Two new storm sirens will be placed in Douglas County by the time spring tornado season arrives.

County commissioners on Monday approved the purchase of the sirens sought by Emergency Management director Teri Smith. The sirens are needed to cover areas where there has been an increase in population, Smith said.

One siren will be installed about a mile south of Lawrence near U.S. Highway 59 and North 1100 Road. The second siren will be south of the Interstate 70 Lecompton interchange near U.S. Highway 40 and East 779 Road.

The sirens are expected to cost between $17,000 and $20,000 each, Smith said. The money already has been included in the 2008 budget.

Smith and commissioners discussed adding storm sirens during budget discussions last year. Commissioners directed Smith to develop a policy that sets standards for when and where sirens should be placed.

“I want to be able to defend our policy if someone comes in and says they can’t hear a siren,” Commissioner Charles Jones said.

The new policy states that warning sirens can be placed where more than 100 families reside within audible range of a siren. That’s generally within a mile radius of the siren, Smith said. Sirens also can be placed where commercial, business or park areas draw large numbers of people.

“In placing the sirens, you try to put them on a hill or on higher elevation,” Smith said.

Commissioners also approved what has been known as the Southeast Area Plan. The plan, which was developed over a 10-year period in conjunction with the city of Lawrence, designates land for industrial, commercial, residential and park development. The area is bounded on the north by Kansas Highway 10, to the west by O’Connell Road, to the east by Noria Road and to the south by the Wakarusa River floodplain.

In other business:

¢ Commissioners received petitions to vacate a 1-mile segment of East 700 Road southeast of Lecompton from Rockwell Farms L.C. Rockwell has plans for a chapel, country club and conference center in the area. A public hearing on the matter has to be scheduled.

¢ A request also was received from the Lecompton Township board to designate a 2-mile section of that same East 700 Road as “minimum maintenance.” No action was taken. A minimum maintenance road receives little or no maintenance work because of low traffic volumes.

¢ On the recommendation of Jones, commissioners appointed Chuck Epp to replace Milton Scott on the county judicial nominating committee. Scott’s two-term limit on the committee ends in March. Epp is a Kansas University professor in public administration.