From: M Ryan [mailto:mrt1800@yahoo.com]
Sent: Friday, March 24, 2006 4:20 PM
To: Dave Corliss; Sheila Stogsdill; Michelle Leininger
Cc: Woods19@yahoogroups.com; bburksfamily@yahoo.com; h.zoeller@lagarde.com; jgarycampbell23z@sbcglobal.net; russellzung@sunflower.com; yvonneruder@hotmail.com
Subject: Regular Agenda Item #3

 

The Woods on 19th Homeowners’ Association, Inc.

 

1852 Villo Woods Ct.

Lawrence, KS 66044

 

March 24, 2006

 

RE:  Regular Agenda Item #3, Lawrence City Commission Meeting, March 28, 2006.

 

Honorable City Commission:

 

Please review this correspondence as part of your consideration of Regular Agenda Item No. 3.

 

This letter is for the purpose of expressing support for the rezoning requests made by the Burroughs Creek Corridor Plan Committee.  Additionally, the Woods on 19th respectfully requests that the City Commission reject the privately negotiated agreement between the planning staff and the Salvation Army.

 

What the Planning Staff has proposed is in clear contradiction to the extension granted by the Commission for the Salvation Army site plan last year.  Specific and unequivocal restrictions were placed on that renewal and clearly stated no further extensions would be approved.  Semantic "new site plan" distinctions aside, what has been proposed is clearly an extension.  If approved, the people of eastern Lawrence will recognize the City's action for what it is: a broken commitment.

 

What has been negotiated between city staff and the Salvation Army is essentially a plan designed to take away the opportunity for a meaningful forum for east Lawrence citizens to voice their concerns that would otherwise be afforded in a special use permit process.  A special use permit process would in effect empower eastern Lawrence residents with self-determination in a matter of critical impor tance to their neighborhoods and lives - land use policy. 

 

The SA clearly desires an unrestricted facility rather than a family oriented facility.  If approved, this will mark a continuation of the historic policy mindset concerning eastern Lawrence.  Additionally, the planning staff has asked that the City turn a blind eye to the controversy surrounding the Salvation Army's discussions with the Kansas Department of Corrections regarding parolee housing at the Bullene facility.

 

The eastern part of this City has long been the location for undesirable land use classifications.  This is because the working class and multicultural composition of its demographic renders its citizens easily politically marginalized.  It has been the de facto policy of the City to place whatever land uses that are deemed undesirable by the more affluent areas of the Ci ty to the east of Massachusetts without regard to the people that live there.  The proposal by the Salvation Army and planning staff to circumvent the special use permit is a continuation of that policy.

 

After reviewing planning documents and available information, it is important to note that there is no longer any place for social services in the future plans for downtown Lawrence.  Therefore, the action proposed by the Salvation Army indicates that the only strategy Lawrence City planners have accepted for addressing the social problems associated with homelessness is to export those problems away from the expensive condos and boutique shops of downtown to working class neighborhoods.  This plan is not only regressive, but will not doubt be ineffective as homeless people will remain in the downtown area.

 

The implications of the inaction proposed by planning staff goes beyond regressive public policy and the continued endorsement of the "east bottoms" mentality, but also constitutes a threat to the safety of East Lawrence, Brook Creek, Barker, the Woods, and Lawrence generally.  

 

Placing an unrestricted homeless shelter facility in a residential neighborhood creates a threat to the safety and well-being of neighboring residents.  Unrestricted open shelters are traditionally sited in central business districts and downtown areas where adequate street lighting, public presence, and police patrols are sufficient to secure such areas. 

 

A few months ago it was revealed that the Salvation Army had discussions with the Kansas Department of Corrections regarding contract parolee housing.  If the Salvation Army and planning staff recommendation is approved, the SA is free to pursu e KDOC contracts necessary to secure financing for the new facility.   

 

If approved, the proposal offered by the Salvation Army and the planning staff would allow the Salvation Army to pursue these contracts.  Once obtained, the contract can could be taken to a bank to obtain the capital necessary to begin the shelter project.  If such an arrangement is reached, the KDOC will bus parolees into Lawrence for housing at the Bullene facility. 

 

By allowing the Burroughs Creek plan rezoning, the Salvation Army can still have its facility.  The Woods on 19th would not object to the family oriented facility that was initially proposed, however, it requests that you approve the rezoning in order to give the City the regulatory oversight afforded by the special use permit process.  Such oversight power would enable the City to implement enforceable restriction s with regard to parolee housing and related uses.  

 

The rezoning would be consistant with the planning and development that has taken place with regards to the 19th and Haskell area in the past few years.  The area has specifically been developed to provide affordable housing for families.  With respect to the Woods on 19th, that effort has been successful.  Two-thirds of the Woods on 19th homes are owned and occupied by married couples.  The largest demographic in the Woods is young couples, many with small children.

 

Note that none of the zoning classifications in the new zoning code would allow a homeless shelter without a special use permit.  There is a very good policy reason for this restriction: these facilities have substantial land use impacts on the surrounding areas and City oversight is necessary to maintain neighborhood safety and quiet enjoyment of residential property. 

 

Allow the citizens of eastern Lawrence a meaningful forum to voice their concerns and  do not accept the Salvation Army and planning staff recommendation for inaction.  The Woods on 19th respectfully requests that the City approve the rezoning as proposed by the Burroughs Corridor Plan Committee.

 

Sincerely,

 

/s/

 

Matthew R. Tomc

President,

The Woods on 19th Homeowners' Association, Inc.