ELNA is requesting a study session regarding Harris Construction's 8th & Penn Redevelopment. The 8th & Pennsylvania Redevelopment in Old East Lawrence has been called an experiment in "New Urbanism”, with mixed commercial and residential space. The City of Lawrence has indicated support for this is the kind of development and redevelopment, and the residents of Old East Lawrence agree with many of these principles.  However, it seems that this project is moving through the system rapidly without the benefit of the proper zoning and city codes in place to make this workable, and with a number of unanswered questions and concerns from ELNA residents. 

Of particular concern to the neighborhood are the following issues:

1)  The urban conservation overlay district in conjunction with C-5 zoning uses.  ELNA and neighborhood members were led to believe that we could condition the C-5 zoning uses.  Apparently this ability does not exist at all in this situation. People are very upset at the open door that C-5 zoning puts in the middle of our quiet family neighborhood.        

2)  Density of 54 living units, mixed with commercial units, backed up against duplex zoning and largely single family housing  in "zone 3" on the west side of the 800 block of Pennsylvania St. This is a big impact in terms of parking, traffic and other density related concerns.  Zone 3 has not been on the table for nearly as long, or with nearly the public input as “zone 1” the historic Pohler and other industrial buildings on the east side of the 800 block of Pennsylvania Street.

3) Who will pay for the needed improvements to infrastructure?  There has been no clear answer, and our neighborhood's infrastructure is already old and overtaxed.  New sewers, sidewalks and street improvements all cost a lot of money, and people are very concerned about where this money is coming from.

4) The gentrification impact of this project.  Our largely blue collar neighborhood has been hit very hard with increased valuations in recent years already, and the apparent target demographic of this redevelopment is a serious concern.

Our neighborhood is already “New Urbanism”, and it already is a great neighborhood that has come up in the world quite a bit in recent years.  There would appear to be some middle ground here, as many folks have appreciation for Harris's willingness to take on historic preservation in “zone 1”.  If  this combination of residential and commercial is what many folks in city administration want than it seems that we would all be well served to take a step back on this particular project and see if we can come up with some long range solutions and answers.