Former three-time commissioner Bob Schumm announced Wednesday that he has filed to run for Lawrence City Commission. Schumm, a retired restaurant owner who still owns properties in downtown Lawrence, previously served stints on the commission from 1979 to 1981,1987 to 1993 and most recently from 2011 to 2015. Schumm is the first candidate in this election cycle to file who has experience on the commission. ...
Lawrence city commissioners approved a construction project Tuesday night that will fill in sidewalk gaps around Schwegler Elementary School as part of the city’s Safe Routes to Schools program. The commission approved a $922,489.50 bid to Kings Construction Co. Inc. for sidewalk and ADA ramp improvements along multiple routes around the Schwegler neighborhood. The improvements, which were identified back ...
Lawrence city commissioners on Tuesday voted to approve a $3.5 million funding agreement with the Lawrence Community Shelter to provide supportive services for people experiencing homelessness, with the expectation that the shelter will rely less on city funding in the future. Commissioners voted unanimously to approve the agreement, which lays out that LCS will provide emergency and winter sheltering services, ...
A proposal to add six more units of affordable housing near downtown Lawrence got initial approval from the Historic Resources Commission, moving it to the City Commission. The HRC unanimously approved several items to allow for the continued re-development of a parking lot at 909 Tennessee St., replacing it with a three-story residential building that will have six units for temporary supportive housing. The ...
Rex Ellebracht has been doing social work across Kansas for nearly 30 years by his own estimate, but it became even more personal for him after he lost a leg. Ellebracht has diabetes, and around 10 or 12 years ago when he was facing complications from the disease, the doctors — after initially thinking they could potentially save his left leg — eventually decided it needed to be amputated. Ellebracht said ...
The city has a new development code that urges neighborhoods to become more dense by adding more buildings and homes. While that strategy may fit with the goal of creating more affordable housing in the community, there’s a worry it may cause some potentially historic homes to get torn down to make way for new development. Lawrence city commissioners next week may take action to alleviate some of those ...