photo by: Bremen Keasey

Lawnrece City Commissioners Tuesday night voted to approve the issuing of around $98.6 million in debt to fund projects that are part of the city's Capital Improvement plan.

Lawrence city commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to approve the initial steps that will allow the city to issue around $98.6 million in debt to help fund infrastructure projects that are part of the city’s Capital Improvement Plan.

The city plans to issue just under $73 million of general obligation temporary notes and around $25.6 million of general obligation bonds to fund several projects, including phase one of the construction of the new Municipal Services and Operations campus and renovations to the Outdoor Aquatic Center.

The item was in the meeting’s consent agenda, meaning the items could be approved along with others in just one vote, but Commissioner Bart Littlejohn said he received some questions from residents about the process and wanted to provide space for conversation with city staff.

Rachelle Mathews, the city’s finance director, said the process of issuing debt is an extension of the Capital Improvement Plan process. The projects that will be funded through debt are selected each year based on the CIP, which lists major infrastructure projects the city needs and is decided as part of the city’s budget process.

Mathews said the issuing of debt is a way the city “follow(s) through with a funding mechanism” to ensure those projects can be completed. Commissioner Brad Finkeldei also said that as part of the budget book on the city’s website, it lists the projects as well as the funding sources they will receive — whether they are funded by grants, sales tax or debt like notes or bonds.

The temporary notes and general obligation bonds differ in why they are used and the time when the debt needs to be paid off. The temporary notes — typically used to fund construction projects for that year — come due after one year. For example, the city plans to issue $27 million in notes for the MSO campus, a $130 million project which has construction underway, and around $3.8 million for upgrades to the Youth Sports Complex, which will be completed before the fall.

The general obligation bonds are longer-term debt, which Mathews compared to a mortgage, as they are taken out to pay for an asset that will be held for a long time. Those debts can range between five and 20 years, and Mathews said the city attempts to align the process of paying them off with the lifespan of the asset to make the costs more equitable over time.

With the vote to approve the two procedural items, the bonds and temporary notes will be issued April 1.

In other business, commissioners:

• Deferred a presentation from the Douglas County Tenant Experiences Report, which could help inform future policy decisions about affordable housing, to a later date.

The City Commission was scheduled to hear the item, but the staff member who was going to provide the presentation wasn’t able to attend the meeting, according to Cori Wallace, a city spokesperson.

The presentation would have discussed the results of a survey conducted by KU’s Life Span Institute and the LiveWell Sexual Violence Prevention Work Group that was done in 2023 to learn more about renters in Lawrence and Douglas County. Wallace said since the item required no action, the city felt it was best to delay the presentation until the staff member could be “available to present and answer questions.”

• Approved a preliminary development plan and a rezoning request for a housing development that would add 50 single-family homes in west Lawrence.

The proposed development, known as Monterey Gardens at Fall Creek, would add those 50 houses and private streets at 3633 Peterson Road. Those houses would be located right next to Fall Creek Farms, and the developer said it would include smaller lots than that development, according to a city memo.

A plan for the development was first filed in 2022, but this new plan changed the boundaries of the proposed development to ensure that it can fit the 50 lots it has planned.

• Awarded a $4,126,000 bid to MegaKC Corp. to replace a water basin at the Kaw Water Treatment Plant. The project will replace the current carbon contact basin at the Kaw Water Treatment Plant, which was first constructed in 1917, according to a city memo.

Along with demolishing and replacing the existing basin, the project also includes adding new plug flow basins, associated yard piping and concrete surface repairs to the adjacent carbon building.