Why is Lawrence growing west?

KCPowercat · Post by **KCPowercat** » Mon May 12, 2003 2:07 pm

I went to Lawrence last night with the parents for dinner and was shocked to see the growth in western Lawrence like by Wakarusa, etc. where a new Herford House and Salty Iguna are....

Then I got to thinking, why in the hell is Lawrence growing towards Topeka and not KC. If this growth was to the east, Lawrence and Lenexa would be one right now.....

I know there are a lot of people who live in lawrence and work in KC, so I just found it really odd that Lawrence is growing the other direction....anybody have any idea why?

KC_JAYHAWK · Post by **KC_JAYHAWK** » Mon May 12, 2003 3:04 pm

I think the landscape (hilly), the 2 golf courses, and Clinton lake make for a more appealing location. East Lawrence is flatter and somewhat older and more industrial. I don't think it will grow much towards KC in the future, the growth will continue west towards Topeka.

trailerkid · Post by **trailerkid** » Mon May 12, 2003 3:12 pm

One of my geography teachers at KU said it had something to do with the topography of land in East Lawrence. I want to say it had something to do with the water table (??). It's not just the attractiveness of the country, but has more to do with the lay of the land. As JoCo expands... I'm sure some developer with attempt a massive plan along K10 in Lawrence. But the Lawrence city commission now has a super majority of "smart growth" advocates who can put the nix on almost anything.

Post by **dangerboy** » Mon May 12, 2003 3:18 pm

One possibility might be that historically more people in Lawrence have worked in Topeka than in the KC area. Only relatively recently has College Boulevard become a major employment center, and the growth in Lawrence already had momentum towards Topeka.

KCgridlock · Post by **KCgridlock** » Mon May 12, 2003 8:29 pm

Topeka is growing west, St Joe is growing north, Liberty is growing north, Lee's summit is growing east and south, the list goes on and on.

This has always been one of my beefs with KC. We could double our population using the land we already use.

Bottom line I think with Lawrence and any other town: Path of least resistance, cheap land, easy to devlelop, new and not near anything old or even remotely diverse.

Pretty much describes JoCo. JoCo is running out of this type of land for development, hense western JoCo is now starting to grow.