City leaders will soon review a plan that could reduce the number of lanes for cars and add new lanes for bikes on a portion of Ninth Street between downtown Lawrence and the University of Kansas.

On Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission will provide its input on a proposed redesign of Ninth Street from Illinois Street to Vermont Street. Currently the street has four lanes of motor vehicle traffic, two in each direction, and no center turning lane. The proposal would have one lane of traffic going westbound, one lane going eastbound and a turning lane in the middle. It would also add bike lanes on each side until Kentucky Street, which would be separated from vehicle traffic, in some cases using physical “Zebra” dividers.

The Multi-Modal Transportation Commission unanimously voted to recommend the design back in August, as the Journal-World reported.

The change would happen after part of the Jayhawk Watershed Improvement project is completed to help improve a heavily flood-prone storm water system in the area.

As the Journal-World has reported, a study of the Jayhawk Watershed completed in 2022 by JEO Consulting Group recommended four projects, estimated to cost $32 million, to increase the amount of rainwater the system can handle and reduce neighborhood flooding in the area.

This initial project to improve the storm water infrastructure in the area will replace the existing stone culvert with a reinforced concrete box from just north of Eighth and Tennessee streets to Ninth and Indiana streets. The massive project — projections from a city memo say the stormwater improvements would start in 2025 and Ninth Street would be under construction for the whole of 2026 — led city staff to see if there were ways to make the street more accessible to bicycles and other forms of transportation at the same time.

In addition to making a recommendation on the lane configurations for Ninth Street, the City Commission is also being asked to amend the city’s Capital Improvement Plan, moving $139,000 in unused funds from a pavement marking project so that it would be available for the work on Ninth Street.

Other items on the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting include:

• A request for a sales tax incentive on construction materials for a 250-unit affordable housing development in South Lawrence.

The apartment complex would feature 63 three-bedroom units. It also would have a mix of one-bedroom and two-bedroom units, and would include a central fitness facility, a community center and a swimming pool.

The project, proposed by Manhattan-based Bison Development LLC, would build these rent-controlled apartments at 3100 Michigan St. — a vacant lot that primarily faces 31st Street. The city would issue up to $60 million in bonds.

As the Journal-World reported in late June, the group is proposing to use state-issued low-income housing tax credits to help finance the project. To qualify for the specific credits, the rents must be affordable for residents who have incomes that are 50% to 70% of the average median income in the area.

The city estimates that the amount of sales taxes for the purchase of construction materials that the city would forgo as a result of the incentive would be $210,000.

Construction would be expected to start in April 2025, with the apartments being completed and ready for occupants in April 2027.

• Approving the memorandum of understanding between the city and the local firefighters union, International Association of Fire Fighters Local 1596.

As the Journal-World reported, the two sides ratified the employment agreement Monday after previous negotiations left the sides at an impasse. If given final approval on Tuesday, the agreement will start in the new year and run until Dec. 31, 2027.

Some of the highlights of the agreement include a pay plan that increases starting wages, increases the pay rate for off-duty employees who respond to an emergency and provides cancer insurance to union employees paid for by the city.

The agreement will add $1.3 million to the city’s 2025 budget, and the city notes that about $390,000 will need to be offset from the budget in the future.

Both the tax incentive for the apartments and the agreement with the firefighters union are on the commission’s consent agenda, which is a list of items generally considered routine that can be approved by one vote from commissioners without any discussion.