photo by: City of Lawrence screenshot

Members of the Land Development Code Update Steering Committee listen to a presentation during their meeting on Thursday, Nov. 9, 2023.

Amid a few days of public input sessions, the steering committee leading the charge to revise rules for how Lawrence should grow met once again Thursday to discuss landscaping and buffering, environmentally sensitive lands and more.

As the Journal-World has reported, the Land Development Code Update Steering Committee is in the middle of a comprehensive project to revise the Land Development Code for the first time in nearly two decades. Throughout this week, the team working on the revisions hosted a number of community meetings to gather feedback about the second revised section of the code, which covers development standards.

The committee’s discussion during Thursday’s meeting covered a wide range of topics, from how site planning should look when it comes to solar orientation — that is, the way new structures are designed to accommodate the installation and operation of solar panels — to standards for exterior lighting. But plant life and the environment, rather than buildings and structures, were both an overarching focus.

In terms of the chapter on landscaping, the group discussed possibly incorporating requirements for “xeriscaping,” or the practice of designing landscapes to reduce or eliminate the need for irrigation entirely. The idea is to plant very drought-tolerant landscaping, said Elizabeth Garvin, a consultant from the city-hired consulting firm Clarion Associates.

Some committee members, however, argued that requiring xeriscaping could make it harder for restaurants that want to grow their own produce in a garden to do so while adhering to the code, for example. Garvin said that section would likely be revised to be more specific and would return for reconsideration.

Garvin said the consulting team also heard feedback from city staff that it may be time to add native plants to the list of trees permissible for incorporating in new development.

“It’s really important to have a diverse mix of trees, and it’s time to think about where to go with that,” Garvin said.

Along with the discussion about landscaping, the committee also talked about “environmentally sensitive lands” — any places where the city either doesn’t want to see any development altogether or where the city should exercise more caution.

“In some cases, it’s because we have safety issues, and in other cases it’s because not (that) the actual construction might be challenging but because it might cause detrimental effects in other locations; it might have kind of a spillover effect,” Garvin said.

Some discussion revolved around clarifying the rules for development — and, in particular, whether any development should be allowed at all — in areas of “floodway fringe.” That refers to the outer edge of areas called floodplains, which are generally flat areas of land next to a river or stream that are especially susceptible to flooding as a result.

Rules around floodplain management would not be new to the area, though. Lawrence and Douglas County are participants in the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Flood Insurance Program, which provides subsidized flood insurance for all property owners as long as local governmental bodies institute adequate land use and development control measures for preventing and reducing property damage due to flooding. That means the county already must ensure that projects located within its floodplain comply with both FEMA regulations and local zoning and land-use rules.

Along with floodplain management, the section of the code related to environmentally sensitive lands will also outline how the city handles stormwater and protection of natural areas. Garvin added that city staff has suggested adding land areas like native prairies and wetlands to the list of what lands are considered environmentally sensitive under the rules.

The steering committee is set to meet again Thursday, Dec. 7.