Common Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. The time is now 638. I will call the July 15, 2026, mid-month meeting of the Common Council of the City of Lawrence to order. Could everyone please stand and join us for a Pledge of Allegiance?

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

I'd ask that everyone remain standing and observe a moment of silence for fallen Sergeant Jess Kennedy of the Lawrence Police Department. He was retired and recently passed away. Thank you. The next agenda item is roll call of members and the termination of quorum. Let the record reflect that we have eight counselors present and that we do have a quorum. This meeting has been properly noticed in accordance with Indiana's open door law and copies of the agenda are located at the back of the room. For citizens wishing to speak during citizens' comments, please use the sign-in sheet also located at the back of the room. The next agenda item is comments of council members and special recognitions and resolutions. I'd like to start by stating over the last several weeks, the council has been working on a comprehensive update to our code of ethics. I'm pleased to report that that initial draft has now been completed. Our intent is to formally introduce the ordinance at our next council meeting. Before then, we will be sharing the working draft with the mayor's office, corporation council. And early next week, we hope to have the opportunity to review it, provide feedback, and collaborate with us throughout the process. This is an important piece of legislation, and our goal is to develop a modern, transparent, and effective code of ethics through cooperation between the council, the mayor's office, and the corporation council. We appreciate everyone's willingness to work together, and we look forward to bringing this ordinance before the council at our next meeting. Do we have any other comments from councillors this evening?

I do.

Yes, Councillor Robinson.

Thank you. I just want to recognize and thank DPW and Streets for filling a request for potholes. Thank you so much.

Anyone else? Mr. President. Councillor Wells. It came to my attention last week that the Board of Works met and retained another lobbyist. And I was just curious who this lobbyist may be and how much we're paying them. I don't quite understand why. when things are passed, what the board works, why the amount that the board is voting on is not disclosed to the public at the hearings. But I also would like to know that amount as what we're paying for that lobbyist. Thank you.

Any other comments this evening? The next agenda item is approval of minutes of the regular meeting of July 6, 2026. Are there any questions or corrections to the minutes of the regular meeting of July 6? I would entertain a motion to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of July 6.

I make a motion to approve. Second.

Thank you, Councillor Cronin.

And was that a second from Councillor Boyd?

Thank you.

All righty. We'll now proceed with the vote. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed, please signify by saying nay. Let the record reflect that we have a unanimous decision to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of July 6. The next agenda item is reports of committees.

Do we have any reports from committees this evening?

Yes.

Councillor Giles.

We had a finance administration meeting today. We did not have a quorum, so we did not vote or anything, but we did have an open discussion where we spoke to the city controller, and she came up and gave us a very broad overview of the upcoming schedule, budget schedule, and we look forward to having continuous meetings throughout the budget season.

Thank you, Councillor Giles. Are there any other reports from committees this evening? The next agenda item is Unfinished Business, Proposal Number 1, 2026. Oh, it's up here. The proposal number one, 2026, an ordinance of the common council of the city of Lawrence, Indiana, amending title one, article one, chapter two, section 12 of the municipal code regarding common council approval on expenditures and professional service contracts. That proposal remains before the committee of the whole for consideration and recommendation to the council and will be brought back when appropriate. The next agenda item is new business, rezoning petition 26, LZ004, I'm sorry, LZ00410853, East 52nd Street. We'll move forward with the public hearing. Is this? Thank you. Rezoning petition 26LD00410853 East 52nd Street has been properly noticed in accordance with the open door law. The public hearing is now open. Council, before we begin with the hearing, I'd like to ask for a motion for the following rules governing the public hearing. Petitioner's presentations must not exceed 10 minutes. The combined total time for all members of the public in favor is 10 minutes. The combined total time for all members of the public against is 10 minutes. Petitioners shall have five minutes thereafter for any additional comments. And there shall be a combined five minutes for all members of the public speaking in response. Do I have a motion to approve these rules? So moved. Thank you, Councillor Giles. Do I have a second?

Second.

All right, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed, signify by saying nay. All right. Those rolls have passed. Anyone wishing to speak tonight, please stand and raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm that the testimony that you're about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

Thank you.

The floor is now open for the petitioner to present their rezoning petition.

OK. There you go. Good evening, members of the council. My name is Brian Tuohy. My address is 9294 North Meridian. And we're here on case number 26LZO04. I'm a lawyer that represents Lennar Homes of Indiana, LLC. And here with me tonight is Taylor Navar, who is in charge of land entitlements at Lennar. But maybe more importantly than that, he's an esteemed alum and a proud graduate of Lawrence North so thank you for hearing our case this case involves a petition to rezone about 30 acres 29 acres and some change that's shown on this exhibit it's page two of what I think I've hopefully handed out to the members to rezone that 29 acres to the d4 zoning classification to allow for eventual development of a single-family residential subdivision When you're looking at zoning cases, I think one of the things you always look at is what's around the site. This exhibit number two shows that to the north, there's the, I think it's called the Lawrence Transportation Center, the bus depot, I think some people call it. To the west is the Silver Stream subdivision that's being developed, I think, by Arbor Homes. And to the south is Silver Stream also. To the east is some agricultural residential. There's a cell tower over there. And then you get to German Church Road. And then there's the lakes at Winding Ridge. So the surrounding uses include a bus transportation center, single family residential, and some, I guess you'd say, farmland. The next slide. Slide three shows the site, a recent photograph of the site. That's standing on 52nd Street looking southeast. So Indian Creek is off there at the background. To the right, as you're looking in that photograph, that's the border with Silver Stream. Across the street, as I mentioned, that's a recent photograph of the transportation center. And then slide four is a photograph of the site. And it also shows what's the zoning around it. So again, we're requesting D4 zoning. And you can see right next door to the left, which is the west, that's D4 zoning. Over to the north, you see that CS. That's for your bus depot. That's a commercial special zoning. And off to the right to the north is DA. That's an agricultural zoning. And then over to your right, to the east, is SU1. That's a special zoning. I think there's a cell tower over there. That's what that is. And then across German Church Road is a DP zoning. That's a residential zoning. So, again, the uses are residential with some commercial with your bus depot over there. And looking at rezoning of sites, in addition to looking at around facilities, what's around the site. Another element is to see what the comprehensive plan calls for. And the comprehensive plan for this site calls for a suburban neighborhood. And a suburban neighborhood is usually made up of single family homes. That's what this is proposed to be, single family homes. And it typically has a residential density of about one home to five homes per acre. In this case, the density is rather low. The proposed density is 61 lots on 29, almost 30 acres. So just slightly more than two homes per acre is the density. I would ask you to note on this exhibit that someone had the good foresight to show stub roads coming in on the left side of that photograph from Silver Stream and then also a stub road at the bottom coming in from Silver Stream at the north. That seems to me to be good thinking for future planning when sites fill in. So how would it be developed? We're a little ways away from that because there's some utility issues and some other typical issues with development. But this is a preliminary look at how it might develop. And these lots would meet those D4 standards. You can see there would be an entrance there off of 52nd Street that would align with the eastern entrance to the bus facility. There would be a stub road there off to the left that would align with that stub road from Silverstream. And then there would be another road stub, I guess would be the better way to say that, to Silverstream at the south. And then over on the east side, that would be a detention area and a walking trail around that detention area, and then some green area preserved as you get over towards Indian Creek. That's the general way that Lennar would believe that this could be developed. And it shows that there's about six acres, six and a half, slightly more than six and a half acres of natural preservation area. And I think there's about... about 2,100 feet of trail that shone around that pond area. And of course there'd be sidewalks on both sides of the street. These are renderings of the types of homes they would propose to build. These would be two-story and one-story homes. They would range in size from about approximately 1,500 square feet to about 2,400 square feet, and their expected price ranges of the homes, depending on what happens with construction costs, would be from maybe the high $200,000s, approximately the high $200,000s, to approximately the mid-$300,000s for these new homes.

