Memorandum

City of Lawrence

Planning & Development Services

TO:	David L. Corliss, City Manager
FROM:	Scott McCullough, Director
Date:	August 3, 2011
RE:	8^th and Pennsylvania Urban Conservation Overlay District – text amendment

Several properties, as shown below in a defined area surrounding the intersection of 8^th and Pennsylvania Streets, are zoned with a base zoning district that also includes an Urban Conservation Overlay (UC-O) District, known as the “8^th and Pennsylvania Urban Conservation Overlay District”.  The UC-O was established in the mid-2000s to accommodate a developer’s plan to redevelop the area with a mixture of commercial, office and residential uses.

A UC-O District allows the City and a developer to tailor the development standards applicable to an area so that development of appropriate size, orientation, and setting can be built within a neighborhood or area.  The “Design Guidelines 8^th and Penn Neighborhood Redevelopment Zone” is the document used to establish revised standards for development that are different than the base zoning standards.  The standards for this area are noted on page 12 of the guidelines.

Other standards, such as density, parking, height, etc, were also modified with the overlay district and currently govern development in the area.  The standards were intended to accommodate mixed use redevelopment of the area and the historic Poehler building is considered a character defining structure in the district.

Staff is currently processing several applications to implement redevelopment of the 8^th and Penn area for an applicant that is different than the one that initiated the guidelines for the area.  This new applicant desires to use the Poehler building for only residential purposes where the original plan included residential and commercial purposes.  The current proposal includes 49 housing units in the Poehler building where only 24 units were originally proposed and used to determine the density for the overlay district.

In order to permit the processing of an accompanying base district rezoning request that would accommodate the new plan for the Poehler building, the standards of the guidelines must be revised to permit the proposed density and perhaps other elements of the new plan. If initiated, the language of the guidelines would be revised and processed through the Historic Resources Commission and Planning Commission for a recommendation with a decision made by the City Commission.  Initiating the text amendment does not indicate support or opposition to the request; it only permits the review of potential revisions to the UC-O and Design Guidelines 8^th and Penn Neighborhood Redevelopment Zone.

Action Requested:

Initiate a text amendment to the 8^th and Pennsylvania Urban Conservation Overlay District, including the Design Guidelines 8^th and Penn Neighborhood Redevelopment Zone, in order to accommodate a residential proposal for property located at 619 E. 8^th Street that exceeds the density limit currently noted in the guidelines.