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ECO2

Funding for ECO2, phones approved
Tuesday, May 3, 2005
Douglas County will spend $12,500 to help ECO2 study open space and industrial development issues, commissioners decided Monday.

Planners identify development sites
Wednesday, July 28, 2004
Planning officials have identified six areas in Douglas County as possible sites for major industrial developments.

Area business leaders receive recognition from Baker University
Wednesday, March 26, 2003
Baker University officials honored a health care professional, a couple who farms and a commercial real estate agent Tuesday during their annual Partners-In-Progress breakfast.

ECO2 looks toward next incarnation
Wednesday, February 5, 2003
After nearly three years of heavy lifting, leaders of a land-use coalition are ready to hand off their consensus-building efforts to a new eight-member committee.

6News video: Eco2 asking for new committee
Wednesday, February 5, 2003
6News reports on a new proposal by ECO2 for a new eight member committee.

ECO2 seeks new members
Thursday, November 7, 2002
Members of a committee focused on developing business parks and preserving open space soon will be asking for help in choosing their replacements.

6News video report: ECO2 to ask county for help
Wednesday, October 23, 2002
6News reports on the news that ECO2 will ask the county commission for help.

ECO2 to seek county support
Saturday, October 19, 2002
ECO2 isn't dead, but it is hoping to get a new shot of life from the Douglas County Commission by year's end.

Official: Sales tax details lacking
Wednesday, June 26, 2002
By Mark Fagan

If ECO2 wants taxpayer money to pay for creating business parks and preserving open space, its leaders will have to come up with a more detailed game plan for spending the money.

6News video report: ECO2 still wants quarter-cent sales tax for development and preservation efforts
Wednesday, June 26, 2002
6News reports on Tuesday's ECO2 meeting, where the main topic was funding.

ECO2 struggling to stay alive
Wednesday, June 5, 2002
By Mark Fagan

A two-year effort to inject financial life into Douglas County development and preservation efforts is teetering on life support, and its supporters are clamoring for a personnel transfusion.

ECO2 backs off November election
Saturday, May 18, 2002
By Scott Rothschild

Legislation clearing the way for a vote in Douglas County on whether to increase the countywide sales tax by one-quarter cent was included in the $252 million statewide tax increase approved Friday by the Legislature.

Residents put in 2 cents on ECO2 tax proposal
Tuesday, April 30, 2002
By Matt Merkel-Hess

A group backing a plan to develop industrial land and preserve open space had a second public forum Monday night. The ECO2 committee, formed by the Chamber of Commerce in 2000, asked for input on a plan that would increase sales taxes by 1/4-cent to spur development and preserve green space.

Sales tax proposal panned at forum
Thursday, April 25, 2002
By Mark Fagan

Backers of a plan to boost sales taxes to buy industrial land and preserve open space took their case to the public Wednesday night, anticipating plenty of criticism of the financing plan.
They got it.

ECO2 advances sales tax proposal
Wednesday, April 10, 2002
By Mark Fagan

Think fast. After two years of preparations, members of the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce's ECO2 committee agreed Tuesday to ask voters to approve a 1/4-cent sales tax in November to help finance acquisition of land for industrial development and preservation of open space.

ECO2 Initiative (text document)
Wednesday, April 10, 2002
Editor's Note: The following is the text from the ECO2 Initiative.

ECO2 idea gets welcome reception
Thursday, March 14, 2002
By Scott Rothschild

A proposal that could lead to a sales tax increase in Douglas County will probably clear its first legislative hurdle next week, the chairman of the House tax committee said Wednesday.

ECO2 faces uphill battle for tax-increase election
Monday, March 11, 2002
By Mark Fagan

Getting permission to ask voters to increase sales taxes is one thing. Actually asking Douglas County residents to approve a new 1/4-cent sales tax is quite another.