Thank you.

We certainly appreciated working with Renee and the staff in her office. They've been very polite and very prompt in their assistance, and we greatly appreciated that. The findings of the staff report indicate that it appears that the proposed D4 is consistent with the comprehensive plan proposal of suburban neighborhood. Staff finds that the proposal is compatible. It matches up with the existing zoning patterns. and ongoing residential areas the proposed density of about two homes per acre is appropriate for the d4 district it would actually be at the sort of low end of that and then environmental constraints are obviously present with the creek but we'll have to address that through engineering and regulatory requirements and engineer final engineering the site And the staff has recommended approval subject to some conditions in the report, which we we agree with. We have sent out 73 notices to this and to surrounding property owners. And to date, I have not heard from anyone. And I've been out to the site a couple of times walking around taking photographs, as you can see. So to wrap this up and hopefully I've met the 10 minute time frame. I would respectfully suggest to the council that the rezoning could allow for single family residential development. That appears to be consistent with what your plan calls for on that site. It seems to be consistent and compatible with the adjoining residential uses to the west and the south. There's a decent sized preservation area and trail area proposed along the east side of the site. and the planning staff recommends approval for those reasons we'd respectfully ask for your favorable consideration of this petition and try to answer any questions you might have thank you for hearing our case thank you i would now like to call any administrators who would like to provide public comment in favor of the rezoning petition i would now like to call any administrators who would like to provide public

comment against the rezoning petition? I will check to see if there are any comments online. There do not appear to be any comments online from a public attending virtually. Councillors, do we have any questions?

I do. Yes, Councillor Wells. What is the total acreage of this property, please?

Councillor, the total acreage is just right about 30 acres, 29.6, I think.

And you're going to put a retention pond as well? Yes, sir. And would that be, what, an acre?

I believe that retention pond, I've got that note here, is about 1.07 acres for the lake.

Just doing the math, you've got, what, 61 homes? Yes, sir. And...

two homes per acre that comes up well a little over 30 acres not including acres for the retention pond right yeah that that that retention pond is included within that um 30 29.6 acres so the actual density would be like 2.2 or 2.3 i think if you divide 61 by 29.6 acres I think is the division so it's just over Another excuse me another question that I have is What's the square footage these homes individually homes so you know depend on what folks buy but we think the lowest minimum square footage would be about 1,500 square feet and they would go up to about 2,400 square feet perhaps a little bigger if folks want a bigger home so are these homes are they going to be basically a know a rubber cookie cutter homes or is there going to be someone's going to come in there and tell you what they want built i think it would be a little bit of both and i'll i'll let taylor address that question but there would be some that people would come in and say i would like a two-story with three bedrooms or another person might come and say i'd like a two-story with four bedrooms and we'll build what they want. Some of them we would probably build on speculation, knowing what folks generally want to have, and so we'd build some homes, model homes, if you will, and then build some homes on spec that would be ready to move into quickly when people wanted to. So these homes won't be built until they have an owner? No, there could be some homes that they would build before someone had committed to buy it. That would be a speculative home.

Okay. How many of them do you... Speculate that you'll have.

Let's Taylor address that. OK. But don't speculate.

Yeah, go speculate for me, would you?

Good evening. For the record, Taylor Navar with 1R Homes. Our address is 11555 North Meridian Street in Carmel. Thank you for these questions. I just want to clarify. This collection, this series, incorporates or includes three different model types, each with three or four elevations. And so that's the range, you know, the ranch you see here at the bottom, that's at the lower square footage range of 1500 plus, and then all the way up to over 2400, close to 2500 square feet. So there is a range, and that's based on the product type itself. As far as the homes and the features, Lennar has what we call everything's included models. So that's our home building model. So when we build the home and we build inventory homes, we are able to leverage our buying power to build in and include higher end features such as countertops, cabinets, kitchen appliances, that we've taken kind of that market data of what buyers in the past selected and taken the higher end of that and built that into the home price itself. So whereas other builders, you go into a design center and have to pick and choose individual features and add-ons that add cost and time to the buyers those things are already included with these homes when they're built and so there are some options available for potential buyers to select but they were the majority will be inventory built with kind of pre-selected features and at the higher end for for these price points well these homes have basements No, they will be on slab.

Be on a slab? Yes. This retention pond, and I would hope that Renee would make this a requirement, and I don't know if you intend to do so, to put some sort of a tall fence around this retention pond? No.

we typically defer to you know public works and all the engineering requirements that the municipality has you know a lot of times and what we've done here is the the staffs and cities like to see that space activated with trails and so there are certain certain requirements and engineering specs to maintain a certain clear distance from the top of bank there but we do have

we have activated those common areas with trails as an amenity for these residents our city just lost a was a two-year-old yeah 19 months and i think you know my family comes from you know we had a two-year-old in our family drowned in a in a swimming pool by one of these in-home daycare things so uh losing a child, period, you know, is bad enough to see one drown. And I think that these subdivisions and these retention ponds, there needs to be a way of keeping the kids out of them. And I know the fencing's unsightly. You know, it's not as pretty as seeing a pond. But I think the, personally, myself, I'd rather see a fence, you know, feel better about, you know, the kids that might get a chance to get in this thing. But that would be between you and Renee.

Yeah, we will comply with it, and we'll work with the appropriate staff members.

But I would urge, I would strongly urge the commitment to a fence of some sort around that pond. And another concern, you're going to have three.

I know Betty Robinson has a question. Can she ask her question, and then we can come back to you for your question as well?

OK. Thank you. And thank you, Councillor Wells, for bringing up the retention pond. That was one of my three questions. I don't know about a tall fence, but some type of a barrier around it would definitely suffice. In addition to the barrier around the retention pond, I don't know how this can be addressed because retention ponds becomes costly at some point. And the HOAs and the residents have got to pay for that. And removing the algae, something, like I said, I don't know how that can be addressed. But definitely, if you can, that would be appreciated. Absolutely. One of my other questions is, it was stated earlier that currently there are some utility errors. Can you share with us what that is?

The sewer utilities? Sure. So from my understanding, and disclosure, I'm not an engineer, but from what our due diligence team has researched and working with Renee and her team, you know, we are under the assumption that whilst being served by Lawrence utilities with sewer. There are certain protocols that need to be enacted in the near future. And I would defer to Renee's expertise on that, let her explain. more accurately but our team is investigating and exploring the options uh that we have for the site it's our understanding that an underwater leather basin would be required to essentially hold the the water and storm event for the sanitary sewer as it relates to drainage as well So that's something that we're investigating right now and we'll comply with all appropriate regulations and standards in doing so. But again, I'll defer to the experts on this and just assure you that we will comply with all.

Okay, one more question. Floodplain. How would you want to address that?

