Radical changes could be in store for the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission, which some observers say has become overburdened with the task of keeping up with a growing city.

Douglas County Commission Chairman Charles Jones this week said it was time to consider reforming the commission — perhaps by splitting its planning and development review functions.

The job is getting too big, he said.

“I appreciate how hard the Planning Commission works, but I’m concerned it’s not sustainable,” Jones said. “It seems to me — the number of meetings, the length of meetings — it’s hard on the Planning Commission, it’s hard on (planning) staff, and it’s hard on the public.”

Planning Commissioner John Haase agreed Wednesday that change was needed. He noted that the commission’s regular once-a-month meeting often now lasts two sessions.

That means an item expected to be considered one week is regularly pushed off to the next week, or longer.

Often, the second meeting takes place during weekday work hours — making it difficult for members of the public to attend and participate.

“We really are inconveniencing the public with uncertainty of when items will be dealt with,” Haase said. “That’s unacceptable.”

The commission has two major responsibilities:

• Long-range planning to decide where and how the city will grow, and what that growth will look like.
• Day-to-day review of new development proposals.

Jones suggested that creating two boards to handle those two functions might solve the problem.

“I think it would divide up the work, cut down on the length of meetings and make the planning process go more efficiently,” he said.

It’s a model that has already been successfully adopted in Vermont, said Wayne Senville, editor of Planning Commissioners Journal, a national publication.

“It’s certainly a common problem nationwide,” Senville said. “A lot of planning commissions are overworked and swamped, and that doesn’t leave them time to do the job of long-range planning.”

At least one developer was skeptical.

“Zoning is joined at the hip with planning,” said Bill Newsome, whose proposal for a southeast Lawrence housing development received approval at the commission’s Wednesday morning “spillover” meeting. “I’m not sure how you separate them.”

Planning Director Linda Finger said she was researching reform options. And Jones said he wanted to look at what other communities were doing.

There is no timeline for proposals.