The Lawrence City Commission unanimously approved proposed changes to Horizon 2020, the city’s long-range plan that guides policy-making and development decisions, at its meeting Tuesday night.

If it gains approval from the Douglas County Commission on Wednesday, a report listing the changes will be used by city planning staff to update the 321-page plan.

It’s estimated that Horizon 2020 will be updated by next fall.

“Needless to say, there’s work to be done,” said Mayor Mike Amyx, who co-chaired a steering committee that compiled a list of updates for the plan. “These amendments and items are going to help us bring Horizon 2020 up to this point in time and beyond, rather than being about 20 years behind.”

Though commissioners did not debate the details of the changes Tuesday, their discussion brought up points of contention that Amyx said could be resolved later.

He said any changes to Horizon 2020 would come back before the city and county commissions before the plan is officially amended.

“No matter what the direction looks like right now, it’s probably not going to be final,” Amyx said. “It will be debated between the two bodies and the public. All of these action items will come back before us as we bring the comprehensive plan up to date.”

The 10-member Horizon 2020 Steering Committee voted in August to advance the 19 key areas of change that the City Commission voted on Tuesday. Those areas include retail development, transportation, affordable housing, economic development, arts and cultural amenities, and the city’s growth, among other things.

Commissioner Leslie Soden said she wants to include a section on public safety that would include wording about police facilities.

“I noticed there was not any kind of issue relating to public safety,” she said. “Obviously, police facilities is an important one.”

Earlier in the meeting, Michelle Derusseau, president of the Lawrence Police Foundation, told commissioners the city needed to make constructing a new police facility a priority.

One year ago, Lawrence voters rejected a citywide sales tax to fund a new police headquarters.

“We’re not any closer to resolving this critical need,” Derusseau said.

Soden also brought attention to the use of the word “incentives” throughout the report.

Financial incentives for development projects have recently been debated among commissioners, and Soden has previously said the city’s tax incentives have not been well thought out.

“I was looking at this for potential snowballs,” Soden said Tuesday. “‘Incentives’ is a kind of a hot-button word right now, so if I understood how we’re using it in the document, I’d feel better.”

Scott McCullough, director of the city’s planning and development services, said the use of the word “incentives” in the report “is in the broad sense, it’s not in one specific financial incentive.”

An effort to update Horizon 2020, which was adopted in 1998, began in early 2014, said Jeff Crick, a city planner tasked with working on the changes. The process has so far included public surveys, open houses and other discussion and research.

County commissioners will vote on the updates because Horizon 2020 is also a plan for unincorporated areas of Douglas County. Both commissions are asked to work jointly to coordinate the changes.

In other business, commissioners:

• Received an update on the house at 912 Chalk Hill Court, which commissioners previously declared dangerous and ordered the owner to renovate or demolish. The owner paid off the mortgage and has arranged to sell the home to a neighbor, who plans to rehabilitate and sell it. City staff will monitor the new owner’s progress in starting rehabilitation, and commissioners will receive updates.

• Unanimously authorized city staff to apply for Kansas Department of Transportation grant funding to construct four segments — a total 0.7 mile — of the unfinished Lawrence Loop, a shared-use path that will circle the city. The city will submit an application for a KDOT transportation alternatives grant that would pay up to 80 percent of the $750,000 in estimated construction costs. If awarded, the city would be obligated to pay 20 percent, or $150,000, as well as an estimated $100,000 in design costs.

• Unanimously authorized city staff to apply for Kansas Department of Transportation grant funding for the second phase of the Safe Routes to School program. If awarded, the transportation alternatives grant funding would go toward constructing sidewalks and installing crosswalk beacons surrounding Liberty Memorial Central Middle School and Woodlawn Elementary School. The total cost of the project is estimated at $240,000, and the city would be obligated to pay $40,000.

• Asked that City Engineer Dave Cronin rank the Lawrence Loop and Safe Route to Schools projects when submitting applications to the KDOT transportation alternatives grant program. KDOT rules mandate the city rank the projects, though they’re being entered into separate categories. Cronin said he would rank the Lawrence Loop project first because it’s for a greater amount and in a more competitive funding category.

• Unanimously authorized Kansas University to use $50,000 in joint city-university transit funding for a “streetscaping” project along Jayhawk Boulevard. KU officials plan to apply for KDOT transportation alternatives grant funding to construct a bus shelter and kiosks between Strong Hall and Bailey Hall. If awarded a grant, the $50,000 would be used to pay for the 20 percent match of the $200,000 project.

• Unanimously approved setting a bid date of Dec. 15 for the project to improve the Clinton Water Treatment Plant to better remove taste and odor compounds. Construction costs are estimated at $4,520,000, and the project is expected to be complete by February 2017.

• Discussed items to include in the city’s 2016 legislative priority statement for the upcoming session of the state Legislature. Commissioner Matthew Herbert said he wanted to include an estimated cost to the city for installing adequate security measures at public facilities to bar concealed carry under the state’s new concealed carry law. Other ideas included opposing any state-imposed limit on cities’ taxing and support for enabling Property Assessed Clean Energy Programs, a financial tool for property owners to borrow money for installing energy conservation measures. Interim City Manager Diane Stoddard said she would draft a statement that would be brought back to the commission in December for final approval.