Concerned that city-appointed planning commissioners aren’t sensitive enough to rural concerns, Douglas County Commission Chairman Jere McElhaney said he wants to discuss dissolving the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission.

McElhaney said he wants the county commission to debate whether it should discontinue county participation in the planning commission, which currently makes recommendations on all zoning and subdivision issues in the city limits of Lawrence and in the unincorporated parts of the county.

The change would result in Douglas County having its own planning commission comprised only of county-appointed members. Lawrence would have its own planning commission with members appointed only by the city commission.

The current 10-member joint planning commission has an equal number of members appointed by the city and county commissions.

“People have been asking me to do this for three or four months,” McElhaney said. “I think there have been some recent appointments to the planning commission that don’t have interests other than their own.

“Some of the people in the rural areas think they aren’t being treated fairly by how the city commission has been making its appointments recently.”

McElhaney said he has instructed Planning Director Linda Finger to begin researching how the commission could be split.

Concerns on issues

Renewed interest on the planning commission’s part to possibly eliminate the county’s five-acre exemption has given rise to the possible split, McElhaney said. Protecting the exemption, which basically allows rural property owners with five or more acres to build a single-family home without going through the zoning or platting process, has been a long-time concern of rural residents.

“The five-acre exemption is the big one that has them concerned,” McElhaney said. “But floodplain issues and green space issues are another couple of examples of issues that are creating a lot of concern.

“I’m about afraid that there is going to be a Boston Tea Party out here in the county. Some folks are really upset.”

McElhaney said the fact he is raising the issue for debate doesn’t mean he has decided he would support splitting the commission.

“I’ve talked to people and from what I’ve heard, it may be best to have it remain together, but that may not be what the public wants and we have an obligation to them,” McElhaney said.

Finger said she is in the early stages of researching what steps would be needed to dissolve the commission. Finger said she’ll likely deliver the information to the commission before the end of March.

Skepticism on changes

Finger though said she has some real concerns about moving away from the joint planning model.

“I think the current system still works well,” Finger said. “I think it is really the only way to comprehensively look at how Lawrence and Douglas County grow.”

County Commissioner Charles Jones, who has previously been critical of the planning commission, said he also is very skeptical of the idea.

“Jere has the right to raise issues and we have an obligation to listen but I can’t imagine dissolving the current city county planning commission,” Jones said. “I actually think we’re making lots of break through with the planning commission. For example, the five-acre exemption strikes me as a very healthy discussion.”

County Administrator Craig Weinaug said if the county creates its own planning commission, it will have financial implications.

The county currently pays for one-sixth, or roughly $148,000, of the operating expenses for the joint board and its full-time planning staff. The city commission pays for the remaining costs.

“I would be extremely surprised that we could have our own board and own staff for less than what we currently do,” Weinaug said.

Weinaug said he also is alerting commissioners that splitting the planning group could give the city more control over development decisions in some parts of the county. Weinaug said a state law allows cities to create a three-mile zone outside their city limits where they can exercise planning controls.

Attempts to reach County Commissioner Bob Johnson for comment were unsuccessful.