photo by: Bremen Keasey

The Historic Resources Commission voted to allow a redevelopment and construction plan to move forward for 909 and 913 Tennessee St. in Lawrence. The planned development would replace the parking lot with six units of affordable housing.

A proposal to add six more units of affordable housing near downtown Lawrence got initial approval from the Historic Resources Commission, moving it to the City Commission.

The HRC unanimously approved several items to allow for the continued re-development of a parking lot at 909 Tennessee St., replacing it with a three-story residential building that will have six units for temporary supportive housing.

The proposal was put forward by the Ninth Street Missionary Baptist Church Hope Project, which has a four-unit building next door at 913 Tennessee St. that serves the same purpose. The construction would then allow for the two buildings to share parking, pedestrian pathways, and a trash enclosure, according to a city memo.

The development has received city funding for the project, earning $300,000 from the city’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund in 2024, as the Journal-World reported.

Lynn Zollner, the City of Lawrence’s historic resources administrator, explained to the commission during its meeting Thursday night why they were considering multiple requests as part of the project. As part of the process to make the initial approvals, the HRC had to sign off on the architectural designs fit in with the rest of the historic Oread neighborhood, accept the proposal to consolidate the two lots together, approve the development plan and recommend its approval of a re-zoning request for the portion where the apartments would be built.

The HRC approved the initial architectural designs on the condition the developer work with the city to refine some final details, including the stone work and the design of the front porch, to ensure it corresponds to the rest of the neighborhood standards.

When asked by HRC Chair Joy Coleman why the two lots needed to be combined, Zollner said consolidating the lots would permit the new six unit building under the rules governing housing density in the city code. If they were still separate lots, it would not meet the housing density standard to allow six units.

Additionally, the HRC recommended a re-zoning request be heard for the site. Currently, those lots were included in the commercial strip of Ninth Street. The re-zoning request would change the lot from commercial to a multi-dwelling residential area.

City staff found that as far back as the 1900s, that plot of land included residential structures, which led the city to conclude zoning those lots back to multifamily residential was appropriate as a transition zone, Zollner said.

The project still has a long way to go before construction can begin. First, the Planning Commission will have to consider the proposed re-zoning request. Then the City Commission would have to vote to allow the re-development.