photo by: Bremen Keasey

A for sale sign on the lot of 5015 Legends Drive, with the building of Lawrence Montessori School in the background. The Lawrence city commission approved two requests to rezone the area Tuesday night, which could lead to an affordable housing development.

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 properties are located near the intersection of Bob Billings Parkway and Wakarusa Drive.

The Planning Commission voted 8-2 in April to recommend the request for approval, as the Journal-World reported.

Although there are no set plans on what any developments on the property would look like, the Housing Authority showed a concept plan, which is required to make rezoning requests, of seven “four-plex” buildings and six “eight-plex” buildings intended to serve as permanently affordable housing for families and seniors. The concept plan would include about 76 housing units in total.

At the time of the Planning Commission vote, some neighbors of the properties spoke out against the rezoning requests, and others shared similar sentiments in emailed comments. Some expressed concerns about traffic because of the development being near Lawrence Montessori School. Others expressed concerns about what could happen to property values, with some claiming people who live in low-income housing are drug users and criminals.

Protest petitions were filed with the city opposing the rezoning applications, but according to the memo in the commission’s meeting agenda, those petitions “are not valid.”

The commissioners can now either approve the rezoning requests with a minimum of three votes; deny the rezoning requests with a minimum of four votes; or return the rezoning requests to the Planning Commission for further consideration with a minimum of three votes.

In other business, commissioners will consider approving the development of concept designs for the downtown Lawrence bus station.

A steering committee has been working since January to find a suitable site for a downtown bus hub. The city’s transit office has been working from a temporary bus hub across the street from the Lawrence Public Library for about a decade.

After approving a final set of boundaries, the steering committee has come up with five potential sites to receive concept planning. They are:

• City parking lot #5, on the east side of the 900 block of Vermont Street.

• City parking lot #9, on the west side of the 900 block of Vermont Street.

• Current bus transfer area and city parking lot #14, in the 700 block of Vermont Street.

• City parking lot #8, on the east side of the 800 block of New Hampshire Street.

• City parking lot #4, on the west side of the 800 block of New Hampshire Street.

Lawrence Transit is asking the commissioners to choose at least three of the sites to go through concept development. After that, the list will be narrowed down further based on the concepts and cost analysis, where the public and commission can provide feedback in November.

The commission is expected to vote on the final site in December, with the hope that construction could start in late 2025.