We are staying out of it. You're staying out of it? Yes. We have designed the site to stay out of it. You see that wooded area by the creek on the east side of the site? We're staying completely out of the floodplain and won't disturb anything over there.

Okay. Okay.

Thank you. Thank you so much. A couple questions. You actually hit a lot of areas. First one is, I notice this is a proposed plan. How soon if we if we approve this zoning, how soon do you put a plan to to put.

So this is a conceptual plan, but it has been engineered. We're working with Kimley Horn engineers, and they've done some all of the engineering as far as the proper drainage and utilities and road layout to comply with all the applicable standards. So our next step should we be approved with zoning would be to go to the primary plant stage, and that would likely That could be as soon as September filing with the primary plat to to divide the the parcel into into the home sites And then likely after that process is completed. We'd move into construction plans So it could be as soon as this fall with plants middle.

So you're so you're not going to hold this thing. You're gonna move Okay, likely.

Yes, depending on the sewer situation. I want to go to that. All right, so yeah

I have a little bit of understanding of this. I know some questions may be for Rene, but for you. Are you willing to pay for your own lift station and the subdivision?

That's what we've run into before.

You're willing to pay for the subdivision to pay for it?

Yeah.

Would you hold that as a condition to the development? yeah I mean I think that that's part of the development cost I mean if that's if that's the appropriate way you the development would take on all costs for the utility for what the needs to bring sewer there to serve our site to serve your site correct good okay that's very important so the next question to that though is would you hold that in conditions and in writing you know for conditions to make sure that's done but I think that's something that you're going to have to do it to move your project forward I see I think we're okay I see all the right people shaking their heads so I think that's a good thing all right the next question is I'm a little I'm impressed with this actually well look at it two ways two two properties per acre, that's a nice size lot for folk, right? That really is. And so there's a side of me that says, that's good. But there's another side of me that says we got a housing shortage and we need more housing density and we need some, you know, one side I'm like, okay, that's, you know, so. And then I'm looking at the price points on your houses, and I'm looking at the kind of houses that you're building. So that's the question, too, is, is this truly the models that you're going to stick with? Like, is there any other models that could go in here?

So this represents one of each of the home types that we have? There won't be a fifth or fourth or fifth. There may be. There may be.

Well, I'm concerned about that.

Okay. Sure.

Right? Because I also know once I change the zoning and I allow you to do what you do, I lose control. You see what I'm saying? So I'm trying to get as much control up front before I give you the green light.

Sure.

Right? Because I also know the difference when the D4, which is good. I'm glad you're going D4 and not D5. Right? D5 makes it go more, well, there's a double side. D5 allows you to get more dense, right, which helps us build more houses. But D4 allows you to get more space, which I thought when I saw the two acres, I thought you were going at a higher price point in home. right so i'm concerned about you putting lower price point homes two-acre land because i'm trying to get as much taxes as they can too so try to provide housing for people we try to bring our goal is to bring twenty thousand people to the city of lawrence right you both be shaking your head over there and so i'm trying to if that's right if that's the goal to bring as many twenty thousand people to lawrence and we don't know where landlocked we got that many opportunities to to build i'm very probably very particular also know that this before allows you to put duplexes here so i was curious that if that fourth model would it be a duplex that would also help you with the housing density so i want you to make some money but also to solve some problems for the city of warrens because we don't after these things are developed we run out of the ability to

Maybe I don't want to take Taylor's stage.

I guess I'll speak while I'll have my assistant.

Whoever can answer the question, no matter who it is. So a couple of ways to address your concerns are, one, that the size of those lots, I appreciate you saying that they're a good size, that they're minimum of 7,200 square feet so that's pretty sizable they're 120 or 125 feet long the you're right d4 allows duplexes I think it's just on okay i don't think they intend to build duplexes if the if the council thinks that's a good idea then it i think it'd be okay with lenard to have that leave that option to build them on corner lots In terms of the houses, so there's one slide. Here's another slide showing three different ranches. Here's another slide showing five different two stories. So those are all the collections. Now, is that every single one? No, because somebody might want that garage to move over to the left-hand side of that house or something like that. Right, right. Or somebody might say, you know, I'd like an extra window.

But those are the same elevations, but the footprint don't change. That's what I was asking, really, about what the different footprints are going to be. I understand you can make them the same elevation, but the footprint changes. I agree with you. Yeah, that's right. So that's the question is, how many models are you bringing that changes footprint?

that would be uh right now three just those three three okay that's what that's what yeah and the site's been designed like brian said you know to the d4 standards as far as lot dimensions we want to stay inside the parameters of the zoning district so that that kind of constituted the site design and how many lots i just want to make sure that you don't build any houses without garages Oh, no, that's that's not right. Yeah.

But there's houses across the street that don't have garages.

And we we agree tonight that all of our all homes will have a two car attached garage and parking and a driveway for two cars as well.

All right. How they're designed.

We got to keep producing basketball players here in Lawrence. I mean, driveways. I hear you. All right. That's it for me.

Thank you, Councillor Jones. We'll move on to Councillor Crone.

Thank you for being here tonight. I work at Lawrence North, so go cats. To piggyback on what Councilor Wells was asking and also Councilor Robinson, the retention pond. I found a unicorn neighborhood where I live. I don't have an HOA to deal with, and I don't have a retention pond. So I don't even know. You were saying you've got the trail around there, and I think that's fantastic. I would love to see a trail in every neighborhood. What are the best practices to keep a retention pond safe? I don't even know. again and is that a you I don't know if that's a you question I don't know if that's more of maybe Renee I don't know like is it like the grade of like the slope essentially yes education like natural type of barriers can be a combination okay we always

comply with the appropriate regulations. That usually falls under the engineering, public work standards. And essentially with drainage and site and safety protocols. So this would be compliant with all of those procedures as well. A ledge, yeah. And clearance from the top of bank and from that ledge with the trail.

And then both the counselors on that side of the room asked about some sort of a barrier. So if engineering complies and it's deemed safe by the city or by the regulations,

like will this neighborhood have an hoa and then will it fall to the hoa and the neighborhoods or the neighbors that comprise the hoa to sort that out it will and and we have a team member on staff that's an hoa manager that works with our all of our communities to set up the hoa to make sure that it's successfully run in the future we don't turn it over until it's about 80 to 90 percent occupied okay and and they have the structure in place and the financial state stability and so we ensure that they have the the tools they need to to succeed in the future and that includes maintenance of common areas and the detention facilities and again those would comply with all applicable standards as far as aeration and things like that to to control the algae and and all of the components that go into the the proper drainage making sure that it functions properly okay for the site okay cool thanks thank you so this property cannot be developed without a retention pond correct yeah we have to retain what all of the storm water on our site and release it at a rate at or below the appropriate levels of the release rate into the drainage stream outflow

Is it the intent for all these houses to be sold to individual buyers, or would Lennar be maintaining any of those properties to rent out themselves?

No, we sell for sale to buyers.

Thank you. Any other questions? Mr. President. Council Wells.

Will this neighborhood be an association or a co-op? The reason I ask that, I think it's No, it's the next street over. What would that be? The other one there comes off of 50. Winding Ridge. There's a co-op back in there, a neighborhood association. The city doesn't maintain the streets in that neighborhood because of this. Will that be the case with this, or will the city be required?

