Monitoring retail development in the city is a legitimate role for the Lawrence City Commission, but new regulations now being discussed open the door to arbitrary decisions and potential abuses of the city’s retail planning authority.

Three commissioners have voiced support for requiring a new retail market analysis that would force the city to reject any new development of 50,000 square feet or more if that development is projected to push the city’s overall retail vacancy rate above 8 percent.

The stated goal of the plan is to fight high retail vacancy rates, which contribute to blight in the city, but many residents fear it will be used as a way for city and planning commissioners to block projects that they find undesirable for any number of reasons.

The new policy would create a sales tax database that not only would measure retail sales by geographic areas of the city but also by specific types of retail business. That data could be used to support a conclusion that certain retail sectors are overbuilt or underbuilt in Lawrence.

Planning commissioners say the city could use that information to seek ways to attract businesses that are lacking in Lawrence. But it also provides data that planning commissioners could use to say a certain retail sector already is overrepresented in Lawrence and new businesses in that category should not be allowed.

It would seem to be a positive step to use that provision to protect existing local businesses – especially smaller mom-and-pop operations – but allowing city or planning commissioners to make those kinds of judgments is a slippery slope. Manipulating individual planning decisions based on specific market factors is a risky business, and no amount of data could totally remove the subjectivity from such a decision.

Planning Commissioner John Haase was among those who said the data wouldn’t be used to reject specific types of businesses. “I can’t imagine that anyone is going to use this to look at a particular development and say you can’t have this specific type of business in it,” he said.

Even if the current commission didn’t use the data that way, future commissions might.

As a local attorney who represents the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce has pointed out, Horizon 2020, the city’s comprehensive plan, already mentions the need for a retail market analysis and notes the need to keep vacancy rates at or below 8 percent. So it seems the city already has a policy in place that allows it to consider vacancy rates as part of the retail planning process.

Vacant retail structures can deteriorate and become dangerous as well as foster increased crime in an area. Encouraging infill retail development is a positive move for the city, but it might be better achieved by offering incentives, such as tax breaks or infrastructure improvements, to developers who pursue such projects.

The stronger planning mandates being considered by city commissioners open the door to more problems than they solve.