photo by: Douglas County GIS

This aerial photo from 2018 shows an area of East Lawrence along 12th Street, at middle, from Rhode Island Street, at left, to Delaware Street, at right.

The City of Lawrence is about halfway through the two-year process of updating its Land Development Code, and the steering committee leading that process is now ready for public input on its changes to the portion of the code relating to zoning districts and uses.

As the Journal-World reported, the code — which dictates where and how the city grows, as well as changes that could affect the aesthetics and function of existing neighborhoods and commercial areas — hasn’t been updated since 2006. The city kicked off that process last August. Now, a series of community meetings to gather feedback on the first of three draft modules that will make up the code as a whole are set to take place Wednesday through Friday.

All meetings will take place at City Hall Riverfront, 1 Riverfront Plaza, Ste. 320, and they’ll all be open to the public. Wednesday’s schedule includes roundtable discussions about residential districts from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. and commercial districts from 3 to 4 p.m. A general meeting about affordable housing is slated for 6 to 7:45 p.m.

On Thursday, a general meeting about sustainability will open the day from 8 to 9:45 a.m., followed by roundtable discussions about the downtown area from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Drop-in meetings about all topics will take place from 1 to 3:30 p.m. and from 6:30 to 8 p.m., with a steering committee meeting sandwiched in-between from 4 to 6 p.m.

On Friday, roundtable discussions about industrial and special districts will take place from 8 to 10 a.m., and a lunch discussion about equity from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. will finish out the week of public input sessions.

The steering committee will also host two virtual meetings in late July, one from 8 to 10 a.m. on Friday, July 28, and the other from 5:30 to 7 p.m. on Monday, July 31. More information about the Land Development Code update process is available on the project’s website.