Lawrence City Hall is pictured in this file photo.

Citing concerns about fair access, Lawrence city leaders voted to defer a decision regarding a $1.5 million project to resurface two grass soccer fields with artificial turf at the Clinton Lake Youth Sports Complex.

As part of its meeting Tuesday, the commission voted 4-1, with Commissioner Brad Finkeldei opposed, to defer a decision on the project as well as the consideration of a proposed user agreement with the Sporting Kaw Valley soccer league to lease the turf fields for a period of 10.5 years.

SKV would pay about $1.36 million in rent to the city over the 10.5-year contract, which Parks and Recreation Director Derek Rogers told commissioners would help the city pay for about 78% of the cost to install the new turf and the debt service for the project. The city would continue to be responsible for additional costs related to maintenance. Under the proposed agreement, SKV would be the primary user of the turf fields and would have them reserved for practices and games for its members during peak hours.

Though the city operates the complex, SKV has been the primary user of the existing grass fields for decades, and other leagues have recently voiced concerns to the commission that the newly proposed agreement would continue to give SKV an advantage over other leagues when it came to use of the turf fields. Commissioners deferred the item due in part to concerns about providing fair access to a community asset and because other leagues did not seem to have been engaged in the discussion about the project from the outset. However, commissioners stressed they were still interested in discussing options to move forward a project to install turf fields at the complex, and directed staff to bring the item back for further discussion at a later date. Finkeldei said that given the investment toward the turf fields that SKV was willing to make, he was OK with the proposed agreement that would have allowed SKV to be the primary user of the turf fields.

In other business, the commission:

• Discussed how to proceed after an outside consultant recommended that the city halt the current process to improve the community board meant to provide oversight of complaints against police. That discussion was ongoing as of the Journal-World’s print deadline.

• Voted unanimously as part of its consent agenda to approve a request from Explore Lawrence, the local tourism and visitors bureau, to reduce the organization’s monthly rent at the city-owned Carnegie Building from $2,500 per month to $1,000 per month for the entirety of 2022.

• Voted unanimously to approve the city’s legislative priorities for state leaders, which includes the city’s position regarding sales tax on groceries, criminal justice reforms and cleanup of the former Farmland Industries nitrogen fertilizer plant, among various other issues.