Reasons to say NO to the New Boston Crossing Project

The New Boston Crossing in unequivocally a bad idea and it's simply due to it's location. It will destroy over 3 acres of wetlands, destroy and impact over 50+ acres of floodplain, has been denounced by the Haskell Board of Regents, will put our marginalized community members in flooding danger, and will have unknown negative impacts on the Haskell-Baker wetlands and the future of development in the Wakarusa River Valley.

Both the City and County have affirmed multiple times the need to preserve and conserve sensitive lands, which include wetlands, floodplains, and river/stream corridors. This has been confirmed in our Comprehensive Plan 2040 which dictates the land uses and goals of our county and city. Additionally, the Douglas County Open Space plan has explicitly stated that the Wakarusa River Valley is a top priority area that is endangered directly due to development. Douglas County also recently published a pilot study of the Washington Creek watershed, which feeds into the Wakarusa River upstream of New Boston Crossing, that studied the best mitigation effects of flooding in the region. It's not surprise that the answer was conserving and protecting the wetlands and natural buffer zones (including floodplains) in the area from increases in development. 

The City of Lawrence has been focusing a lot of efforts on promoting equity based solutions and closing the gap between our most marginalized citizens and those well above the living means. We applaud this but find it rather startling that the City would approve a project that could disturb children's burials from Haskell's history as a boarding school. We believe these are not truly equity based solutions and rather the City's attempt to make itself look better.