photo by: City of Lawrence

An image from a planning department report shows the conceptual layout for a proposed 61-acre annexation. The proposed annexation is outlined in black and contains three parcels designated for homes, open space and a school.

Citing the need for more housing, City of Lawrence leaders have approved a request to expand the city’s boundaries to encompass about 60 acres in northwest Lawrence for the purposes of a residential development.

As part of its meeting Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission voted 4-1, with Mayor Courtney Shipley opposed, to approve a request submitted by BG Consultants Inc. on behalf of Williams Management LLC to annex and rezone three parcels east of 1760 East 1100 Road. The annexation is the first requiring a developer to provide a community benefit under the area’s new comprehensive plan, and commissioners in favor of the request agreed that the project met those new requirements.

Commissioner Brad Finkeldei said the community “desperately needed” residential lots and he thought the provision of housing in and of itself — the project will accommodate about 200 new homes — qualified as a community benefit. Officially, the project’s benefits include preserving woodlands and providing land for a school, and Finkeldei said he was happy to see the additional benefits.

“This one kind of hits it out of the park,” Finkeldei said. “You have at least four community benefits.”

The land is in the city’s second growth tier, and the Lawrence-Douglas County comprehensive plan, Plan 2040, calls for annexations in that area to provide a community benefit. Adam Williams, the developer, also told commissioners the plan was to work with local nonprofit Tenants to Homeowners to provide at least three of the project’s approximately 200 lots for permanently affordable housing.

Medium-density residential, or RS5 zoning, is proposed, and Shipley had asked about why higher-density housing was not being built. The city recently began a process to rewrite its development code, but Lawrence-Douglas County Planner Mary Miller said that RS5 was the highest level of density currently permitted in that area.

Vice Mayor Lisa Larsen and commissioners Bart Littlejohn and Amber Sellers agreed that higher-density housing was preferable, and all commissioners, including Finkeldei, noted that density would be a topic that the new development code would need to reconsider. Larsen said since she’s been on the commission the city has been asking developers to bring forward annexation requests, and that the project met the density requirements for the area and provided the community benefits required by the comprehensive plan.

“I just think that this is what we’ve been looking for as far as meeting the plan, so I’m going to support it,” Larsen said.

The comprehensive plan and development policies don’t allow the area in question to be developed unless it is added to the city. The three parcels, which make up about 61 acres total, are on the northern edge of the current city limits. As part of the annexation, the developer requested to rezone about 41 acres from the existing rural residential zoning to single-dwelling residential to accommodate a new neighborhood; 12.2 acres to open space to preserve native woods and other natural space; and 8 acres to general public and institutional use for the development of an elementary school.

However, that area of the city is in the Perry/Lecompton school district, so the school would be part of that district, not the Lawrence school district. Shipley asked what the benefit was for Lawrence residents of providing land for a school outside of the Lawrence district. The city periodically has a joint meeting with Douglas County and school district leaders, and Littlejohn said a conversation about the issue of district boundaries could be a potential topic of discussion.

Commissioners also appreciated that the area was readily serviceable by city infrastructure. Specifically, Miller said the property borders the city on three sides, and existing water and sewer lines run to the edge of the property.

In other business, the commission:

• Voted unanimously to approve a request from DCCCA Inc. for a sales tax exemption on $7.9 million in construction materials for building a new outpatient facility that will provide a variety of community health services at 1739 E. 23rd St. Commissioners said DCCCA services benefit the community and Finkeldei noted that the commission approved similar requests for Heartland Community Health Center and the Boys & Girls Club.

• Voted unanimously to approve a modification to the final development plan for The Jayhawk Club, 1610 Birdie Way, for an area on the east side of the roadway. The original development plan called for detached dwellings for “independent and assisted living” and a storage building in that area, and the commission approved a request from the developer to build apartments. The developer plans to build a multidwelling residential development that includes 11 buildings and 132 units.

• Voted unanimously to approve the Lawrence Community Shelter’s remaining $145,000 funding request for 2022. The commission approved a $290,000 allocation for the shelter as part of its budget process, but commissioners previously asked for a more specific funding agreement and a report from the shelter before disbursing the two installments of the funds. Shelter leaders presented a report about the shelter’s operations as part of the meeting, including efforts to improve its services and outcomes for guests.