Lawrence economic development officials would aggressively raise money to help local entrepreneurs, under a plan unveiled Tuesday. They also would help the region pursue a federal National Heritage Area designation to lure tourism dollars to the area.

The proposed new economic development chapter of Horizon 2020, the city-county long-range planning guide, was made public at a meeting of the Lawrence-Douglas County Economic Development Board.

“This won’t go on the shelf,” said Jim Martin, the board’s chairman. “It’ll become our marching orders.”

The plan was developed during the last year as members of the board visited cities across Douglas County to get input from residents.

Officials said that, in essence, it was a slimmed-down and focused version of the existing economic development plan. But it contains a few wrinkles:

• A pledge to create by December 2005 a system of financing local entrepreneurs — through loans and investment — during the startup phase of their new businesses.

“There’s hardly any funding at all,” said Jean Milstead, interim president of the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce. “We’ve lost companies in the past because they got to a certain point, and we couldn’t help them any further.”

Matthew McClorey, president of the Lawrence Regional Technology Center, said it was relatively easy to find $500,000 in northeast Kansas to finance new companies. But it was more difficult to attract sums of between $750,000 and $3 million, making finance centers on the coasts more attractive to new businesses.

Milstead said creating the financing opportunities would require public as well as private funds.

“Having the public part of the partnership infers that the whole community is backing it,” she said. “Then you have credibility, and that brings private investors.”

• A promise to “take the lead in a strategy to create a National Heritage Area.” The area would create new centers and events to commemorate Lawrence’s “Bleeding Kansas” heritage as a breeding ground for the Civil War.

“It would be like going to Valley Forge or Gettysburg, that kind of attraction,” Milstead said.

• A deadline of December 2004 to develop a new industrial park.

The board will review the document at a special meeting 3 p.m. Feb. 11 at the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce, 734 Vt. It would then go to the Lawrence-Douglas Planning Commission for approval, perhaps in March.