Two recent Journal-World stories on growth issues point out the importance of city and county officials working together to plan for the continuing expansion of Lawrence.

A story Saturday detailed a disagreement between Lawrence and Douglas County officials concerning the definition of “community commercial centers” to be included in the Horizon 2020 comprehensive plan. Although community centers usually contain about 150,000 square feet of retail space, according to the recommendations of Horizon 2020 they can include up to 450,000 square feet. An example of a community commercial center is Sixth Street and Wakarusa Drive, where 170,000 square feet of retail already has been developed.

As proposed, Horizon 2020 would raise the limit to 500,000 square feet, but city commissioners think that’s too large and want to confine such developments to a maximum of 350,000 square feet. County commissioners say the limit shouldn’t be lowered. City and county commissioners appear to be dug in on their positions, leaving the possibility that different standards might be set for property inside the city limits and property outside the city.

That’s an undesirable situation for many reasons. A story in Monday’s Journal-World noted how much the footprint of the city expanded in the past decade. One large chunk of the land was the property along Sixth Street between Wakarusa Drive and the South Lawrence Trafficway. The annexation allowed the city to borrow money to pay its share of widening Sixth Street, but it also allowed the city to have more control over how the annexed property develops. Using annexation “proactively” as a tool to guide Lawrence’s growth has the support of some city commissioners.

The city and county have agreed on Lawrence’s “urban growth area,” which gives one measure of where they expect the city to grow. The idea behind designating that area is to guide development in those parts of the county so that they can easily be incorporated into the city later. The restrictions in that area, however, primarily affect residential development and have no impact on commercial projects. Without a consensus between city and county officials on commercial planning standards, projects that didn’t meet city standards could be built just outside city limits.

If city and county officials hope to use planning policies and standards to guide the city’s growth, they must make sure that planning stays far enough ahead of growth to set a clear, predictable direction for developers. Disagreements between city and county officials will encourage developers to sidestep city requirements by building just outside the city limits. City officials would be likely to curb such development by stepping up annexations to assert more control. Annexation could contribute to more thoughtful development, or it could just contribute to the sprawl of the city.

Lawrence and Douglas County combined their planning departments many years ago in an attempt to bring more coordination to their planning efforts. A key component of that is to guide county development in the areas surrounding Lawrence in a way that is compatible with the city’s growth. Now is not the time to decrease that cooperation by allowing different standards to guide commercial projects in the city and the county.