Common vision needed in planning city’s growth says Highberger

Dennis “Boog” Highberger opened his campaign for Lawrence City Commission on a whimsical note — two accordionists played “Roll Out the Barrel” while he filed papers with the city clerk’s office. And his campaign has asked that Highberger never be mentioned without also using his “Boog” nickname.

But Highberger, an attorney for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, offers a serious critique of how Lawrence has handled its growth. Not well, he suggests. And that threatens the city’s unique qualities.

“If we keep going the way we’re going today, will you still love Lawrence in 20 years?” he asked an audience at a recent city commission candidate forum.

Highberger said the city has not stood up to developers.

“This situation must change,” he said. “The planning and zoning decisions we make today will determine what our city is like for generations to come.

“We need to start making those decisions based on a common vision of our city’s future rather than on the short term financial interests of a few individuals.”

Highberger said the city should follow planning documents like Horizon 2020 more closely. In the long-term, he said, a new long-range plan must be created — “only this time,” he said, “we should actually adopt the shared vision of city development that results.”

And he suggests that Lawrence could do a wiser job of offering tax abatements to new companies, requiring a living wage when the inducements are offered.

This is one of 11 city commission candidate profiles that will run in alphabetical order online each weekday, Monday through Friday, through Feb. 21.6News will provide an accompanying video profile at 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. each weeknight through Feb. 21 on Sunflower Broadband’s cable Channel 6.Video and text profiles on the candidates will be compiled through the series online on our City commission candidates site.

“The planning literature that I have seen suggests that tax abatements make little difference in most business relocation decisions,” he said.

“A well-trained workforce, good schools, relatively low taxes, and a good quality of life are among the things that most businesses are looking for, and we have all of those in Lawrence.”

Highberger said he’d rather avoid raising taxes to help the city through a tight budget, but he won’t promise not to do so.

“If the city is facing possible service cutbacks as a result of budget shortfalls, a cost/benefit analysis should be conducted to determine whether the cost of preserving an existing service or program justifies a tax increase,” he said.

“Before increasing taxes, the city should consider all reasonable means of reducing expenses and increasing other revenues.”

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