WEDNESDAY, JAN. 23, 2002
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 3A
AARON SHOWALTER/KANSAN
Lawrence resident Rich Minder explains the renovations that are planned for the house and surrounding land at the future site of the Delaware Commons cohousing project at 12th and Delaware streets. Minder and others are designing the neighborhood to facilitate cooperative living.
Cohousing project moving forward
By Caroline Boyer
Kansan staff writer
when Linda Journeys, a 1982 KU graduate, lived in Overland Park about three years ago, she thought she was missing something in her neighborhood and community.
"I lived in your classic yuppie subdivision, and I didn't know my neighbors," she said. "I felt I wanted people to know about my life and to give me support and to be close enough with me to ask for that support in return. It was about a yearning for community."
She then found out about a meeting for the Delaware Street Commons in Lawrence. She now belongs to a group of 20 people — including 11 KU graduates — who plan to build the first cohousing neighborhood in Kansas. A cohousing neighborhood is a group of people who come together to create a neighborhood community where they
will interact and take responsibility for the community as a whole, according to the commons' Website. www.delaware-street.com.
The group owns 3.25 acres of land at the corner of 12th and Delaware streets, where they plan to build a 32-household, environmentally sensitive and intergenerational neighborhood. Rich Minder, commons member, said the cost would be about $4.25 million. The group hopes to start building during Spring 2003 when it has at least 75 percent of its capacity filled.
The site already includes three houses. The group plans to renovate and use the McMillan House, built in the 1870s, as the common house. Another house will be renovated into three housing units and the third will be torn down.
Cohousing is a concept that originated in Denmark in the late 1960s, and spread to the United States in the late 1980s, the Web site said.
Anyone who is interested in joining should first attend a meeting, a business meeting and a social to become an associate member, Vicki Penner, commons member, said.
Minder said cohousing differed from traditional subdivisions because in those subdivisions people didn't necessarily get to know their neighbors.
Equity members have invested five percent of the cost of their future home and intend to live at Delaware Street Commons. Thirteen members are now equity members. Minder said it would cost between $100,000 and $200,000 to buy a housing unit.
Minder said students were welcome to join but that he didn't
"It really is designed for people to be connected with one another," she said. "Ours is about being connected and participating in building your own environment with other people and being engaged with them."
expect many students to join the commons because of the cost
"Students, who come and go, open the community and add vitality." Minder said.
Eric White, Perry junior, has been following the commons development as a part of his undergraduate research project in American Studies.
"I think it's a great idea. To build that kind of a community inside city limits is a very positive and admirable step in the right direction," White said.
For more information on cohousing and the commons, visit www.cohousing.org and www.delaware-street.com. To contact the commons, e-mail them at info@delaware-street.com or call the community cell phone at (785) 550-0163. Contact Caroline Boyer at choyer@kansan.com. This story was edited by Anne Mergenmeier.
Parking proposal to ask for vehicle registration
By Sarah Hill
Kansan staff writer
A new parking proposal could send students and faculty members scrambling to their glove compartments in search of car registration papers.
The KU parking department will propose a new regulation for next semester that would implement a fee if the department has to identify a car not in its system.
One way to ensure each car is correctly entered into the system is to require students to bring their registration when applying for a permit.
"It's something you have in your car anyway," said Donna Hultine, assistant director of the department. "We hope it's not too much of an inconvenience."
Hultine said the regulation stems from the parking department paying state motor vehicle offices access fees when attempting to identify a car.
"If the car is unregistered, the tag changes or it's the wrong tag, we have to go through the state DMV's to find a car," she said.
Under the proposal, an extra fee only would be tacked on to a ticket if the parking department could not match the tag to a
driver.
However, the offender would not have to pay the fee if they provided the department with a copy of their registration. This option is open to everyone, even visitors.
Kyle Johnson, parking commission member and student senator, said he did not have a problem with the proposal because it was easy to not pay the fine.
"Everybody has the opportunity to avoid that fee," he said.
Unal Eren, Antalya, Turkey sophomore, agreed with the proposal as well.
"If they have to pay, then we have to pay," he said.
Jessica Pownell, Newton junior, said the proposal was OK as long as students were given the option to void the ticket.
"It might be a hassle for them, but students shouldn't have to pay," she said.
She disliked the idea of the added cost.
The proposal will be presented at the next parking rules committee meeting in February.
Contact Hill at shill@kansan.com.
This story was edited by Andy Gasaway.
City looks at options to improve safety at 15th and Engel
Traffic assessments could lead to a light at the intersection
By Lauren Beatty Kansan staff writer
Katrina Alford knows firsthand the dangers of the intersection of 15th Street and Engel Road.
In October 2001, the Burlington freshman was in a wreck at the intersection that caused $10,000 in damage to her 2001 Tovota Corolla.
"People need to slow down and take their time," she said.
David Woosley, city traffic engineer, said the intersection needed more than the recently added pedestrian safety island. He described options such as adding a traffic signal, a median and a left-hand turn lane on Engel Road. The commission requested the information after the recent approval of an expansion to nearby St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center, 1631 Crescent Rd., which includes a new parking garage and expanded facilities.
At last night's city commission meeting, several options for improving the safety of the intersection were reviewed, but city officials said they would need more research before taking an action.
Mike Wildgen, city manager, said more specific information about traffic needed to be
researched. "We need to see the traffic counts, how traffic moves, where they are going," he said. "We would have put a signal there a long time ago if it were that simple."
In Woosley's report to the commission, the cost of a traffic signal was estimated at $550,000. He said that 29 accidents occurred at the intersection from 1998 to 2000. Alford said she didn't know whether a traffic light was the best way to prevent accidents at the intersection.
researched.
"People I've talked to said it would just back traffic up across Iowa," she said. "They really just need to lower the speed limit to 20 or 15."
Another option for the intersection would be a left-hand turn lane on Engel Road. The Rev. Vince Krische of St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center wrote a letter to the commission saying the center would provide an easement of its property to help solve the problem.
"It's a very difficult intersection to deal with," Wilden said. "This easement gives us an option we haven't looked at."
When the research is done, the commission will decide which option to select, Wildgen said.
Contact Beatty at
lbeatty@kansan.com. This story was edited by Sarah Smarsh.
HANGING UP A STATEMENT
PHOTO BY AARON SHOWALTER/KANSAN
Coat hangers hung in the trees outside Frasier Hall on Tuesday to commemorate the 29th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade court decision, which struck down a federal law that banned abortion. The hangers were intended to serve as reminders of the dangers of having an abortion without medical supervision.
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