It's not planned that way. These are public streets and designed accordingly. And we'll have an HOA. But in the future, when the HOA does take control, it'll be up to them. And there's certain protocols in place there with majority vote. That gets into the CCRs with the future homeowners, but this is designed to be kind of a typical community subdivision and be consistent with the adjacent Silver Stream community to the south and west.

So the city will be responsible for any maintenance, any snow plowing, anything like that with the city? Yes. be responsible for right as public roads.

Yes. Yeah.

And this is a joy where they have any oversight with maintenance on on this on this retention.

Yeah, that's part of their their control and their responsibility. That's usually hired out by a company that that HOA contracts. And so they will be responsible for all the common areas within the community.

Okay. One other concern that I had is because you're going to be right across the street from this bus depot, school bus thing, and I was kind of hoping that the homeowners would, you know, the neighbors would, you know, have put a little input on this because I don't live in that area, so I don't know what the... what it's like in the morning and in the afternoon with these buses coming out and coming back in. Now I see on your map that you're going to have proposed three accesses to this neighborhood. Do you foresee, I mean, have you done any kind of a study, any kind of a traffic study?

On these 2 times of the days when these buses are coming back we have not it's not required by the city for development of this size and with like you mentioned there are kind of 3 different access points to kind of release the traffic so there are different options for people to travel through.

um and again we would work with all of the appropriate planning and engineering and public works on the appropriate measures with with site design to adequately handle the traffic flow yeah i'm just not real curious what it's like for all them buses you know because pretty much i would imagine they leave pretty much the same time in the morning and i would imagine they come back pretty much the same time in the afternoon what that's like you know traffic wise i would imagine it's fairly hectic But Mary again, I don't live there, so I was hoping to get some input from the residents. We got residents. Could we hear from the residents, Mr. President?

I think they missed the opportunity to remonstrate.

They had the opportunity to remonstrate already?

Yeah. That's what I was going to say. Give them an opportunity.

We'll complete our questions and then we'll let the city speak and then we'll go back and we'll let any remonstrators speak. Okay. Do we have any other further questions? I'm fine.

Thank you.

Councillor Robinson?

Yes. Thank you, Mr. President. You stated that the retention part, the question was by Councillor Massour, whether or not the retention pond was necessary. Does it have to be there? And you said because of the stormwater, right? The release. Correct. So since it's for that purpose, does it have to be accessible by the residents?

not necessarily by the residents but there are certain require requirements for access for maintenance for any any repairs or any kind of maintenance to the features of that detention pond and again that falls under the applicable engineering design specifications for the site and typically that that does come with kind of a common area easement some kind of access for maintenance personnel or vehicles to access that site we also designed it with the paths around that area just to provide an amenity and meet the appropriate amenity requirements that the city has for the zoning from the zoning standpoint hence the the path around the pond and then over as far over as we can to the east of the site.

So the accessibility by maintenance does not mean that it has to be accessible by the residents. That could be designed differently. OK, thank you, sir. Thank you.

Mr. President, I'm sorry. I'd like to have one more question. On that pond, what's the average depth of that pond going to be?

That's a great question. Typically, it's based on the sizing appropriate, how much water it has to hold. It can range from a couple feet. I would assume it's probably in the range of four to six feet in depth at its deepest point.

That'd be enough for a child to drown in if it's at its deepest point. So I understand having to have access to it, but would that not require just a gate with a lock on it.

We can explore that. We can work with the reviewing and the engineering side of it to look at safety protocols and what we could do for some kind of barrier around that pond.

I think this city needs to explore and all cities need to explore you know, the dangers of these retention funds. So anyway, but that was a, yeah, that pretty much answers my question. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Do we have any other questions? All righty. I would now like to call a representative from the city of Lawrence to present their staff report on the zoning petition.

Hi. Thank you for calling me. I'm Renee Raffala, Director of Public Works. I provided you all with our staff report. Just want to touch on some highlights. We did discuss with them the EPA order for compliance for the sanitary sewer I&I issue that we have. They are aware of that. Those notes are in our thing here. As you're aware, there is a floodplain. They are not planning to encroach on that. They stated that. Those were our major issues with their proposal and their plan. It does meet with the D4 regulations for zoning requirements, and it's appropriate. It continues the existing Silver Stream subdivision and fits nicely with the surrounding area and the homes, the values, and the conditions. So we feel it's an appropriate rezone.

Thank you.

Did you have any questions for me?

I have a question. It looks like a broken record. What about this fence on this security pond or this pretension pond?

There is nothing in code that requires... I'm not saying that it's not allowed, that it wouldn't be permitted, but the City of Lawrence has adopted and recognizes the City of Indianapolis stormwater ordinance, and there are no requirements for... fencing or a barrier to ponds um you know that acts a terrible tragedy accident a few weeks ago there's not been enough time to change law yet you know how slowly that moves um and there is a really and i was just showing them there's a barrier actually at the pond i don't know how well it's put together anymore but there's actually

There's actually a barrier at the pond where that young child passed at in the back of the apartment. I used to live there. It's a cinder block, short wall. Don't know how well it's stable, but there is something there.

There's some creative solutions that we can look at during the development of the property. That's not really the purpose of a rezone. This is rezoning it to allow development for a neighborhood. The specifics of where the properties are, that kind of thing is all done through zoning code and through the development process, not the rezoning process. Would I like to see a fence? Yeah. But I've never, ever, ever, ever seen a fence around a retainage pond that the only one I can think of is the Dollar General or the Dollar Tree. Companies do it. And it just becomes a weeded in.

And a trap for the litter to hit the fence.

So, you know, we do need some creative solutions. I don't know that this is the project to start. saying, oh, you've got to do this and that, it needs to be well thought out and planned, not... Renee, I do have a question that's a little off the subject, but I don't know if you don't mind.

With the building of Silver Springs and building that, many years ago, I used to live in Winding Ridge, and I used to shoot that road. And you guys all know I'm a motorcycle rider and stuff. And so there used to be so much wildlife there. I mean, I saw foxes and all kind of things coming home. And even when I was walking the campaign, I thought about how much of our natural land is gone. I'm in support of development. But I just wondered, as a city, is there anything for us to be concerned with when it comes to that? I'm just, this is just, you know, I don't know. Is there anything that ever pops up in your head or anything that's ever addressed that?

I mean, I don't know. developing what's farmland into homeland is going to affect wildlife it's going to affect you know more than just they've got to have a place to go so they just move further out and progress follows them that's right the other question that property on the other side of the wetland

is that any consideration of sale or those people i mean is that anything to do i have no idea no okay just want to make sure i think they're planning on keeping that part for their family okay where the house is now right i guess the wetland gives a nice barrier to do that okay thank you counselor robinson

Thank you, Mr. President. Renee, at some point we do need to have a conversation about the retention policy. Maybe not this property, but it needs to be done. It really does. We don't want to see what has happened in the past continue.

Sidebar. I think we can all agree on that. Yes.

Has there been a study done in the City of Lawrence on housing need?

Yes, so I was going to mention that too. The City of Lawrence, Mayor Debb actually formed a Housing Ready Task Force. Councillor Giles and myself sat on it. Tracy joined us on it too. um so and we've shared that plan with the council and um it this fits perfectly within our housing ready task force and also the next petition that you're getting ready to hear um is for some affordable housing and so that ties into our housing ready task force so it's really nice to see that the task force isn't just a binder on a shelf that it's actually moving forward and we're getting progress with our plans

The report, was it a tangible report that was handed out or did you just verbalize that?

