League of Women Voters of Lawrence-Douglas County

P.O. Box 1072, Lawrence, Kansas 66044

November 14, 2004

John Haase, Chairman

Members

Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission

City Hall

Lawrence, KS 66044

RE: ITEM NO. 10B: USE PERMITTED UPON REVIEW FOR VILLAGE MEADOWS RETIREMENT COMMUNITY; NORTH OF WEST 6TH STREET AND WEST OF CONGRESSIONAL DRIVE

Dear Chairman Haase and Planning Commissioners:

Although we have no objections to the proposed project –the Village Meadows Retirement Community– we believe that the method recommended to achieve approval of this project is flawed.  A portion of the development that shows residential use in an O-1 district is not permitted by that district.  Consequently, the project requires rezoning to a different conventional district in order to proceed.  Although the UPR is only a recommendation and would require final approval by the City Commission, we are concerned that you will be following an uncertain approval process.  Once the UPR plan has been approved, the process dictates that the rezoning to RO-1B proceeds.  However, rezoning the property does not guarantee that the project will be built.  A UPR expires after one year, leaving the zoning of RO-1B in place, allowing a development of approximately 222 multiple family units.

Because the character and traffic-generating intensity of the two uses –retirement community and multiple family use– are dissimilar (even though the number of units of the retirement community is greater), we believe that the Planning Commission should actually be asking first and foremost whether the RO-1b is an appropriate zoning district to replace the O-1 district in that location.

We suggest that a Planned Unit Development, with the zoning conditioned on the special aspects of the development, would be a more predictable method of achieving the Village Meadows Retirement Community development.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely yours,

Caleb Morse                                                     Alan Black

President                                                          Land Use Committee