Landowners in rural Douglas County may have greater ability to build small housing developments in the future if a proposal brought forward by county commissioners is approved.

Douglas County commissioners briefed Lawrence city commissioners Tuesday on a set of proposed regulations that would eliminate the controversial 5-acre exemption but would give people with 20 or more acres greater ability to build small housing developments without going through the sometimes complicated and expensive rezoning and platting process.

“Our goal was to simplify and make the process easier to understand,” said County Commissioner Bob Johnson.

The plan would allow people with 20 acres or more in Lawrence’s urban growth area to build homes on lots of at least 3 acres on 60 percent of the property. The other 40 percent of the property would be reserved for future development once the property becomes annexed into the city.

The development wouldn’t be required to receive approval from the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission nor the city or county commissions. The property would need to receive administrative approval from the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Department.

But the property would have to meet several key criteria. Specifically, the development would need to be located on a paved road and have access to rural water, rather than well water. Depending on the type of a road the property is located on, the property will have to have a minimum amount of road frontage to ensure that it doesn’t produce a large number of driveways on a busy road.

County Commission Chairman Charles Jones said the changes should make it easier for the developments to be absorbed into the city as it grows.

“I’m not sure this is perfect, but I’m absolutely certain that this is better than what we have on the books today,” Jones said.

Currently all developments in the urban growth area – a ring around Lawrence that the city is expected to annex in the next 25 years – must go through the rezoning process and be approved by the planning commission. Jones said the process created a number of disagreements about when a rural subdivision was allowed.

“I don’t know how people (landowners) make decisions when interpretations change so much,” Jones said.

Some city commissioners weren’t so sure that they liked the proposal. Mayor Boog Highberger said he was concerned the proposal would allow too much unplanned growth to occur that ultimately would be annexed into the city.

“I’m trying to keep an open mind,” Highberger said. “My concern is that we not have scattered growth throughout the county. I just don’t want to see the burdens that it will put on future taxpayers and future commissions.”

Properties outside the urban growth area also would be affected. New developments of 20 acres or more could split the property into two lots of 10 acres or more and receive one building permit for each lot.

The proposal also includes a grandfather clause for lots less than 20 acres that existed before June 1 – the date the county imposed a moratorium on the use of the 5-acre exemption. Those lots would be allowed to receive a single building permit, but property owners would not be allowed to further split their property. For example, the owner of a 10-acre lot would not be able to divide it into two 5-acre lots and receive a building permit for each lot.

Both the city and county commissioners must approve the changes before they can take effect. The two groups did not set a specific time to meet again.