There is a report on the city's website that you can go and read. We'd love to share that with you. If anybody has any more ideas, reach out. We're very interested in moving that task force and those findings forward. So, yes, we did a presentation to the council and to the BZA, and then the document's also available on the website. Thank you. I'll reset to that.

May I interject in response to Councillor- Liz was on it too. Yes, Liz was there too. But to Councillor Giles and his discussion of wildlife, there is, and this has not to do with zoning, but something to consider instead of just automatically putting down turf grass with all these homes, there are other options such as pollinator, friendly plantings and I would love to talk to you about that and come up with some possible options because that would reduce flooding and it's cheaper and really something to consider.

It could also be used as a very nice barrier around the pond. There you go. There's an option there for that. There's lots of options and things we could look at that are alternative measures other than a fence. So I'm sure that we can work towards that during the development of the project.

Do we have any other questions for Renee?

I have one more. Renee, back to this pond. If we're not to put a fence around it, I would assume that these retention ponds have an overflow pipe of some sort. Could we not stipulate the height of that pipe so the depth of the pond isn't If a child, you know, most child is going to get into this into this pond. You know, if the pond wasn't over two or three feet deep, they can drown in.

Yeah. And into water. Yeah, I understand that.

Yeah, I get that. But they have a better chance than having six feet of water. If the thing I mean, if they can stand up. then possibly they're not going to die.

It would have to meet the calculations and the requirements for detention of the property. So that's, again, something that we're going to look at in the engineering of the development.

Well, that's where I was going with this, because if there has to be a concern of so many cubic feet of water that has to be in this pond, then maybe the pond could be bigger and maybe a house or two less. Sorry. You know, I'm spitballing here.

But that's all considerations for actually developing. Well, and it's something in your plan. I don't know that we can make those kind of decisions before we have plans to look at.

So, you know, that's going to it's something that I would be I would like to see. I would like to

give a child a chance that you know it's going to wander off that isn't going to drown in this pond before we i mean we had a barrier around the pond and in the apartment complex that the little it was the baby just if they want in they're going to get in their kids well that's true yeah that's true you know i think it's we can only do so much to prevent

The tragedy.

But I think it's better than doing nothing. We'll do everything we can when we're developing.

Yeah, I think doing something is better than nothing. Yeah.

It's definitely something that's caught our attention. You know, unfortunately, it took the tragedy to get, you know, we're talking about it. That's a very good first step and moving forward and making changes that can protect them.

Yep. All right. Thank you. Thanks, Renee.

All right. Any other questions germane to this variance?

Thank you, Renee. Thank you. Thank you, Renee.

Have a good one. All right. Prior to closing the public hearing, I'd like to provide a final opportunity to the members of the public to respond to the City of Lawrence's comments regarding the petition. Please approach the podium and state your name and address for the record.

So we are the Crickmores, and we live across the street from this, even though it wasn't mentioned.

106 East 52nd Street.

Our main concern is traffic, and he mentioned buses. The buses have been pretty courteous, so we haven't had too much issue there. Most of them go out 56th Street. However, when we try to get our mail, it's like taking your life in your own hands so as far as our concern is going to be now we're adding more traffic and people come down through their 40 miles an hour mailboxes on the it would be the west side south side and we're on the north side over there and he almost got hit already and we're not just trying to complain but if we can get some kind of pull up our mailbox where we can at least get out the street or you know something because now our concern is now we're adding 61 more people families that's going to be using our this street to you know get through with with all the development that we've had in the

few years, the bus terminal, the other housing addition that's right adjacent to this one, the traffic is becoming unbearable at certain times of the day. And trying to cross 52nd Street to get your mail is like dodging raindrops. So that needs to, with the additional traffic and stuff that's on this road that this road is carrying, The maintenance is going to be a problem with that also. With the construction traffic, the bus traffic, the residents, all the traffic that we're putting on this street now is becoming problematic to... you know, the people that live there.

So everybody keeps telling us to go to the post office. My experience with the Oakland and post office has not been the greatest as far as getting anything done. So we would propose either a pull up there so we can get our mail safely or move the mailbox to the north side of the street. We could do a two way mailbox so we can, you know, just feel safe about yeah getting it moved to the other side of the street would be you know fine you know help us a lot but we don't have the process treated other than that i mean we know things are developing and you know it seems like it might be a nice neighborhood so that would be our main concern

Diana is the retention bomb. It's not too late to make changes to any kind of ordinances that they have to follow on on the retention pond to make it safer. You know, I agree with the council here that they can be problematic, especially when they freeze over. Kids like to get on, play on them, and if they're too deep, then they don't stand a chance.

So they did add burns on with bus terminal which helped us quite a bit because we are right next door to it. So that could be an option.

What did you say you catch that they added what I catch what you said burns.

they are far yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah

I think. I have a question.

Matt asked is the entire neighborhood mailboxes on the south side of your cars and Anita, which is right next door.

Two houses in between Midhoffer and German church that the mailboxes are on the south side of the street. The rest of the know what to get back. There's three houses. the mailboxes are on the south side of the street. The other side of the street don't have any mailboxes on it because we, us and Anita Francis is the only two residents on that street that live on the north side of the street. So we had to cross over 52nd Street in order to get our mail.

10 years over 10 years I wouldn't bring this up if it really wasn't an issue I mean it's it's scary for me to even go get my mail now so and I'm just worried that if we bring more traffic I mean they're coming down to 40 45 miles an hour and some people some people are nice and they will slow down but some people they just don't care and I mean you hear you have wind brushing by you and you're like So, anyway, that's a big concern we have.

With me, I'm hard of hearing. I've got a hearing aids in both ears.

Well, so have I.

And it's kind of hard to hear anything.

Oh, yeah.

So, you know, I may be in the way or they may be just coming too fast.

And we do have a lot of wildlife. You're right. A lot of deer and a lot of.

so I agree with you there there is some wooded area behind us that where they could go maybe a little bit but yeah as far as planting pollinators please do yeah please do we have we got beehives thank you guys thank you guys thank you oh you got another one

No worries. Just please state your name and address for the record.

My name is Anton Ramos. I stay on Bradford area, which is further north and east from here. But I have the property on across from them that's an agricultural.

OK.

According to this letter, it's 10 8 uh 108 53 east 57th street so that's your property there yes sir okay right next door there yep um it seems like every time i go on vacation i find out i got to come back from one of these meetings because there's a change i kind of like that i like that this city's developing um questions i have is i'm going we're going from a section of d da to a d4 what is that going to do to me as far as having to maintain that property from that point on second question i had is i have wildlife in that area since i retired from the military and civilian life i like to go hunting i like to enjoy nature and i really enjoy having to uh go hunting and stuff. I like going out in the nature, just to camp out my own property. What is this going to do to me as far as the changing from VA to D4?

I think it would just be the property in question. It shouldn't affect, you're right across the road, right?

I'm right across the road.

Your zoning's not changing.

It's not, well, somehow it was changed in the book to me, the letter I have here, saying that my zoning area's changed. I am staying as a DA.

Your property taxes will remain low.

You got me now.

