Commissioner Boog Highberger will represent the City Commission on a committee to try to work out an agreement with the county on proposed subdivision regulations.

The county has said it is imperative to get the new subdivision regulations – which govern the specifics of how development can occur in new areas – approved by the end of the year. That’s when a building permit moratorium in the county is scheduled to end.

But the effort to get the regulations approved by the end of the year may have taken a hit. Highberger said Tuesday that he believes the five-member City Commission needs to approve the regulations with a supermajority vote, or else send them back to the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission for reconsideration. That reconsideration would not be able to take place until January, at the soonest.

Getting four votes on the City Commission may be difficult. Commissioners Mike Rundle and David Schauner both continued to express strong concerns about the proposed regulations at Tuesday’s meeting.

In addition to Highberger, the committee will include Douglas County Commissioner Charles Jones, and Planning Commissioners Lisa Harris and Grant Eichhorn.