Lawrence City Commission hopefuls on Wednesday had a debate straight out of a college freshman economics class.

On one side were those who believe that market forces are a reliable guide for the city’s growth in the commercial sector. On the other were those who believe city government must take a stronger hand.

“I think consumers are going to drive what we need for retail,” City Commission candidate Lee Gerhard said.

“We’ve got to have checks and balances on the marketplace,” incumbent city commissioner Mike Rundle said, “or the marketplace runs amok.”

The clash of ideas came during a candidate forum with Downtown Lawrence Inc. That organization has expressed concerns in recent years that retail developments on the city’s periphery — such as the new Home Depot at 31st and Iowa streets and a proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter for Sixth Street and Wakarusa Drive — were popping up so fast that downtown will suffer.

Candidates were asked, how do you decide how much is too much?

All the candidates said the city should guide growth instead of react to it.

Candidate Ken McRae joined Gerhard in suggesting companies would not create retail developments if it was not profitable to do so — or if they believed Lawrence residents wouldn’t support them.

“These decisions are best left to the market,” he said.

Greg DiVilbiss agreed.

“KU people have developed models to let us examine this,” he said. “But in the end I think the market lets us know.”

Dennis “Boog” Highberger and David Schauner joined Rundle in asserting government should more strictly interpret the long-range plan, Horizon 2020, to let the city’s population growth catch up with its retail growth.

“I don’t think there’s any question we’re overdeveloped in commercial and retail,” Schauner said.

“The analogy in nature for uncontrolled growth is cancer,” Highberger said. “I don’t think we want this.”

Candidates Zach Bassin, Eddie Lehman and G. Wayne Parks were closer to that side of the debate.

Lynn Goodell fell somewhere in the middle with his comments.

“It is a delicate balance,” he said. “We need to get everybody together and decide how important downtown is — I believe it’s very important — and make and implement our plans accordingly.”

August “Gus” Huber IV did not attend the forum.

Tuesday’s primary election will pare the field to six candidates.

The top three finishers in the April 1 general election will take seats on the commission.