photo by: Bremen Keasey

Lawrence's City Hall, located at 6 E. Sixth St., shown in June 2025.

City leaders will vote this week on a $26 million bond issuance to fund water and sewer projects in Lawrence’s Capital Improvement Plan.

The City Commission is scheduled to consider issuing the bonds at its meeting on Tuesday. A memo from finance staff to the commission said the projects the bonds would fund have already been approved by the commission as part of the CIP.

The CIP is a long-term list of infrastructure priorities the city puts together each budget season, and it includes water and sewer projects that the city had planned to pay for with revenue bonds. Revenue bonds are repaid with the money the city takes in from utility customers, and the memo says the repayment will be factored into future utility rate models.

Among other things, the list of projects the bonds would fund includes improvements to pump stations, water storage and the city’s water and wastewater treatment plants. In addition, the bond issue would be used for “refunding” or refinancing previously issued bonds, the memo said.

If the commission authorizes the bond issue, the bonds would be sold competitively on Nov. 17.

In other business, the commission will:

• Consider adopting the new Lawrence Bikes Plan. As the Journal-World reported, the bikes plan has been in the works for more than a year, and it will help the city set priorities for new bicycle infrastructure.

The plan takes into account multiple online surveys and in-person open houses where residents could share their thoughts on biking in Lawrence. Among other things, cyclists told the city they wanted more separation from motor vehicle lanes and that completing the Lawrence Loop trail network should be a top priority.

Multiple other boards and committees have already approved or recommended the plan, including the Metropolitan Planning Organization Policy Board, the Connected City Advisory Board and the Parks, Recreation and Culture Advisory Board.

• Hear an update from Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health about the tobacco retail licensing program.

A presentation attached to the commission’s meeting agenda said that Lawrence currently has 89 licensed tobacco retailers, up from 73 when the licensing program began in 2023. It suggests several new regulations for tobacco retailers, including a temporary moratorium on new licenses, increasing the cost of a license, and policies that prevent retailers from locating in certain areas, including near schools.

• Receive an update about the closure of Wakarusa Drive as part of the South Lawrence Trafficway expansion project.

The construction work is being done by the Kansas Department of Transportation, not by the city, and the closure just south of the Clinton Parkway and Wakarusa Drive intersection began on Aug. 19. After the pavement was removed, however, crews discovered that utilities below the ground conflicted with the construction plans. A memo from the city’s public works staff to the commission said that both city and private utilities were involved, and that KDOT “made changes to the design plans that will protect the City’s assets without relocation work.”

During the closure, access to the shopping center on the southwest corner of Clinton and Wakarusa has been limited, with motorists having to detour through the neighborhood to get to the businesses there. Business owners told the Journal-World last month that their sales had been significantly hurt by the closure. Among other things, they said they were disappointed in the lack of signage showing people how to get to their businesses; city staff in the memo said this is something that KDOT does not do for its projects, but that the city had put up its own signs showing the way to the shopping center on Sept. 30.

The memo also said that two plans for creating alternative, temporary entry points to the shopping center had been evaluated and ruled out; an access point on Clinton Parkway would have several problems, it said, including steep grade changes and possible utility conflicts, and KDOT did not support installing temporary pavement to reopen the road while the design changes were being made.

• Welcome a delegation of 15 students from Lawrence’s sister city of Eutin, Germany.

The Lawrence City Commission meets at 5 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St.