Planning commission approves variance and preliminary plat to allow landscape business relocation north of I‑70

The Lawrence‑Douglas County Metropolitan Planning Commission on Aug. 25 approved a variance and a preliminary plat for an approximately 19‑acre property north of Interstate 70 to allow a landscape business to relocate and operate with employees and customers on the site. The commission voted to recommend approval of the variance from the county subdivision regulations and approved the preliminary plat, subject to standard staff conditions.

The variance waives a county requirement for a master street tree plan for subdivisions in the urban growth area. Mary Miller, city‑county planner, told commissioners the property is in tier 3 of the Lawrence urban growth area and lies within the K‑10 and Farmers Turnpike plan. "This property is about 19 acres," Miller said, and "the purpose was to allow for the relocation of a landscape business." She said one acre of the parcel will be dedicated as right of way and that the parcel is intended to accommodate customers and employees rather than operate solely as equipment storage under the existing conditional use permit.

Staff recommended the variance on the grounds that requiring an immediate master street tree plan would introduce an urban/suburban element that is out of character for the location, that the property likely would be replatted before annexation, and that planting trees now could require later removal or revision. Miller also described conditions the commission attached to the preliminary plat: expanding an environmentally sensitive land easement to include a stand of mature trees, documenting an existing access‑restriction agreement on the plat, and requiring final plat notes or site‑plan stage documentation of fire protection measures.

David Hamby of BG Consultants, representing the applicant, said the applicant has been coordinating with Rural Water District 6 and the fire chief. "The rural water district 6 has to have a study done, and so there's a lot there that will resolve it before the site plan's approved," Hamby said.

Miller told the commission there is a 150‑foot electrical transmission line easement crossing the property and a wetland in the southeast corner already placed in an environmentally sensitive lands easement; staff required that easement be expanded to protect the adjacent standard mature trees. On fire protection, Miller said the rural water district indicated it does not have the pressure for a fire hydrant; staff added a condition allowing the fire chief to defer a final determination until the site‑plan stage and for the final plat to contain either required fire protection measures or a note reflecting that deferment.

The commission first voted to recommend approval of the variance from the county subdivision regulation requiring a master street tree plan, and then voted to approve the preliminary plat for "Bennett's First Subdivision" based on staff findings and conditions. The motions were seconded and passed as recorded during the meeting.

The approvals move the property to the next step in the county major subdivision process: submittal of a final (bridal) plat, county surveyor review for compliance with Kansas survey standards, and administrative processing followed by county commission acceptance of dedications if the final plat conforms to the preliminary plat.

The staff report and the commission’s conditions note that the fire protection decision may be completed at the site‑plan stage and that any future replatting could require a new variance if a master street tree plan becomes applicable. Questions about specific timeline, tenant arrangements for farming, or final building plans were not resolved at the meeting and remain subject to the applicant’s future submissions and agency reviews.