Douglas County commissioners unanimously approved a moratorium on the five-acre exemption Wednesday night, urging quick action to improve rural subdivision regulations.

“Our subdivision regulations are not functioning,” Commissioner Bob Johnson said. “They are not functioning as we want them to and people are taking advantage of it.”

The exemption has allowed landowners with at least five acres of rural property to build a home without rezoning and platting, an often-costly process. Under the moratorium, the exemption will still apply to properties larger than 10 acres.

The moratorium on the five-acre exemption is retroactive to June 1 and will end at 5 p.m. Nov. 30.

Rural Baldwin resident Bill Harmon said he didn’t agree with the moratorium, but he wasn’t completely against change with the five-acre exemption.

“I think there are some problems and areas that should be compromised on and that some people should have to have 10 acres,” he said. But he added that the five-acre exemption should be allowed in some cases.

Commissioners said they don’t object to allowing farmers to give pieces of their land to family members to build a house.

“I do object to out-of-county land speculators buying and selling off sites without regard for the impact on the community,” Commission Chairman Charles Jones said.

The matter of the five-acre exemption is just one of several issues the county commission plans to address in the latest round of work on rural subdivision regulations.

Commissioners will also:

¢ Focus on design of arterial and frontage roads.

¢ Examine the requirement that rural subdivisions be contiguous to cities and other populated sites.

¢ Look at ways to cluster residential development.

¢ Review the availability of treated water.

¢ Consider more categories for industrial zoning.

Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Director Linda Finger said her staff has 35 days to create the new regulations. Some work likely will be pulled from the recent draft of subdivision regulations worked on by a subcommittee of the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission, she said.

A new draft should be ready and available to the public by late August, Finger said. Finger also will provide monthly progress reports to county commissioners.

County commissioners met Wednesday with city and planning commissioners in a joint work session to discuss the issues they want to address by December.

“It is possible to do some of these things through the County Commission,” Jones said. “But we believe the process would be better if the city and planning commission would join us. Moving jointly would make for better decision-making.”