May
2010
Lawrence i OPEN
s
Open for Business! by Natasha Buller
If you haven’t seen the official Lawrence Chamber of Commerce chocolate bar, it reads “Lawrence is Open for Business!” The Chamber gave away about a thousand of these candy bars at the 2010 St. Patrick’s Day Parade. This was one way to inform the public about what the Chamber is doing to make Lawrence a better place in which to do business. Because now—more than ever—the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce is committed to fulfilling its mission of being an advocate for economic vitality and job growth in Lawrence and Douglas County. “We have learned in recent times how essential a vibrant and growing business sector is to the overall health of our community,” Chairman of the 2010 Board of Directors Matt Hoy stated in his welcome letter to members. “Your Chamber is steadfast in its mission and has embraced its role as the leading business voice in our community.” In the fall of 2008, the Chamber met with a group of area developers, homebuilders and real estate professionals to discuss what could be done to make Lawrence a better community in which to do business. They overwhelmingly indicated that improving the relationship between the development community and the City of Lawrence should be the top priority. “The dialog has been important,” explained Frank Male, Owner of Lawrence Landscape. “Many times, the City staff and City Commissioners don’t understand the unintended
consequences of their policies and procedures.” In response, the Chamber held a number of sessions with representatives from the development community to better understand their concerns and determine possible solutions to this issue. As a result, the Developer’s Forum was established, consisting of six representatives from the development community and six representatives from the City of Lawrence. Representing the development community are local architects, engineers, real estate attorneys, landscape architects as well as Chamber board members and staff. Representing the City are two City Commissioners, one Planning Commissioner, the City Manager and the City Planning Director. Over the past 14 months, this group has been meeting monthly to discuss various matters in an attempt to improve the development code for all concerned. “It’s important to understand the perspectives of all of the many participants of development in a community,” the City’s Planning and Development Service Director Scott McCullough said. “While the Planning Office attempts to identify elements of the city code that could benefit the different stakeholders, there is no substitute for obtaining stakeholders’ priority issues directly from them so that we can work to implement them.”
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