Consultants are hired because they can look at issues in a different way and perhaps come up with some conclusions and suggestions distinct from those arrived at by people who look at those issues all of the time.

In that light, the PlaceMakers consulting group hired by the Lawrence City Commission to look at possible development in Lawrence did a pretty good job. They certainly came up with some different ideas.

Some may be workable; some already essentially have been discarded. Some may hold a kernel of innovation that could be molded into something the city could act on. It’s pretty much up to the individual whether the city got its $250,000 worth from the consulting team.

The idea of a library in Constant Park apparently doesn’t have any champions among city commissioners. Although the park is owned by the city and would provide an attractive riverside setting, building such an important structure – complete with underground parking – in the floodplain seems a risky proposition. Additional traffic in that block also might be difficult to manage.

Some other ideas the consultants had for downtown were interesting but impractical. It almost seemed they were trying to turn the clock back on Lawrence by expecting butchers and cheese makers to operate little shops on the street level and live upstairs. It’s quaint, but who goes to the butcher shop in 2007? Perhaps the stalls in a unique marketplace envisioned by the consultants would draw shoppers in much the same way as the farmers market, but a full-line grocery store would be more to the point if the city hopes to attract more residential development downtown.

The shopping center at 19th Street and Haskell Avenue might be a good place to apply some of the consultants’ ideas. The center currently is an unattractive destination and its owners seemed open to the idea of adding residential units and moving retail shops closer to the street. Revitalizing that center would be a great contribution to that neighborhood and perhaps serve as a test for some innovative development ideas.

The “walkable neighborhoods” envisioned by the consultants have appeal, but the plan is a bit idealistic. It would be nice to have a coffee shop and other services within easy walking distance, but trying to locate schools within a five- or 10-minute walk for neighborhood children would be a tall order given the shifting demographics of Lawrence neighborhoods. Once children grow up and move away, their parents still are taking up space close to a school. The smaller schools that would result from such a plan also might prove to be expensive to operate and perhaps lack some of the diversity and curriculum advantages of larger schools.

The PlaceMakers brought Lawrence some ideas it hadn’t thought of before. Lawrence, however, has never suffered from a lack of ideas. Perhaps it’s time to sift through the ideas – and needs – we already have before paying anyone else to bring us more.