photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

The intersection of Kasold Drive and Tomahawk Drive is shown on July 19, 2022. The area in the background is near the location where a new townhouse development has been proposed to locate.

A revised plan for 14 duplexes near a west Lawrence subdivision failed to earn a recommendation from the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission this week, and now the project can’t go forward unless a supermajority of city commissioners are on board.

The Fall Creek Villas project returned to the Planning Commission Wednesday in another bid for approval, after having already been denied by the Lawrence City Commission in April.

This time, only three of the nine planning commissioners voted in favor of the development, so it will advance to the City Commission without the Planning Commission’s recommendation. The City Commission will still have the chance to vote on the project, but without a recommendation it will take at least four of the five city commissioners, rather than a simple majority of three, to approve it.

The 8.4-acre project is proposed for a parcel of undeveloped land east of Fall Creek Road and west of North Kasold Drive. Before the Planning Commission’s vote, neighbors near the project area raised concerns about density and the risk of added flooding and erosion.