The Lawrence Times

Douglas County commissioners voted Wednesday to approve revisions to local wind energy regulations. Alternative energy has drawn a great deal of public interest, particularly from rural residents who would be more directly impacted by large wind farms and solar farms — such as the one for which commissioners recently approved a permit. After marathon meetings in October and January, the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission voted 6-3 to advance draft wind energy regulations with one key modification: increasing required setbacks from property lines to 2,500 feet from 1,500. The three commissioners who voted against the regulations wanted to require smaller setbacks that [...]

Following a nearly 10-hour meeting Saturday, Douglas County commissioners voted to approve a permit for the Kansas Sky Energy Center, a massive solar farm to be built north of Lawrence. The meeting drew dozens of public commenters. Commissioners planned the special Saturday meeting knowing that there would be numerous members of the public wishing to speak on the topic. A unanimous (3-0) vote was required to approve the project because planning commissioners had tied in their vote and a protest petition had been filed against the project. The 159-megawatt solar farm will be built, owned and operated by Evergy with designs provided by Savion [...]

The City of Lawrence wants community feedback as staff members look to develop a policy on maintenance, restoration and preservation of brick streets and sidewalks. City staff members and members of the Multimodal Transportation Commission’s Brick Streets and Sidewalks subcommittee will hold an open house this week to discuss community values, according to a news release from the city. The policy will also consider standards for reconstruction of brick streets and sidewalks, according to the release. “The Brick Streets + Sidewalks policy should reflect the community’s values and priorities, as well as have attainable and practical implementation strategies for the City of Lawrence,” according [...]

As enrollment keeps trending downward, Lawrence school board members on Monday heard some additional details about possible ways to cut costs, including hiring specialized positions rather than going through contractors. Executive Director of Finance Cynde Frick gave the board a budget update on Monday, which included data from the district’s annual enrollment headcount, taken every Sept. 20. The district counted 9,820 students enrolled for the 2023-24 year, down 135 from the 9,955 total for 2022-23, according to the presentation. Frick said the district could consider incentives to hire speech language pathologists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, plumbers, carpenters and other professionals as district employees [...]

The City of Wichita could soon become one of the largest cities in Kansas to withdraw its public notices from its paper of record. The City Council wants to review the city’s contract with McClatchy, the Wichita Eagle’s parent company. The surprise move at the council’s first evening meeting came at about 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday, when only half a dozen attendees were still in the audience. “No citizen is reading a legal notice in the newspaper anyway,” council member Dalton Glasscock said. “I’ve never done that. I can guarantee you most citizens aren’t doing that anyway.” The city currently spends $150,000 a year [...]

The City of Lawrence is planning to open a village of shelters for people experiencing homelessness Monday, soon end support at the sanctioned North Lawrence campsite, prohibit camping in that area and establish an office for police officers who will patrol downtown full time. A two-page report in the Lawrence City Commission’s meeting agenda for Tuesday, March 19 lays out staff members’ plans in a bit more detail on all the planned changes. The report does not ask for the commission to vote to approve any plans. The Lawrence Community Shelter will operate the Village, a community of 50 cabin-like structures on North [...]

Rachelle Mathews, currently the acting chief financial officer for the City of Topeka, will be the new director of finance for the City of Lawrence. The city announced Mathews’ hire in a news release Tuesday afternoon. Her position will be effective Monday, April 15. Mathews received her Bachelor of Arts in business and accounting from Kansas Wesleyan University and her MBA from Washburn University, according to the release. She’s a certified management accountant, and she began her career in public finance as an accountant in Topeka in 2015, according to the release. She is currently studying for the Government Finance Officers [...]

People who are booked into jails statewide have long waited several months — even more than a year — for beds at state mental hospitals, so their competency to understand court proceedings can be restored. Douglas County is now working on a local solution to that problem. The Douglas County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council heard a report about the program Tuesday morning. The county plans to launch the new process on April 1. The district attorney’s office cannot prosecute people who are not mentally competent to participate in their own defense, Douglas County DA Suzanne Valdez said Tuesday. Katy Fitzgerald, criminal justice coordinator [...]

The City of Lawrence ordinance banning single-use plastic bags goes into effect Friday, March 1. Here’s what you should know.  Lawrence city commissioners in August 2023 approved an ordinance banning single-use plastic bags citywide. The ban, initially prompted by a class of environmentally conscious fourth graders who are now high school sophomores, was under discussion for years before commissioners approved Ordinance 9996. The ordinance aims to reduce the use of plastics in the city, which in turn could help reduce the city’s dependence on fossil fuels and prevent some pollution from the bags, contamination through microplastics from bags degrading, and animal deaths from eating [...]

The concentration of hepatitis A in Lawrence’s wastewater has been on the rise, but the drinking water is clean and safe, according to the city. Wastewater — aka sewage — is processed through the city’s water treatment plants. Drinking water and tap water have been treated. The City of Lawrence has received a number of questions about this lately, according to a news release Thursday evening. “WastewaterSCAN, a national wastewater monitoring system based at Stanford University in partnership with Emory University, recently noted an increase in the concentration of hepatitis A virus (HAV) detected in the wastewater processed at the Lawrence Kansas River Wastewater [...]