Douglas County Commissioner Charles Jones calls it the most important issue he’s dealt with during his two terms in office.

And that issue – revisions and amendments to rural development and subdivision regulations – is the subject of a hearing at tonight’s County Commission meeting.

“It’s important because it structures the way Douglas County is going to grow over the next 15 to 20 years,” Jones said. “We’ve been talking about these issues, it seems, for decades, and I’m pleased that this commission decided to take them on.”

County commissioners may forward those revisions to the Lawrence City Commission for discussion.

Some of the highlights the revisions and amendments include:

¢ Requiring a 330-foot road frontage for residential properties on county roads and 250-foot corner clearances. The frontage distance increases depending on the types of road classification, which is based on the amount of traffic and speed limits.

¢ Allowing a parcel of land of at least 20 acres outside the urban growth area to be divided for two single-family houses, if the parcel is bounded on only one side by a full-maintenance road. It can be divided for three residences if certain additional requirements are met.

If those requirements are met, landowners can follow an administrative process that allows them to obtain building permits and file a survey with the register of deeds office. It will not be necessary to go before the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission to request rezoning.

The urban growth area is the space around Lawrence where future annexation is expected. Eudora, Baldwin and Lecompton do not have identified urban growth areas.

¢ Permitting development on parcels from 20 to 40 acres inside the urban growth area, but only on 60 percent of the parcel. The remaining 40 percent is to be set aside for development after annexation.

¢ Rejecting septic systems within the 100-year floodplain.

¢ Establishing methods for preserving heritage sites and environmentally or geographically sensitive lands.

More detailed information about the plans is available at www.lawrenceplanning.org.

County commissioners have been working on the amended regulations for more than a year. Last spring their proposals were sent to the Planning Commission for further discussion. The Planning Commission finished with them in August and sent them back to the county.

County commissioners meet at 6:35 p.m. on the second floor of the courthouse, 1100 Mass.