In the News

from the Lawrence Journal-Herald, KS, 8.11.04

Growth expert backs site-specific guidelines

By Joel Mathis
Journal-World

Design guidelines for new and redeveloped stores in Lawrence should be crafted differently for different parts of town, a "smart growth" expert told city officials Tuesday. advertisement
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"I think it would be a disaster for Lawrence to say, ?These are the design guidelines, and they're going to apply to every single corner of the community,'" said Will Fleissig, head of a planning team helping devise those guidelines under a grant from the Smart Growth Leadership Institute.

Fleissig, the former planning director of Boulder, Colo., spoke during a session to explain the team's recommendations for the redevelopment of commercial corridors along 23rd and south Iowa streets. The team visited Lawrence in April to scout the town before making recommendations.

More than a dozen planners, planning commissioners and other city officials attended the meeting, along with Caleb Morse of the League of Women Voters of Lawrence-Douglas County and J.D. Yanek of the Lawrence Builder-Realtor Coalition.

Fleissig said the design guideline recommendations were drafted to reflect community concerns about maintaining Lawrence's distinct identity as the city continues to grow.
"For most people, that (identity) is the downtown, but we think the arterials could become more like that," Fleissig said.

The recommendations include specific aesthetic instructions, such as suggestions that south Iowa Street stores include trellises, awnings and colonnades to make their entrances more attractive.

But the report is heaviest on suggestions to make the commercial corridors easier for walkers and bicyclists to navigate. "Pocket parks" also would be recommended for some big-box developments.

The fact is, if people don't have the environment to walk, they won't walk," Fleissig said.
Yanek said Lawrence developers were closely watching creation of the guidelines.
"I guess (the desire is) to not go too black and white with everything, to find some flexibility," he said.

City Commissioner Boog Highberger said the recommendations were moving "in the right direction." Lawrence drivers shouldn't be too concerned about the report's emphasis on pedestrian accessibility, he suggested.

"It's all design that's very accommodating to the automobile," he said. "It's not going to make anybody walk who doesn't want to."

Fleissig said a final draft of the recommendations would be complete in the next few weeks.
The guidelines are at the planning department's Web site, www.lawrenceplanning.org.

?Smart Growth Draft Recommendations (.pdf)

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