Planning commission backs Florent Hill affordable-housing proposal at Bob Billings Parkway and K-10; forwards comp-plan amendment and rezoning with conditions

The Lawrence and Douglas County Joint Metropolitan Planning Commission on Feb. 26 advanced a multi-part proposal to allow a large affordable-housing project at the southeast corner of Bob Billings Parkway and K-10 Highway. The commission voted to forward a comprehensive plan amendment to change the site’s future land use designation, recommended approval of two rezoning requests, and approved a preliminary plat and two related variances with conditions.

City/county planner Mary Miller told commissioners the city commission had previously purchased the land and later donated it to Tenants to Homeowners to enable affordable-housing development. Miller said the proposed amendment to the West of K-10 plan would change the future land-use designation from “general public and institutional use and medium density” to “medium density residential and neighborhood-scale commercial.” She said approvals for the comprehensive plan amendment must be granted by the planning commission, the Lawrence City Commission and the Douglas County Commission for the map change to take effect.

The rezoning requests would convert roughly 12.5 acres to RM12 multi-dwelling and about 1 acre to RM12-D (the duplex-type variant). Miller presented a concept plan showing a mix of building types: four apartment buildings totaling about 66 units, 42 row-house-style units and 12 duplex units on five smaller lots (the applicant’s concept estimates the overall mix). Tenants to Homeowners is the project developer; Mary Miller said the city donated the land and staff supports the compact, mixed housing concept as consistent with goals to disperse affordable housing across the city.

CFS Engineers’ Aaron Gasper confirmed the project is in tier 1 of the urban growth area, will extend utilities and includes a 10-foot shared-use path and proposed residential collector (Langston Way) to improve connectivity. The preliminary plat shows a one-acre CN2 commercial lot (for a small neighborhood node), a roughly 9.6-acre multi-dwelling parcel and five duplex lots; the plat also preserves a tree stand in the southwest corner under a city conservation easement.

Two variances were requested and recommended by staff: 1) to allow a CN2 commercial site of approximately 1 acre instead of the CN2 minimum site area of 2 acres, and 2) to allow a 10-foot shared-use path on the west side of the proposed Langston Way and no sidewalk on the east side because the east side is an unbuildable drainage track. Staff said the urban design goals in the comprehensive plan can be met through site planning even with the smaller CN2 parcel; staff and the city engineer supported the sidewalk variance because there are no destinations on the east side of the proposed collector.

Public comment included concerns about downstream flooding and bridge washouts from a landowner across Lake Estates Drive who said prior development upstream increased erosion and weekly flooding events; speakers urged the applicant and city to study downstream impacts. Tenants to Homeowners’ Rebecca Buford said the developer plans a mixed product with rental and permanently affordable homeownership units and seeks neighborhood-serving commercial amenities. Applicant engineer Aaron Gasper said the team has performed drainage studies and will provide additional detailed drainage analysis as part of the public-improvement and final-plat work; MSO asked for final drainage revisions when public improvement plans are submitted.

Commission action was divided into multiple votes. The planning commission voted to forward the comprehensive plan amendment and the related planning commission resolution to the city commission and Douglas County with recommendations for approval. Separate motions to forward both the RM12 and RM12-D rezoning requests to the city commission with recommendations for approval also passed. The commission approved the preliminary plat subject to the staff conditions in the February 25 memo and approved both variances: the CN2-size variance was approved but recorded one official opposition on a technical basis, and the variance allowing the 10-foot shared-use path on one side only passed unanimously. The commission added a condition requiring the applicant to relocate an access point near the Bob Billings/K-10 intersection to a location acceptable to the city engineer before the plat is considered final.

Staff noted the final drainage study, utility easements and the revised access location will be required with public improvement plans and final plat submittals. Commissioners praised the mixed housing types and the project’s location on the west side, while some urged more outreach to neighbors and closer scrutiny of downstream drainage during engineering reviews. The applications now go to the Lawrence City Commission (and, for the plan amendment, the Douglas County Commission) for further consideration.