Candidates running for Douglas County Commission see the commission’s role in securing more affordable housing differently, they discussed during a forum Wednesday.

The forum was hosted by the Lawrence Board of Realtors, and Governmental Affairs Director Danielle Davey moderated. 

Following the primary election in August, Douglas County voters in November will select their commissioners representing Districts 2 and 3 in addition to newly added Districts 4 and 5.

Find out which district you’re in by visiting myvoteinfo.voteks.org and inputting your name and date of birth or your address.

Participating in a panel Wednesday included Brad Chun, independent candidate for District 2; Karen Willey, incumbent Democratic candidate for District 3, and Pat McDermott, Republican for District 3; Gene Dorsey, Democratic candidate for District 4, Steve Jacob, Libertarian for District 4, and Timothy Bruce, Republican for District 4; and Erica Anderson, Democratic candidate for District 5, Kirsten Kuhn, Libertarian for District 5, and Rich Lorenzo, Republican for District 5.

Incumbent Commissioner Shannon Reid, Democratic candidate for District 2, was unable to be present Wednesday, so a surrogate read aloud written responses Reid had submitted beforehand.

All candidates said they’d be committed to lowering property taxes and would work to lower Douglas County’s mill levy — currently at approximately 44.2 mills — but some candidates had different solutions to get there. Building off that discussion was another about affordable housing.

Lorenzo, who cited a supply issue, also said developers routinely face barriers, including slow processes after introducing their projects.

“I think we’ve got to make it easier for the developers,” Lorenzo said. “The process has to be easy and simplified, and man, let’s work together. Let’s get to ‘Yes.’ Let’s not make it so difficult for everybody to do business in Douglas County.”

Chun said the county should loosen restrictions for developers and then “get out of the way.” On projects outside of city limits, the county could suggest developments be built closer to the existing infrastructure, he said.

Kuhn, who said she’s running her campaign largely on reducing government overreach, said doing less is more. As a commissioner, she said she would first advocate for a reduction in county commissioner salaries, which are currently set at $50,000 annually.

“The people that you’re pricing out are the unemployed, the underemployed, the poor and the elderly,” Kuhn said. “These are the folks that are at risk of ending up in a homelessness situation and exacerbating the problem that we already have. … It is the county government at fault here, and we need to change it.”

Bruce said the county should be in an encouraging role to cities but “know what our place is.” 

When asked by an audience member, Lorenzo, Kuhn, Anderson, Jacob and McDermott replied they’re not fans of using incentives to attract businesses to the county. Chun and Lorenzo said making communities, specifically Lawrence, “attractive” overall is more important, and McDermott agreed.

Dorsey, Bruce and Chun said they’d consider incentives on a project-by-project basis. Anderson agreed and said incentive programs typically come from the state, but it’s up to local governments to do the math and weigh pros and cons before potentially allocating.

“There’s sometimes, some projects just can’t get done by themselves,” Bruce said. “I think we’ve gotta be intelligent about it. It’s not an open checkbook.”

The Douglas County Commission on May 1 approved revised regulations for wind energy, much to many rural residents’ dismay.

But the approved regulations increased required wind turbine setbacks from property lines to 2,500 feet from the 1,500 feet that had been proposed in a draft version. The increased setbacks were intended to ease concerns of opponents, though some wind energy proponents argued the extra distance would essentially make any wind energy projects unfeasible.

“The question was asked about the wind regulations, and I would say that I think they are acceptable. I’m not over the moon about them,” Willey said. “I would say, in terms of the distance and the setback, we asked the Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health Department for literature review. The 2,500-foot setback that we adopted fit into their recommendations.”

Willey and Reid, both current commissioners, defended their votes in favor of the new regulations.

McDermott called those who spoke out against the regulations “quite heroic.” More than 60 people participated in public comment at the May 1 meeting, and around two-thirds of them opposed any wind energy developments in Douglas County.

McDermott, Dorsey, Lorenzo, Bruce and Chun all said they’d take further steps to advocate for a ban on wind energy development as commissioners. Dorsey, however, added he does support the new regulations as they’re currently written, although he proposes the commission should be focusing first on a policy and then outlining regulations.

Jacob said he sees wind turbines as “outdated technology.” Similarly, Kuhn said she’d rather advance opportunities for solar energy — like building panels — but at the same time values property owners’ rights.

Wind turbines in rural living areas mostly benefit the corporations involved, Anderson said, which is why she doesn’t agree with wind turbines being able to be built in rural living areas.

“I am a proponent of solar and wind when it comes to residential,” Anderson said. “But when we think about commercial and utilizing land use for large scale commercial use, I’m not a proponent, because I do not see that it benefits the taxpayer or the resident. And unfortunately, thus far, we have seen that it primarily benefits the commercial entity.”

The general election is set for Tuesday, Nov. 5.

Oct. 15 is the final day to register to vote in Douglas County, and Oct. 29 is the final day to apply for an advance ballot. Douglas County voters can take care of both quickly at KSVotes.org.

Maya Hodison (she/her), equity reporter, can be reached at mhodison@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.

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