I've been up here a long time now.

Thank you. I would like to give the petitioners a chance to respond if they'd like to anything that they've heard.

Thank you. Just quickly, I agree his property taxes will remain low without changing his zoning at all. I sense that was probably his question. As to the nice folks that live on the north side of the street, but their mailbox apparently is on the south side of the street, We're glad to advise this council and represent to the council that we're gonna have to have a lot of conversations with the postal service. And we're glad to talk to them about suggesting that they allow them to move their mailbox to the north side of the street. Because we're gonna have 60 mailbox, 61 mailboxes in our subdivision. So we're gonna have to work with them the standards, the mailbox, where they're going to want them. And we'll say, look, I have those people across the street for their mail. We're glad to assist you. We can give you our card, and you can call us. So what they said makes perfect sense to us. We don't have any desire to have their mailbox on this side of the street. And then as to this pond issue, whatever you all decide, if Lawrence decides the detention pond should have fences around them, Lennar will put a fence in. But right now, we don't know how deep that pond would be. It's going to have to get engineered. They're pretty far along for this zoning stage because we've got the lots laid out in there. And there is a... decent sized area uh about six acres on the east side of that site that they're not going to put any homes in so there's room to move that pond around but it'll all the depth will all depend on what the engineers say and how they got they got to drain it and unfortunately um to your question there's just no choice about having ponds because oh yeah i understand yeah i mean there's old subdivisions in town that don't have them and they've got bloody clubs and maybe not lawrence but certainly minneapolis so we will certainly work with the folks across the street and We won't change the other gentleman's zoning. And we certainly appreciate your favorable consideration of our petition. Thank you for your expertise. Thank you. Thank you.

The public hearing is now closed. I would entertain a motion to approve petition 26LZO0410853, East 52nd Street.

I make a motion to approve.

Thank you, Councillor Crone. Do we have a second?

I'll second it.

Thank you, Councillor Giles. All right. We'll now proceed with the vote. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed, signify by saying nay. Let the record reflect that we have an 8 to 0 unanimous vote to approve rezoning petition 26, LZO 04-10853, East 52nd Street. Thank you for your time. Thank you. The next agenda item is rezoning petition 26LZO0595335, Pimmelton Pike. We will move forward. Madam Clerk, has that been properly noticed?

Yes.

Thank you. Can you please read the petition number and property address?

Petition number 26LZO059535. Penalty applied.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. The public hearing is now open. Council, before we begin with the hearing, I'd like to ask for a motion to adopt the same rules that we were previously adopted for the previous public hearing. Do I have a motion?

So moved.

Thank you, Councilor Boyd. Do I have a second?

I'll second.

Thank you, Councilor Robinson. We'll now proceed with the vote. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed, signify by saying nay. Thank you. The rules have passed. Anyone wish to speak tonight, please stand and raise your right hand. Do you swear and affirm that your testimony you're about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

Thank you.

The floor is now open for the petitioner to present their rezoning petition.

Thank you. Good evening, members of the council. My name is Simon Lowenstein. I'm with Aspire Development. We're a multifamily housing developer out of Columbus, Ohio. We develop both workforce and senior housing, and we've been involved with the development of around 51 housing projects across seven states, Indiana being one of those, in the last 12 years. So we're here before you tonight requesting a zoning change from C4 to D9 on an underutilized 1.2 acre site at 9535 Pendleton Pike to permit the development of an affordable multifamily workforce and housing community that we're calling Pendleton Commons. By affordable, I mean that these apartments are reserved for households earning at or below a certain income. And rent is restricted, meaning that the rents are affordable to people at those income levels. This is possible because the project will be funded with low-income housing tax credits. This is a process where these tax credits are awarded in a competitive fashion by the state housing finance agency and then sold to private investors, and that's how we finance the development. This project is not Section 8. It's not a homeless shelter or a halfway house. This project is an apartment community for moderate-income essential workers. So what we're proposing here is 48 units of general occupancy affordable rental housing and a four-story elevator-serviced L-shaped building that will have as much frontage on Pendleton as possible. This is sort of the middle housing that's referred to in the housing ready task force report that was back in February. There will be between one, two and three bedroom units at a range of 30 to 80% AMI. We're going to put Juliet balconies on the building to encourage residents to get fresh air and have some real architectural variation to the building and just kind of make it a more welcoming environment to members of the community. So it's not just a blank wall facing the corridor. We also have plans for a courtyard with a gazebo, a picnic and grilling area, a green space, a pollinator garden, and a water feature to try to make it a nice gathering space for residents. Aside from that, we're committing to native landscaping throughout the development. for the environmental benefits. And just kind of touching on the environmental piece of this, this project will be built to lead silver energy efficiency standards, and we'll also be installing a full EV charging infrastructure during the construction process. And in terms of interior amenities, uh residents will have access to a community room supportive services office a fitness center laundry facility and on-site leasing office you know we think this site is ideally suited for this use it sits on your commercial corridor that as we understand it the city is trying to reactivate to become more active and walkable And this project is designed to support that mission. You know, when you look at what's around it, there's multifamily residential across from it. There's a four story hotel to the west and there's commercial to the east. So we think this will mesh well with the area. You know, this project also sits within one mile of many amenities like grocery stores and restaurants. So residents can walk to the amenities they need, you know, day to day if they so choose. The proximity is one of the reasons because density here doesn't just add housing, it adds the foot traffic that can make the surrounding businesses and future corridor investment, you know, more viable. You know, I'm happy to answer any questions about anything involving, you know, this proposed zoning or the project itself, but at a high level, this is a modest scale project for neat, affordable multi-family housing in the community. We are a experienced developer and we're the long-term owner. So, you know, we're really invested in this community. And, you know, we're big enough to be competent, but, you know, we're still small enough that we're involved in the managing of the property on a regular basis. um you know the concept plan before you is just that and it was designed in conjunction with city staff this is not a final site plan you know we're flexible on the details and our goal is to simply arrive at something that the community can be proud of like i said this isn't a final approval of anything you know we'd still have to go through site plan approvals and you know engineering approvals and things like that um but you know we believe this is the right use in the right location and tonight we're asking for your support to take the first step in this process and have the opportunity to move forward and continue refining this project along with your staff thank you thank you thank you i would like to call any remonstrators who would like to provide public comment in favor of the rezoning petition

Do we have any administrators who would like to provide public comment against the rezoning petition? Madam Clerk, are there any comments from members of the public attending virtually?

No.

Thank you. Do any council members have questions?

I'd like to know. of clarification is exactly where it is that was this question would just be on the south side of the pike and would it be next to that whether there's a hotel or the rents by the week yeah i'd be right next to it yeah and just so everyone's aware if you're a big fan of that restaurant it's not you know um

Kaplinger's is awesome.

It's fantastic. Yeah, we know where the real one is. So is that lot?

Yes.

How big is that lot?

Yeah, that's what I was going to say. It's 1.2 acres. So what's on there now is just a small parking lot and Kaplinger's and then that billboard. But the site extends all the way past it. To 52nd Street. Yeah, to all that green space that's behind it.

