4 THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS
WEDNESDAY,JULY12,2006
BUSINESS
New zoning plan proposed
Plan calls for The Crossing, Dingo's, parking lot and house to be removed
This artist's rendering shows the preliminary development plan for Indiana and 12th Streets, where The Crossing is located. A Manhattan attorney bought the building and plans to build a five-story commercial and residential development.
BY JACK WEINSTEIN
jweinstein@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
Each day, it appears The Crossing's best days are behind it.
On June 30, a preliminary proposal was submitted to the Lawrence/Douglas County planning office for the redevelopment of the corner at 12th and Indiana streets where The Crossing, 618 W. 12th St., Yello Sub, 624 W. 12th St., and Head Rush, 622 W. 12th St., currently reside. The plan was submitted by Skyscapes of Lawrence LLC, a development company owned by Manhattan attorney Robert Pottroff, and Jeff and Kathy Morrow, Yello Sub and Head Rush property owners.
When asked if the Morrows and Pottroff were officially partners on the proposal, Jeff Morrow said he and his wife and Pottroff were "co-applicants."
Pottroff said he and the Morrows were "business associates," and added that there are very few partnerships in the world.
"It's a term of art," Pottroff said referring to the word partnership.
Terms of association aside, the Morrows and Pottroff own the property that occupies the space for the proposed building. The proposal, authored by Incite Design Studio of Lenexa, requires that The Crossing, Dingo's and the parking lot behind Dingo's be removed. Dingo's is located behind The Crossing and has been closed for more than a year.
The building occupied by Yello Sub and Head Rush and the house behind Yello Sub at 1142 Indiana also need to be removed. A five
ture would have more than just one zoning use. The area at 12th and Indiana Streets is currently zoned for commercial use with The Crossing, Yello Sub and Head
"The code just needed to be changed."
Mike Goans, chairman of the Lawrence Board of Zoning appeals
story, "mixed use" structure could then be built at the corner.
"Mixed use" is a zoning term that means the proposed struc-
Rush and is zoned as residential dormitory for the apartment complexes that surround it. The proposed structure would combine
the two and is called a planned commercial development district. It requires that the corner be rezoned to accommodate the proposal.
The plans indicated that the building would extend from the edge of the Hawks Pointe III apartment complex parking lot to Indiana and 12th Street to the edge of Oread Heights Apartments, 1140 Indiana.
The preliminary plans for the 34,000 square-foot building would include 15 condominiums of the two- and three-bedroom variety, space for a sit-down restaurant, a fast food restaurant and a specialty retail shop. Parking spaces would line Indiana and 12th streets for the retail shops and an underground two-story parking garage would give its residents off-street parking.
The plan indicates that the sit-down restaurant may be used for a coffee shop, the fast food restaurant as a deli and the specialty retail shop as a hair salon. The intended purposes were listed in parentheses. The intended uses for the commercial space were subject to change in the preliminary proposal.
The submission of the plan came before a city-wide zoning change was adopted. The change was implemented because the old city code was outdated, Holly Krebs, chairwoman of the planning commission said. She added that it had been in use for the past 40 years and it needed a "sweeping revision."
"It was a hodgepodge of additions and amendments," she said. "The code just needed to be changed." Mike Goans, chairman of the Lawrence Board of Zoning appeals, said.
The zoning change doesn't af-
SEE ZONING ON PAGE 9