I know I'm a bit late to the party, so to speak. Everything below is simply my opinion, and I'm open to ideas or criticism.

The first thing I think we should discuss is how to get new players to the city itself.

When a brand new player joins the server, the first thing they do is try to not starve, and/or find a city with people in it to join. More and more I'm startled by the number of people who play Minecraft but don't know how to survive in the wild. We need to make it clear that by coming to Liberty, there will be free food immediately, and that it won't be that hard to find.

The second thing every player does, immediately after finding a good source of food, is create a place to store their stuff. For some players, this means building a house, which is a very personal and creative process. Having plots ready and cheap is important for this reason. We shouldn't hand them out completely for free, or we drive down property values (which is a whole other discussion). Granted, players might not have anything of value to pay with if they've brand new. I say that we allow them to postpone payment (of the usual 1d per plot, or whatever is decided), which can work in our favor: Since we already have a nice detailed land registry, we can track whether or not they're payed, and if they leave after a week or so without paying we can simply flatten and reuse the land. If they continue to play, it shouldn't take them long to pay off whatever small fee we decide on. This also gives new players an immediate goal, something to do on a server where the abundant possibilities can be intimidating.

For other players, they might not want to bother building a whole house and just want a secure chest to throw their stuff in. This is where I think apartments can come in handy. If the apartment owner controls all reinforcement of the building, they can create different groups for different rooms and give/revoke access as necessary. The payment can be delayed or up front, given in person or placed one-way into a designated shopchest for each room. Apartments allow players to literally get onto the server and start playing/gathering in under 30 minutes.