A he-said/he-said argument has broken out over the future of development in Douglas County.

Baldwin Mayor Ken Hayes is accusing John Haase, a Lawrence-Douglas County planning commissioner, of misrepresenting Baldwin’s position on changes to proposed subdivision regulations.

“I’m not sure what’s going on, but John Haase is misstating facts,” Hayes said last week.

But Haase said he was well aware that Baldwin officials oppose the changes.

“I don’t think I’ve even muttered words in my sleep to the contrary,” Haase said. “It’s absolutely incorrect that I said otherwise.”

The problem? Hayes said he and other Baldwin officials were taking heat because it was suggested by Haase that Baldwin agreed with requiring property owners to have 20 acres instead of 5 acres to build.

Generally, people with 5 acres of land not in an urban growth area and wanting to build a single family home can do so without going through the zoning and platting process. They just need a building permit.

He said that changing lot sizes to 20 acres from 5 acres would be catastrophic. It would greatly devalue people’s property, Hayes said.

“Farmers could sell off 5 acres for people to build on and it’s like their 401(k),” he said. “Changing that is going to severely retard their ability to sell land.”

The Baldwin City Council and the Baldwin Planning Commission sent a letter stating they were “very much against” the acreage change for lots, Hayes said.

Haase said the proposed regulations would mean that future rural subdivisions would be a better if a city annexed the land.

“We are proposing a build-through acreage or what some people refer to as a ghost plat,” Haase said. “So that with any urban growth area when somebody wants to build a subdivision, they essentially have to plat it in a way that it would be compatible with the adjacent city. Then they take great care in populating that rural subdivision in such a way that it won’t compromise the re-subdivision that’s going to occur when the area is annexed.”

Haase said he hoped that the Baldwin officials would share their opinions on the proposed subdivision provisions.

Hayes said he thought Baldwin officials had made their opinions clear on the proposed subdivision regulations.

“It needs a lot of work,” Hayes said of the proposal. “Essentially, they don’t want to have subdivisions in the county.”