Comprehensive Plan

Lawrence and unincorporated Douglas County began the process of creating Horizon 2020 in 1991. At that time, Lawrence was home to just over 65,000 people, and the City comprised only about 5% of the county’s overall land. Twenty-two years later, Lawrence’s population has grown 34% and has almost doubled in geographical size. In 2013, Douglas County and the City of Lawrence came together to revise the comprehensive plan for the next 20 years. Building on the firm foundation of Horizon 2020, Plan 2040 is a comprehensive guide that empowers our citizens to make our community vision a reality. It recommends goals to promote a high quality of life in both urban and rural settings and directs growth in a manner that preserves and enhances the heritage and spirit of our community to create unique places to live, work, learn, and play.


Plan 2040 (Adopted November 2019)	Interactive Map Gallery	Comprehensive Plan Update Guide

Horizon 2020 Steering Committee

The Steering Committee was a 10-member advisory board whose primary focus was to guide the process for amending Horizon 2020, and was charged with overseeing and guiding the process, including public education, issue identification, and prioritization of issues to submit to the Lawrence-Douglas County Metropolitan Planning Commission and the Governing Bodies of the City and County for review, and for reviewing the draft and final plan product.

Issue Action Report

This Issue Action Report contains the Steering Committee’s findings regarding how to best strengthen the existing plan and ensure that the document reflects the community’s vision, while also setting a foundation for creating the inclusive and sustainable community we want Lawrence and Douglas County to be in the future.

The Issue Action Report presented 19 major issues with the previous comprehensive plan, Horizon 2020 (based on community input and identified needs), and it outlined Action Steps to help address and resolve these issues.

Comprehensive Plan