CITY MANAGER’S REPORT
Week ending June 7, 2013
City Receives Grant for Rehabilitation of Santa Fe Station
The City of Lawrence has been awarded funding for the rehabilitation of the Santa Fe Depot (7th and New Jersey) through the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) Transportation Enhancement (TE) program. KDOT has approved federal funds for 80% of the project construction and construction engineering costs up to $1,226,469. Please see the attached letter for more information. Next steps on Santa Fe station will include negotiating acquisition of the building/ground from BNSF, all subject to City Commission acceptance of the grant and any other necessary approvals.
City Receives Grant to Pave Haskell Rail Trail from 23rd to 29th
The City of Lawrence has been awarded funding to pave the existing Haskell Rail Trail from 23rd Street to 29th Street through the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) Transportation Enhancement (TE) program. KDOT has approved federal funds for 80% of the project construction and construction engineering costs up to $218,838. Please see the attached memo for more information. Formal acceptance of the grant will be considered by the City Commission at a later date. KDOT Press Release - Added 06/11/13
City Receives Grant to Restore Breezedale Monuments
The City of Lawrence has been awarded funding to restore the historic Breezedale monuments (23rd and Massachusetts) through the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) Transportation Enhancement (TE) program. KDOT has approved federal funds for 80% of the project construction and construction engineering costs up to $44,000. Please see the attached letter for more information. Formal acceptance of the grant will be considered by the City Commission at a later date.
Changes to State Preservation Law Signed by Governor
A bill to eliminate environs review from the State Preservation Law was signed by Governor Brownback on May 30th and changes to the State Preservation Law will go into effect on July 1, 2013. The bill removes the requirement to notify the State Historic Preservation Officer for projects that are within 500 feet of a historic property located within the corporate limits of a city. The bill also eliminates the required review for properties within the environs of a historic property located in the unincorporated portion of a county. The bill does not eliminate the required review for projects located on properties listed in the national and state registers. Please see the attached memo for more information. Environs State Law Review Memo - Added 06/11/13
Lawrence Transit’s Mobile Website Improvements
Lawrence Transit has streamlined their mobile website to make it easier to read, navigate and locate information for transit riders on the go. These changes were made due to an ever-increasing usage of mobile devices, and demand for fast and accessible transit information. After logging on to lawrencetransit.org from a mobile device, transit riders can access routes and times, a trip planner, price of fares and information on how to ride the bus. A new update to the mobile site is the “use my location” feature on the trip planner. This enables the bus rider to find the bus routes closest to their current location. It will show different route options, how far to walk to the bus stop and the total amount of travel time associated with each trip. The full website is also available from a mobile device and a person can download PDF versions of the schedules for bookmarking. The mobile site can be viewed at http://www.lawrencetransit.org/mobile/.