photo by: Douglas County

A map shows the three growth tiers, or land in the city's current and future growth area, included in the city and county's comprehensive plan, Plan 2040. Newly proposed regulations for subdividing land for Lawrence and the unincorporated areas of Douglas County would prohibit new residential subdivisions in land in the city's growth area unless the land is annexed into the city.

Douglas County leaders have indicated support for newly proposed regulations that would prohibit new neighborhoods in rural areas near the City of Lawrence until that land is ready to be added to the city.

The Douglas County Commission discussed the proposed subdivision regulations as part of its meeting Wednesday and directed county staff to bring a code change forward for the commission’s consideration at a future meeting. Though commissioners heard some opposition, they agreed that continuing to allow more widely spaced rural homes to be built around the outside of the city was not an affordable or efficient way to add housing to the community.

Commissioner Patrick Kelly said if there is a need for more housing, the City of Lawrence as well as other cities should expand their boundaries so new housing subdivisions can be built to city standards and density.

“I just don’t think that burden should be placed on that agricultural land — once it’s gone, it’s gone,” Kelly said. “And if it’s developed in a way that we can’t urbanize it — and we have little pockets of that all over in our current city limits — I think that’s just not good planning.”

Recent decades have seen a boom of rural neighborhoods with multi-acre lots near the city’s boundaries, precluding denser city expansion in those areas and creating infrastructure problems for both the city and the county. The proposed changes represent a turnaround from the relative ease of subdividing rural or agricultural land into residential lots in recent decades.

The newly proposed regulations for Lawrence and the unincorporated areas of Douglas County would prohibit subdivisions for rural residential developments going forward. If approved by city and county leaders, new neighborhoods in the current and future growth area of the City of Lawrence — known as tier two and tier three — would only be allowed when the development is eligible to become part of the city. As a result, instead of having a minimum lot size of 3 acres, the subdivision would follow city standards that allow for denser housing options.

A couple of rural landowners and representatives of development and real estate organizations opposed the proposal. Lawrence Home Builders Association Executive Director Bobbie Flory said that small “cluster” developments in rural areas are mentioned in the comprehensive plan and should be allowed. Flory said that instead of “prohibiting growth,” the county should work to accommodate demand for housing in places where it wants to occur.

Danielle Davey, governmental affairs director for the Lawrence Board of Realtors, said the new regulations would significantly constrain landowners. Davey said that instead of putting in place more regulatory barriers, the county should work toward collaboration.

Ward Lyles, who specializes in urban planning at the University of Kansas and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners, took issue with some of the counterarguments. Lyles characterized the land development patterns that have been occurring in rural Douglas County as suburban sprawl. He said such developments were unsustainable, and that there was robust evidence that such low-density housing is a loss for local governments over time because it provides services at an inefficient rate.

Commission Vice Chair Shannon Reid said she thought the new regulations would provide more clarity for the community when it came to how to accommodate growth in an efficient way.

“This is an opportunity for us to make it so that staff as well as the planning commissioners and the governing bodies have some clear direction about how to move forward with smart growth in a way that does promote affordability as well as efficient infrastructure,” Reid said.

Commissioner Chair Shannon Portillo agreed that it provided a clearer message for both short- and long-term growth, and she added that it would also create more pressure for Lawrence to annex land to accommodate denser developments that would help build up the housing stock.