Official levels fire at ECO2
Thursday, February 28, 2002
By Chad Lawhorn

It's time to pull the plug on ECO2. So said the chair of the Douglas County Commission. Jere McElhaney said Wednesday that the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce group's plan to create more open space and industrial development appears to be undemocratic and that ECO2, as the group is known, should be disbanded.
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6News video report: County commissioner thinks ECO2 has gotten out of hand
Thursday, February 28, 2002
Marta Costello reports on the Douglas County Commission chairman's opinions on the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce's ECO2 task force.

Panel's makeup splits ECO2
Wednesday, February 27, 2002
By Chad Lawhorn

Members of a chamber of commerce group aiming to preserve open space and create industrial park development found themselves debating whether their efforts will create taxation without adequate representation.

ECO2 leader: Cities to get funds
Friday, February 15, 2002
By Joel Mathis

Deadline haste inadvertently led to a state bill provision cutting Douglas County cities out of funds raised by a proposed local sales tax for open space and industrial land, ECO2's chairman said Thursday.

ECO2 sales tax plan goes to Topeka
Wednesday, February 13, 2002
By Joel Mathis

The Kansas Legislature will have its say on possible financing of ECO2's efforts to buy industrial and open space land in Douglas County. House Bill 2828, introduced Monday by the Taxation Committee, would give the Douglas County Commission authority to conduct an election on a quarter-cent sales tax only to acquire and develop such land.

ECO2 rethinking sales tax idea
Wednesday, February 6, 2002
By Chad Lawhorn

After a trio of closed-door meetings Tuesday, members of a Lawrence Chamber of Commerce committee said they were rethinking plans to seek a quarter-cent sales tax increase that would fund economic development efforts and open space acquisition.

Division emerges over tax plan
Tuesday, January 29, 2002
By Chad Lawhorn

A chamber of commerce group's plan to ask voters in November for a quarter-cent sales tax increase faltered Monday after disagreements arose among the panel's members. At a meeting of the chamber's ECO2 group, key members questioned the plan's future after the group's chairman proposed scrapping a provision that would require the new sales tax money to be divided equally between industrial development and preserving open space.

ECO2 setting goal for 12,000 new jobs
Wednesday, December 19, 2001
By Chad Lawhorn

Creating 12,000 new jobs in Lawrence during the next 25 years is the aim of a group looking for open space and industrial land.
Members of ECO2, the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce planning panel, agreed to the goal Tuesday. They said the jobs would come from constructing business parks that attract a mix of new high-tech and traditional industrial employers to Douglas County.

Task force wants tax money for open space, industrial sites
Wednesday, November 7, 2001
By Chad Lawhorn

Taxpayers should finance purchase of the land for future Douglas County industrial development and green space, a Lawrence Chamber of Commerce task force has concluded. What it still hasn't nailed down is how much to ask for from the public and whether its request should be put to a countywide vote.

Maps offer Lawrence task force look at spaces for growth, conservation
Thursday, August 2, 2001
By Joy Ludwig

The big picture of the county's floodplains, land slopes, zoning, wooded areas and other land features came into focus Wednesday for Lawrence and Douglas County elected officials. Maps created by Lawrence city planners, the Douglas County Appraiser's Office and Kansas University's geography department were on display during a meeting of ECO2, a Lawrence Chamber of Commerce task force.

Task force eyeing green spaces
Wednesday, June 6, 2001
By Joy Ludwig

An idea to preserve Douglas County's agricultural land, grassy areas and wide open spaces is in the works. Members of ECO2, a Lawrence Chamber of Commerce task force designated to look for open and commercial spaces, discussed developing a master plan to do just that Tuesday. The plan to acquire land probably would require a public bond issue or other taxing authority measure, said County Commissioner Charles Jones, who also serves on the task force.

Economic task force compares college towns
Tuesday, May 1, 2001
By Terry Rombeck

As college towns of about 80,000 people, Lawrence and Columbia, Mo., may seem almost identical. But members of ECO2, the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce's economic development task force, on April 12 toured Columbia to see for themselves.

ECO2 continues 'exchange of ideas'
Wednesday, April 11, 2001
By Mark Fagan

By year's end, a Lawrence Chamber of Commerce task force intends to offer the community a list of potential sites for new industrial parks and areas for preserving open space. But first things first.