photo by: Journal-World

The west side of the Douglas County Courthouse, 1100 Massachusetts St., is pictured on Sept. 23, 2021.

Community members can learn about Douglas County’s Open Space Plan and provide feedback during an open house next week.

The county will host the open house from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 26, at the Lawrence Union Pacific Depot, 402 N. Second St.

The need for an Open Space Plan was identified in “Plan 2040: A Comprehensive Plan for Unincorporated Douglas County and the City of Lawrence,” which was adopted in 2019. The benefits of planning for open spaces were identified as promoting high quality of life and healthy lifestyles; controlling flooding and sustaining stormwater management and resilience; maintaining rural character, including agriculture sectors; and enhancing ecological integrity and preserving native landscapes and wildlife habitat.

The purpose of the open house is to gather feedback on the focus areas and preliminary recommendations of the project team. Community leaders hope to build on the success of the first outreach series in May and June, which included nearly 1,000 survey responses, two public workshops and a series of focus groups with a range of interested parties.

The event will include activities for children and a raffle entry for all attendees.

The day before the open house, the project team will provide an update to the Douglas County Commission during a work session at 4 p.m. in the County Courthouse, 1100 Massachusetts St. The meeting is open to the public and is also available on Zoom. For meeting information, visit the County’s website at douglascountyks.org.

The project team is also gathering feedback on guiding values, priority areas and potential funding sources through a new questionnaire on the Open Space website: dgcoks.org/openspace. The questionnaire will be available until Sunday, Nov. 12.

The project team plans to release and publish a draft plan in early 2024.

The team includes Douglas County staff from Sustainability, Zoning and Codes, Heritage Conservation and Communications, and environmental planning and design consulting firm Logan Simpson.