Mayor Boog Highberger
Lawrence City Commissioners
City Hall
Lawrence, KS 66044
August 9th, 2005
Dear Commissioners:
6th and Stoneridge PRD-2 Zoning:
Multi-family housing next door to single-family homes has been a debate in Lawrence for years. The Lawrence Association of Neighborhoods has worked for years to require proper zoning and buffering of single-family neighborhoods from the problems that arise when care is not taken in the zoning process as in Canyon Court. We have been made aware of a possible case in which once again single family homes will be over shadowed and even encroached upon by larger multi-family housing. We ask that you consider conditioning the PRD-2 to height limitations, density, and buffering requirements to create a compatible transitional area that extends from the southern boundary of the multiple family district a minimum of 100 feet to the interior and can be one or more of the following choices: a.) a six-foot landscaped berm topped by trees, b.) buildings of the same height at least as the average single family home in the general neighborhood, at least ten feet apart, and at least 35 feet from the transitional boundary, c) completely enclosed parking structures without windows or openings to the back and not closer that 35 feet to the transitional boundary (as in the Tuckaway Apartments). What is important is maintaining the privacy of the single-family yards.
Procedure was uprooted when the Planning Commission did not follow the zoning regulations and tried to implement a new development idea that there is no code for. While the Planning Commission had been discussing conditions of two stories in the transitional area the change to eliminate the conditions left the neighborhood with no opportunity of public comment.
A commonly used practice to clarify that the zoning would be conditional upon a development plan and would not be published until a Preliminary Development Plan was approved, sounds great, but is actually a ‘catch 22’. Once the zoning has been approved there is no more discussion about the zoning, and if the Preliminary Plan complies with the zoning than there is no chance at the time of the public hearing to get changes to the zoning and therefore change the Preliminary plans. This practice seems to give the public another chance to state their objections to the size and type of development, but in actuality it does not.
Sincerely
Gwen Klingenberg
President
Lawrence Association of Neighborhoods