But it's still 1.2 acres.

yes that is 1.28 that's not a very big property for a four-story building in a parking lot for all these people i would think so in terms of the uh you know it meets the requirements of the zoning code for d9 um and you know we've done a lot of projects that are on um you know on you know it it does fill up the space that's true um but you know we've we've done a fair number of projects and you know we're pretty confident it was just what he mailed it yeah right that doesn't give us that's just like uh lines on the paper like it doesn't give me any what your stuff looks it doesn't the square footage will be around um i believe 600 feet in grove city is that similar to what you're talking about um yes

Okay, because it says general occupancy workforce housing community in the city of Grove City, Franklin County, Ohio, 9% housing tax credits from the Ohio Housing Finance Agency in 2018, open in 2020. Is that kind of? Yes.

Okay, thank you. Do you have any developments in Indianapolis?

Not in Indianapolis, no. So we just got our first award in Indiana, which is in Lawrenceburg.

Where is it? Lawrenceburg. Lawrenceburg, Indiana? Yes. Down on the river.

okay so you so so we don't have developments that we can go look at physically here in marion county not in the county no but um go to their website and look at arrow leaf apartments it's inspired real estate inspired development it's um it's live inspired inspired so you've built one of these you built one of these apartments in lawrenceburg So that is, we just closed on financing. Oh, so you haven't built it yet. So we are entering construction on that project. Inspired development partners.

One of my concerns with this is, say, okay, you have what, 43 units?

48. 48.

I'm sorry, 48. So you have 48 units. You're most likely, you're going to have at least 48 automobiles are going to have to be parked in this parking lot.

Not with that price point income. Only 20.

You don't think? No, not with that price point income.

Not everybody's going to have a car.

Well, people that ain't got two nickels to rub together can buy a car.

I promise you. I promise. So we will have a one-to-one parking ratio. So we will have 48 parking spots.

And that's if they only have one car.

Yeah, so the rates of car ownership for low-income housing is significantly lower than at market rate. And if you look at the data from the Institute of Transportation Engineers, you put in units and they'll calculate how many spots they think will be used. And you can either calculate that based on units or bedrooms. And we are above that number on both counts. let me ask you this if would you require say a three-bedroom unit does this three-bedroom unit have to be rented to a family or just three people so those units can be you know rented to a couple with a kid is is usually what we see um but it's it's mainly about um the income you have in your household

but generally we see you know small families but it could be rented out to three people um so one person would be on that lease and if they're a family group potentially sure because i guess my point is if we're if we're not talking of a family and even if it's an older family you're still talking about possibly more than 48 cars in that parking lot

So if there were issues with parking there are things we could do about that So, you know first off we would want to make sure everyone parking there is meant to park there, you know And then second we would want to make sure every every car that's there is actually operable Which is actually in our lease agreement and you know, there are other options we could go with here around, you know trying to set up you know some overflow parking with the hotel there that has you know quite an excess of spaces i drove by it today yeah um not saying just today is like you know the end all deal there um but there is also space you know to the uh to the east of the uh development that the owner of this parcel has, and there's potential to possibly buy some of that, build more parking, but really at the end of the day in terms of the parking, we are the ones that are taking the risk here because LIHTC is basically investors coming in and buying tax credits, They want to do all their due diligence in terms of like, is this really a good project? Does it have enough parking? And they go through that. So we want to have enough parking for everyone. And we think that 48 units is a good kind of middle ground here because what we really don't want to do build way too much parking it's an eyesore it's an impermeable surface it's you know tricky to maintain sometimes you know so we feel very comfortable with this ratio and we have other projects that we've done with this ratio and it's worked out okay but like I said if parking did become an issue we are happy to you know work out a solution there as well

Will you be able to use that retention pond for drainage because of the impermeable surfaces?

So, yes. So that retention pond was designed with the concept of more dense development coming into that area. So our plan currently is to tie into that. However, if that was somehow not possible, we would do underground stormwater retention for the project. And with that pond being there, we would also be happy to build a small fence on the east side of the parking lot to try to keep people from going over there. So we have options and we're very happy to work with the city and just come to something that everyone agrees would you be the property i heard you kind of mention that would you be the property manager of the property um so we have a professional management company that comes in and manages all of our properties however we do have a dedicated person on staff that deals with management as well

Question. Thank you for the term affordability being defined. Is this a section 42? So, no. It's not? No.

What is it? This is just low-income housing tax credit.

Are those federal dollars or state dollars?

So, these are federal tax credits. They're issued by the IRS and distributed by states and housing finance agencies.

Noon night. Noon night.

Let's see, I think we might have a picture. It's slightly better rendering here as well, if you were interested in seeing that.

Would you match the height of the hotel next door?

So that would be the intention, yes. There might be slight variance, but it would be the intention to make it kind of a continuous frontage there.

Do we have any other questions? All right, thank you. I would like to now call a representative from the city of Lawrence to present the staff report on the zoning petition.

Rene Ravlo, director of public courts. The photos that you've been seeing are from our staff report. So I will back up just a little bit, and then I'll show you those again in a second. greg our economic redevelopment chief of staff mini hat guy back there and i worked very closely with the aspire group to come up with a plan that meets the vision of the city and aligns with our housing ready task force goals This property is zoned commercial, but it fits to rezone it to this D9 zoning and put some housing there. It's a short walk to the Purple Line. There's housing to the north of it. There's housing to the south of it. It's walkable. There's a Dollar General, which carries groceries. It's just a really good fit. And the fact that it's affordable housing, We need it. We need it. They've worked really hard with us. I told him how much Liz loves her pollinator gardens, and they were on it. Absolutely no problem. So we haven't had a chance to ever work with them before, but I'm looking forward to it. I do want to point out the zoning around it. All of this area is on c4. You've got some mobile homes across behind it Directly across the street right next door is the bell tower or bell tire. I'm, sorry, and then you've got your Dollar general and then your gas station right there and you've got the hotel next door Which is four stories they planned on keeping that The site plan that they propose shows the 48 parking spots. a residential sidewalk. It's going to have a playground, some bicycle parking, a gazebo, some front yards. They're going to put in a model right here inside the house. You know, and this would be like that idea, right? They're also using the existing curb cuts. So we're not adding another access point off of put on the bike or off of 52nd Street. They're working with what's in the property. And I like that.

Mm hmm.

So Part of the plans that they provided, there was a summary showing one bedrooms at 600 feet. There's gonna be 16 of those, 26 two bedrooms and six three bedrooms. And then this is kind of a conceptual site plan to give you an idea of what it might look like from the street. Um, they had originally planned just one long skinny building. And Greg was like, I'd really like to see some more front change on to Pendleton Pike so that we're not looking at the side of the building. So I think this is going to fit really, really well with the vision. And then, um, It just provided a little more information that four stories, 48 dwelling units. I thought it was interesting. They're adding, where did I see that? We'll have site lighting.

Sorry, I made it up here so I can actually see it.

I think just because it's affordable housing doesn't mean they shouldn't have the amenities that your luxury properties have. Here it is. It's on this page. They're going to have an exercise room, a mail room, an actual management office. There's a supportive services office, a maintenance office, dedicated common space. trash enclosures. I mean, it's they're going to have a common area that they can come together. And again, just because it's affordable doesn't mean it needs to be basic. Right. Right. So I like the plan and I think it's a good fit and we're recommending approval.

I have a question. Renee, is there a big sign there right now?

There's a billboard billboard.

