photo by: Cynthia Hernandez/Journal-World

The north entrance of First Presbyterian Church, 2415 Clinton Parkway, is seen on Friday, March 22, 2024.

Next week, Lawrence city leaders will again consider whether to add a church that recently sued the city to the Lawrence Register of Historic Places.

The commission on Tuesday will hold a public hearing and then vote on whether to put First Presbyterian Church at 2415 Clinton Parkway on the local register. The church, which was constructed in 1967 and 1968, is already listed in the National Register of Historic Places and the Register of Historic Kansas Places, and in April, the Historic Resources Commission recommended that it be added to the local register, too.

But in June, the City Commission voted 4-0 to return the nomination to the Historic Resources Commission so that it could be considered for just the church building, rather than the entire property the building sits on. At the time, some commissioners expressed concerns that the city’s rules for historic properties were being “weaponized” to halt development in the immediate area.

As the Journal-World reported, the church sued in Douglas County District Court in late 2021 after a Dallas-based company proposed developing more than 60 duplexes on property across the street from the church. The lawsuit didn’t hinge on the church’s status as a historic property, however; instead, the church questioned whether the city code allowed the duplexes to be developed on a single lot. The church also argued that as a neighbor to the property, it would be damaged by additional traffic, parking and drainage issues associated with the development.

Although it was initially dismissed, the suit was revived after an appeal, and a bench trial took place in March. In June, the judge ruled in favor of the city, but representatives for the developers expressed uncertainty about the project if the church were to continue to pursue litigation.

On July 18, the HRC again recommended adding the church property to the local historic register, and it said that listing the church without a “context area” — the 250-foot area surrounding the structure itself — would still meet the criteria for a historic designation.

In other business, the commission will receive a presentation about the a new Brick Streets and Sidewalks Policy.

Efforts to create a policy for preserving and maintaining brick streets and sidewalks have been in the works since 2013. The initial draft of a brick streets and sidewalks policy was presented to the Historic Resources Commission for the first time in July, as the Journal-World reported.

The draft policy will allow brick sidewalks in good condition to stay as brick, but sidewalks that don’t meet accessibility standards in specific areas of the city will be replaced with the help of the city’s Americans with Disabilities Act Public Right-of-Way Transition Plan passed in July. The draft outlines places where brick sidewalks are appropriate — specifically, inside local, state or nationally designated historic districts and inside specific “overlay” zoning districts.

The draft includes a “Brick Sidewalk Permissive Map” where brick sidewalks would be allowed, which includes historic areas concentrated around East Lawrence and all the land in the original town site plat boundaries.

The Historic Resources Commission suggested during an August meeting that the Brick Sidewalk Permissive Map be expanded to include an area between West Seventh Street and West 10th Street from Michigan Street to Alabama Street and an area between West Third Street and West Fifth Street from Alabama Street to Louisiana Street.

Commissioners will not vote on the plan on Tuesday, but they will provide final recommendations to the city staff on the draft policy.

The commission’s meeting will start at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St.