Lawrence, KS Historic Preservation: Historic-Cultural Monuments (2026)

Chapter 22, rewritten by Ordinance No. 10016 in 2024, sets up the Historic Resources Commission and the Lawrence Register of Historic Places as the city's landmark-protection framework. The seven-member commission required by § 22-201 must include two architects, two preservation professionals such as architectural historians or landscape architects, and three more people with a demonstrated interest in preservation, so no single discipline controls a designation. Nomination can come from the governing body, the commission itself, or, for a single property, the record owner; under § 22-404 anyone else nominating a landmark still has to give the owner a chance to protest, and if the owner protests, the nomination can only proceed under the heightened super-majority findings in § 22-410.

The commission holds a public hearing, forwards a recommendation to the City Commission, and the City Commission reviews that recommendation de novo at its own hearing under §§ 22-406 and 22-408 before designating a landmark by ordinance. Once designated, § 22-409 requires the historic resources administrator to notify the owner within ten days and to record the designation with the Douglas County Register of Deeds, and § 22-1201 puts a continuing minimum-maintenance duty on the owner to keep the property from decaying. Designation does not itself rezone the property: § 22-409(d) states the zoning classification is untouched, and any use change still needs its own zoning application under Chapter 20.