photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Plans have been filed to annex into the Lawrence city limits more than 170 acres of agricultural property. The property, which is southwest of the Bob Billings Parkway and South Lawrence Trafficway interchange, is pictured on Aug. 21, 2026.

Plans to build more than a thousand new homes and apartments west of the Bob Billings Parkway and South Lawrence Trafficway interchange hit a snag at Monday’s Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission meeting.

Planning commissioners on a 4-3 vote recommended denial of a request to annex 177 acres of property into the city limits. Unless the Lawrence City Commission overrides the Planning Commission’s recommendation, plans to develop that property just southwest of the interchange into a mix of homes and apartments will be nixed.

A slim majority of the planning commissioners present — there were two commissioners absent — said they could not support the annexation request, even though they were supportive of the overall concept of building more than a thousand new living units west of the SLT. Their opposition to the annexation centered on the fact that some of the acreage requested to be annexed was just outside the area that the Lawrence-Douglas County comprehensive plan has labeled as Tier 2 land that is ready for annexation. Approximately 20 acres of the property is in Tier 3, which is a category that the comprehensive plan doesn’t recommend for immediate annexation.

Planning commissioners disagreed over exactly what the comprehensive plan required as it relates to approval or denial of Tier 3 property.

The idea of building new homes west of the South Lawrence Trafficway has been touted as a key strategy to alleviate a tight Lawrence housing market, which real estate leaders have repeatedly said is driven, in part, by a lack of new housing growth. Commissioners earlier this month approved an approximately 300-acre annexation request for land west of the SLT. However, a good portion of that land is anticipated to be used for commercial development. Monday’s annexation request was the larger of the two in terms of anticipated residential uses.

Planning commissioners on Monday also were scheduled to consider an annexation request for nearly 140 acres next to the Lawrence Regional Airport in northern Douglas County. However, the property owner — the KU Endowment Association — asked that the application be deferred, and commissioners did not take the matter up.

Several members of the public had expressed opposition to the annexation request and were preparing to speak against it at Monday’s meeting. It was not immediately clear whether KU Endowment intends to bring the request forward again at a later time.

Check back for updates today.