Memorandum

City of Lawrence/Douglas County

Planning & Development Services

 

TO:

Diane Stoddard, Interim City Manager

FROM:

Jeff Crick, AICP, Planner II

CC:

Scott McCullough, Director, Planning and Development Services

Amy Miller, AICP, CFM, Assistant Director, Planning

DATE:

November 10, 2015

RE:

Consideration of the Horizon 2020  Steering Committee’s Issue Action Report

 

Background

At their August 31st, 2015 meeting, the Horizon 2020 Steering Committee voted 9 to 0 to recommend the Issue Action Report to the Planning Commission, City Commission, and the Board of County Commissioners.  The Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission also adopted the report 9 to 0 at their September 21st, 2015 meeting.

 

The effort to identify and prioritize these issues began in the spring of 2014, with the commissioning of a county-wide, statistically valid survey by ETC.  This was then followed by a county-wide series of nine Open House meetings, which also included a survey component to help refine the issues and priorities of those identified in the ETC survey.  Two Public Forums were also held by the Steering Committee in November 2014 to ask residents what issues should be prioritized out of all of the issues raised through the earlier input processes.  Throughout their meetings, the Steering Committee also received a wide-range of public correspondence regarding their topics and findings.

 

The Issue Action Report will become the Planning Staff’s work plan that will guide the updating of the text, as well as the efforts to make the plan less of a technical document and more of an interactive one that is accessible to all members of the community. The Issue Action Report outlines 19 key issues that need to be studied and addressed to update the existing comprehensive plan, including the identified absent pieces that the community values and would like to incorporate into the document with this update.

 

The Steering Committee will continue to meet to provide guidance and input on key issues within the plan’s development, and also continue to oversee the updating process.

 

Action

Adopt the Issue Action Report from H2020/Comprehensive Plan Update Steering Committee, and adopt Joint City Resolution No. 7143/County Resolution No. ____, if appropriate.