photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World File Photo

The Douglas County Courthouse is pictured in September 2018.

A Lawrence septic company wants to move its operation and truck storage to a new location, and a rural landowner wants to subdivide his land with the idea of selling new parcels for small farming operations.

The Douglas County Commission will consider their conditional use permit and rezoning requests during its meeting on Wednesday.

Honey-Bee Septic — currently at 1462 North 1700 Road, just outside of the northern edge of Lawrence city limits — requested a conditional use permit for a new property south of Lawrence near the northeast corner North 1100 Road and East 1600 Road.

If approved, the permit would allow the company to use the new location as its operational facility, which requires truck storage. The trucks would be stored in a newly constructed building on the property, according to a staff report provided to the commissioners.

Additionally, the permit would require the company to use East 1600 Road and North 1100 Road as its truck route. Planning staff found increased truck traffic on those routes would not have a significant impact on the area, according to the staff report.

Elsewhere, Dirk Hanson requested a rezoning of his 46-acre property at 915 East 1900 Road from an Ag-1 district, which allows agricultural uses, to an Ag-2 district, which allows for smaller agricultural operations and residential purposes. The land is currently used for agricultural and open space, according to a staff report.

The rezoning would allow Hanson to subdivide the land and sell newly created parcels for small farming operations or residential lots. Through the 40 acres, the land could be subdivided into a maximum of four parcels.

According to the staff report, Hanson indicated that prospective buyers planned to use the new parcels for small-scale farming operations. However, planning staff noted that the rezoning would give Hanson or prospective buyers the ability to use the new parcels strictly for residential purposes.

The Lawrence-Douglas County Metropolitan Planning Commission approved forwarding both requests to the County Commission with a recommendation for approval during its June 24 meeting.

In other business, the commissioners will consider continuing a declaration of emergency for the coronavirus pandemic.

In May, the commission approved a 60-day extension of its local state of emergency declaration for the pandemic, which expired on Monday. The commissioners will consider continuing the declaration indefinitely, meaning it would be in place until the commissioners choose to end it.

The County Commission will meet Wednesday through an online video conference at 5:30 p.m. The meetings will be open to the walk-in public at the county courthouse, 1100 Massachusetts St., but a link for the public to watch live online is available on the county’s website, douglascountyks.org. Residents may also call in and listen by phone by dialing 1-312-626-6799 and entering meeting ID 999-1366-3448.

Full audio from the meeting will continue to be posted on the county’s website, as usual. The meeting’s full agenda may also be found on the county’s website.