A city task force charged with developing new regulations to guide development in Lawrence looked east for inspiration Tuesday.

Johnson County planning officials told Lawrence’s Public Improvements Task Force about regulations in their county, home to many of Kansas City’s prosperous suburbs.

“What we want and what developers want is predictability, something that’s fair and makes sense,” said Dean Palos, Johnson County’s interim planning director. “Whatever your system is, if it meets those three objectives, it should work.”

Palos, a former Lawrence resident and onetime planner in the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Office, and Joel Riggs, a Johnson County planning commissioner, described their county’s minimum infrastructure requirements, which dictate what services must be in place before construction can take place.

Location within five miles of a fire station is a must for most new developments. Lawrence, in contrast, is moving its fire stations to follow new developments.

Existing sewer and water service also is a requirement for most new developments.

The problem with the requirements, Palos said, is that developers expect to be given zoning approval if they’ve met the standards — even if the zoning doesn’t otherwise comply with Johnson County’s land-use plans.

Johnson County cities have solved the problem of paying for the services and infrastructure needed by new development by imposing an excise tax on new plats — as much as $8,000 to $9,000 per development.

Assistant City Manager Dave Corliss said such a policy in Lawrence could drive developers to rural Douglas County, encouraging sprawl instead of containing it.

“If Lawrence is going to impose an excise tax, we would have to look at the extraterritorial consequences,” he said. “The issue is, will someone plat in the county to avoid paying those excise taxes?”

The group next meets Nov. 4.