The Public Incentives Review Committee is right to recommend scaling back the city of Lawrence’s affordable housing requirements in the city’s economic development incentives program.

The recommendation decreases the maximum percent of residential units that developers seeking incentives would be required to set aside for affordable housing to 10 percent. The committee recommended the rules apply to projects of 10 or more units.

That’s down from the proposal made by city staff, which called for any project with at least four residential units to set aside a range of units from 10 to 35 percent. For example, projects with 50 or more units would have had to set aside 35 percent under the previous proposal.

Committee member Aron Cromwell said the committee felt that if the requirements are too high, a policy meant to encourage affordable housing in Lawrence might instead discourage it, especially as it applies to major projects.

“The key is to promote affordable housing, and if the goal post is too high, no one is going to go for the incentives and no affordable housing is going to be built,” Cromwell said.

For units set aside for affordable housing, the committee recommends that developers be required to charge income-based rent for those units for the duration of the incentive period. The previous proposal said the units would have to remain affordable for no less than 15 years, even if the incentive period was shorter.

National health rankings assess Lawrence’s affordable housing issue as a severe problem, and it was a topic of considerable discussion in the most recent city election. Inclusionary zoning has been used effectively in other communities to increase the supply of affordable housing. But there also are countless examples of communities overreaching and unintentionally stifling new development or pushing it into nearby communities.

The City Commission will review the Public Incentive Review Committee’s recommendations at a meeting in October. Commission members who are advocates of affordable housing would be wise to carefully consider the review committee’s input.