Yeah. Yeah. Does that get

moved does that just get an issue with the new property owner and the lease or okay that billboard I'm sure they have a lease on it right and there'll be something that they have to figure out whether it stays or it goes or how they build around it right okay because if because right now it's the parking lot right which but the footprint is going on that correct but the billboard okay I would imagine that it'll have to be relocated or removed completely. Right. That'll be a development. For sure.

For sure. Okay. I was just making sure I had my space correct. Okay. Thank you.

It's right in front of the Kaplinger.

Right. Yeah. I know right where it is. They got a lot of our pandemic business.

Mine too.

Yeah.

Let me ask you this. Look at this, Renee. That property kind of comes back around. behind the trailer park a little bit on 52nd. So with that retention pond, it's got a green light there.

Yeah, the retention pond's actually on a completely different parcel. It is part, it's behind the Dollar General.

Okay, right, right.

So there's the bell tire in between and then the Dollar General, and it kind of sits behind the both of those.

Both of those, okay. Picture the white change, the white. But that doesn't have to be purchased. You don't have to buy any additional land or anything like that. That's already... Is that for the developer that they have?

So it's it's like a it's not a plotted like a subdivision. It's a a commercial park. Oh, if that makes sense. So the pond was put there for all of those parcels to drain to. But we'll have to still do a drainage study and make sure the calculations work for the impervious area they're going to add and stuff like that.

So one last question. Do we have does this outside of that hotel. I can't think of any four story built other four story buildings on on the pipe.

If you get on down towards where walmart is, I think the baymont might be over.

Okay, that makes sense. Okay, so we do have a few more down the way.

And then of course we've got one right here down the street.

Well, yeah, we got in our apartments, three or four stories, right? So four stories is kind of our

correct well when you get to that fifth story you now have to have fire protection so that's where that that's why i got you hey thank you just a comment because a lot of families can't really realize affordable housing and i'm certain that probably families are living in the hotel this may be a great bridge for them to realize actual sustained housing so i believe that it lines up for sure as well with the vision to increase our residents and lawyers Yes, thank you, Tracy. I agree.

Any other questions? Thank you very much, Renee. Prior to the closing of the public hearing, I'd like to provide a final opportunity for the petitioner and members of the public to respond to the City of Lawrence's comments regarding the petition. Petitioner, would you like to respond?

I just wanted to say thank you for your comments. In terms of the billboard, so it is a lease, and we would look into buying out that lease to get rid of the billboard. So there's, you know, that part of it. It would not be there anymore. And that's an interesting point about people potentially staying in the hotel for longer. I hadn't thought about that.

It's a reality.

Yeah, that's a very good point, and I had not considered it. You know, I looked at the... We've obviously looked at the numbers of renters in Lawrence and the number of renters that are rent-burdened, and it seems like it's a fairly high percentage. It looked like it was around 44% of renters. As far as the HUD data goes there, it looked like there were about 6,600 renters, and it showed that 2,904 of them were rent-burdened. And, you know, 23% of those were extremely rent burdened. That means they pay over 50% of their income to housing. And so, you know, we see that that's an issue. But I just wanted to thank you for bringing that up. And, you know, in general, thank you very much for your comments and, you know, having me here tonight. I really appreciate it. Thanks very much. Thank you.

Would any remonstrators from the public like to speak? All right. The public hearing is now closed. I would entertain a motion to approve Petition 26LZO059535, Pillow and Pike.

I would be very honored to make a motion for approval.

Thank you, Councilor Giles. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Councilor Floyd.

You got our support.

We'll now proceed with the vote. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed, signify by saying nay. Let the record reflect that we have a unanimous decision to approve LZO 059535, Bill and Pike. Thank you, sir.

Cool. Thank you.

The next agenda item is comments from the administration. Do we have any comments from the admin this evening?

I think Jamie's coming. Yeah.

Thank you. Good evening, councillors. Jamie Wyra, director of city events. Just a couple of things. Thank you for supporting this young man and his vision. fourth of july was amazing we did have to shut down a little early so we missed the band but we still got fireworks in we still had a good time it was an amazing day this sunday we're doing our backpack giveaway um we are looking for volunteers so if any of you are available we will be volunteers on friday to help pack the backpacks and then on sunday at community park the community center to help um in the box that'll be from 12 to 2 on sunday and at 10 o'clock starting on friday

What time on Friday? 10 o'clock.

And meet at community here to 10?

Jamie, before you run off, I would like an answer sometime in the next day or so, if possible, on that board of work thing.

I think you should reach out to the board president. You got it.

All right. Thank you, Jamie.

You're welcome. Greg, good night. You too, Steph. City of Lawrence.

The question was with Krieg Duvall law firm. It's not a new contract. It's a renewal. I'm sorry? It's a renewal. It's not a new contract for a lobbyist. You called it a new contract for a lobbyist. It's not a new contract. It's a renewal at the exact same cost that it was the previous year, which is $36,000 per year, $3,000 per month. All right.

Thank you. Yep.

Any other questions? Nope.

Thank you. Thank you, Chief of Staff.

All right, the next agenda item is citizens' comments. Any citizens' comments shall be limited to three minutes. If any citizen wishes to speak, please approach the podium and state your name and address for the record.

Daniel Rapp, 5718 Waldenwood Drive. No, I did not sign the sheet in the back of the room because I didn't find one. The topic tonight is the 2026 budget execution. It came to mind whenever I saw the finance committee was gonna start talking about the 2027 proposed budget. And with that, I decided to go look for the monthly financial statements on the webpage. I was expecting to see, The one for June, 30 June is half of the year, and it would be a good measure to see how you're executing 2026 budget. Are you over or under? And the reason I ask that question, is I have a very bad memory, but I did go back and look what happened in 2024. Late summer of 2024, there was a newspaper article saying that the city of Lawrence budget was six million under, pardon me, six million over on expenditures. And about four weeks later, it dropped down to four million. And the question was, nobody knew what the financial reports were for the city of Lawrence. They were in flux. I believe in like October, early November, the Common Council finally passed a additional appropriation for around a million. You know, go from six million to one million because your financial statements are not accurate. That happened in 2024. Now let's talk about 2025. If I recall, about 30 December, you had a special meeting trying to get an appropriations pass in time for year end. And you finally passed one for, I don't know, 400,000, 500,000, but again, the financial reports for 2025 were never really posted to the webpage. So now I go back to 2026, which is my topic. Where is the 30 June financial reports? When are they gonna get posted to the website so that I know that the administration does the budget proposal, Common Council approves it, people like me, the citizens of Lawrence, we are the taxpayers. I'd like to know where the money's going, how much of it's been spent. In fact, I turn around and ask, who here in the room got the responsibility for posting the financial reports? I would ask the question to the Common Council, do you have, have you seen them for the month of, pardon me, the month of June? How do you know that you are within budget? Are they gonna come up at the last minute and say, oh, we're $3 million short on the Public Police Department or the Fire Department? Now, I'm complaining about 30 the month of June. The question is, what happened to the month of May? They're not posted either. So they are behind. If I was the Common Council, I wouldn't do anything for the budget for 2027 until you know what's happening currently. With that, my three minutes are probably close to being up. He shook his head, he looked at his watch. Keep in mind. I am looking for those financial reports to be posted before the next Common Council meeting. Thank you.

Thank you. Would anyone else like to speak? All right, meeting is adjourned. Thank you.