‘Shocking’ increase of residential development in rural parts of Douglas County likely to bring code changes

The rural areas of the county are where the Douglas County community least wants development to occur, but the county’s zoning regulations make it one of the easiest places to be developed, Karen Willey said.

“The processes we have in place are absolutely turned on their heads, in terms of how easy or difficult that process is,” said Willey, who is a county appointee on the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission.

Soon, the county may start to change that with a temporary moratorium that would halt efforts of rural landowners to divide their property into new residential lots.