelling ...

Proposal to redevelop Downtown Lawrence parking lot into multi-use space with grocery store to be heard by City Commission

City commissioners will consider an application from a local group to redevelop a parking lot in Downtown Lawrence into a mixed-use project that would feature a grocery store, hotel, apartments and parking garage. The proposed development would be a 400,000-square-foot, seven-story structure on 826 Vermont St., just west of Massachusetts Street. According to the proposed designs, the first floor would feature a ...

Lawrence staff say roadwork projects on North Second/Third Street, Sixth Street set to be finished by November

Roadwork projects on a couple main arteries in Lawrence are closing in on completion later this fall, with Municipal and Service Operations staff saying work on North Second/Third Street and Sixth Street will be finished in November. Aaron Parker, a senior project manager with the MSO working on the project, said the majority of curb and gutter maintenance on North Second/Third Street is complete, and the ...

Launchpad event aims to bring developers, business people in Lawrence together, serve as incubator for creating a tech hub

It's a story that's become a cliche in American culture: A couple of people in a garage come up with a high-tech business idea, pitch it to an investor and become a “unicorn” — a successful startup company. But even when people manage to make something as impactful as Apple or Facebook, those unicorns usually don't settle in Kansas. They prefer other parts of the country — Silicon Valley, Seattle or New ...

City Commission to consider two rezoning requests that could bring affordable housing developments to west Lawrence

The City Commission will soon consider two rezoning requests in west Lawrence that could lead to a future affordable housing development from the Lawrence-Douglas County Housing Authority. The commission will consider rezoning about 6 acres of land at two adjacent sites — 5015 Legends Drive and 1311 Research Park Drive — from the “Industrial Business Park” category to “Multi-Dwelling Residential." The ...