photo by: City of Lawrence screenshot

An updated design for a proposal that would built 15 rowhouses on a vacant parking lot at 700 New Hampshire St. in downtown Lawrence, the site of the former Borders building.

A plan to build rowhouses on a vacant parking lot in downtown Lawrence was approved Thursday night by the Historic Resources Commission, the third time the body had considered the project.

The commissioners voted 3-2 to OK a certificate of approval for the project at 700 New Hampshire St. and to find that the proposed three-story complex meets the Downtown Design Guidelines. Commissioners Jeanne Klein and Phil Cunningham voted no on each motion.

The building, which would be on a parking lot near the former Borders building, which has been vacant since 2011, would include 15 2,353-square-foot units, which would each feature a one-car garage on the ground floor that faces west. The front entrances would face east and would be accessed from Rhode Island Street. The units would have three bedrooms and three bathrooms each.

When the project first went before the Historic Resources Commission in March, the commission voted unanimously to forward it to its Architectural Review Committee to find ways to make the design fit better with the neighborhood. Then, in April, despite some modifications to the design, the commission was tied 2-2 with one member absent, meaning it did not recommend the plans for approval, as the Journal-World reported. During those discussions, commissioners and several members of the public expressed concerns that the structure might be too imposing for the area.

Paul Werner, an architect representing the applicants, said Thursday that the project would provide more single-family housing close to downtown. Although he understands neighbors’ concerns about the project, he said that more housing was needed and that the project was preferable to an empty parking lot.

“For downtown Lawrence to survive as a destination, we simply need more people living downtown,” Werner said.

Werner said some people had wondered if the project could instead be single-family houses or duplexes, instead of rowhouses, to break up the structure. He said that because the area is in both the downtown overlay and the “context area” surrounding the historically protected Octavious W. McAllaster House at 724 Rhode Island St. — the reason the development is in front of the HRC in the first place — the development code would not allow that type of housing. Werner also said the intent is for the rowhouses to be owner-occupied units, not rentals, which fits with the type of housing options across the street.

A handful of public commenters again expressed concerns about the size of the structure. Tim Nauman said that he lived right across the street from the proposed development and that it would be a huge building that he didn’t see meeting the guidelines for approval.

However, commissioners ended up approving the structure. HRC Chair Joy Coleman said she felt the project was hard to review because it is “trying to do conflicting things” — being compatible with the historic structure and fit in with the downtown guidelines — and it cannot. But, she felt the project met the criteria sufficiently for both. Commissioner Brenna Buchanan agreed, saying that while she doesn’t necessarily like the project, it meets the guidelines and it is the right project for a transitional area that is challenging to develop.

The proposal will now go to the Lawrence City Commission, who will vote on a potential final approval.