Douglas County economic development leaders on Thursday said they were excited about the possibility of a new 100-acre industrial park forming on the eastern edge of Eudora. The project is not a done deal, but it won a key rezoning vote from the Eudora Planning Commission on Wednesday evening.

Eudora has two interchanges along Kansas Highway 10, and the proposed site of the new industrial park is just north of the city’s easternmost interchange. If you are scoring along at home, that is the Douglas County interchange that is the closest to De Soto and the massive industrial development underway at the $4 billion Panasonic battery plant, which is less than a 10-minute drive to the east.

Don’t expect anything nearly that large to develop at the proposed Eudora park. But there may be a few smaller industrial firms that would like to be close to the plant for a variety of reasons. The bigger bet, though, is that there are many firms that would like the idea of being close to K-10 highway and the easy access it provides to Kansas City.

“This has really great access to K-10,” Steve Kelly, vice president of economic development for the Lawrence chamber of commerce, said of the site, which is less than a two-minute drive from the highway.

The planning commission recommended approval of the industrial zoning for the site, 1434 E. 2300 Road, on Wednesday, Dec. 3. The rezoning request likely will be up for Eudora City Commission approval next month.

The rezoning request also has a positive recommendation from Eudora’s city manager.

“It does offer us the chance for some diversification of our tax base,” Eudora City Manager Zack Daniels told me.

Plus, Daniels said there’s reason to believe that the park would be successful because Eudora already has proven the formula once before. The proposed business park essentially would be catty-corner from the existing InTech Business Park that is along K-10. That park — it is the one that has its entrance sign mounted atop on old-fashioned grain silo — is home to a variety of businesses, including a railroad equipment manufacturer, an automotive parts manufacturer and a commercial air filter supply business, among others.

I’ve got a call into a member of the area development group — Main Street Development Group — that’s working to bring the project forward to learn a few more specifics. But in terms of big picture, Kelly told me the development would fit in well with what county economic development leaders are trying to accomplish.

That brings me back to the idea of a hunt. There indeed is a formal effort underway to try to find 500 acres of land that could house future industrial development in Douglas County.

Area business leaders gathered Thursday morning at the Eldridge Hotel for an activity update from the nonprofit Economic Development Corporation of Lawrence and Douglas County. Kelly, who also is an officer for that group, told the crowd that a “500 Acre Committee” has been formed to identify spots that could be acquired, rezoned and house future industrial development.

Kelly said the goal is not necessarily to find 500 acres all in one location, but rather to find that amount in total. The Eudora project would count towards that goal, if it becomes a reality.

Kelly didn’t share any specific sites that the committee is researching, but he said finding suitable space along Interstate 70 remains a goal. That has been the case for years, though. The Kaw River Valley north of North Lawrence has good access to I-70, but it also comes with many flooding concerns and angst about the loss of prime farmland.

The Lecompton interchange just northwest of Lawrence has been the other site targeted in past years, and it does have one industrial business — a warehouse and distribution center for the company formerly known as Berry Plastics. (If you recall, a merger recently renamed the company Amcor.) But residents in the rural neighborhood have historically opposed annexation into the Lawrence city limits, which has halted hopes for other industrial development there.

Kelly said the search for new industrial land is underway for a couple of reasons. One, it generally takes a long time to find and develop new industrial land. But additionally, sites are becoming more limited in the city’s primary business park, Lawrence VenturePark, on the east edge of town.

Kelly said there is still space that could accommodate three to four more sizable businesses in VenturePark. So, it is not as if the city is completely out of industrial land to show potential businesses. But it largely is down to just one location — VenturePark — to show businesses that would be interested in enough space for a 150,000 to 200,000 square foot building that might employ a few hundred people.

While VenturePark is having some success — Hershey’s operates a pretzel factory there and US Engineering is in the process of expanding its plant that produces speciality duct work for the heating and cooling industry — the park isn’t for everyone. For some, the location might not be quite right. For others, the fact that it is a former brownfield site — the property used to house a fertilizer plant that left environmental concerns — takes it off the list for consideration.

Thus, the hunt is on to provide some additional options.

The Thursday meeting produced other updates on the economic development front. They include:

• Kelly said his office is working with six to seven active prospects that are considering Lawrence either for an expansion or a new location. While he didn’t name names, he said the prospects include a food processor, an aviation company, an IT company, and a transportation logistics company, among others.

Kelly said he’s still operating under a belief that the community is most interested in more mid-size industrial projects rather than the truly large endeavors, such as what De Soto has been actively courting, first with the Panasonic project, and now large data centers that will help feed the AI industry. He said Lawrence is largely positioning itself for businesses in the 150,000 to 200,000-square-foot range, with some sites that could accommodate perhaps a 500,000 square-foot operation. In De Soto, for example, many of those projects are measured in the millions of square feet.

“Those aren’t nearly as intimidating,” Kelly said of the projects Lawrence is targeting. “I think when you start talking about some of these really large facilities, some people get very nervous about what that is going to do to the community or the nature of the community.”

• Growth was definitely on the mind of many in the crowd of about 50 attendees Thursday. Multiple attendees encouraged the business community to become vocal during the public input session for a new city manager. Lawrence City Manager Craig Owens has announced he’s leaving the position in May. Several attendees at Thursday’s event said the business community should urge the city to find a new city manager that has experience not just in managing growing communities but also has expertise in growing communities through land annexations.