If Wednesday night was any indication, proponents of floodplain development restrictions have their work cut out for them.

Of the roughly three dozen people who spoke on the issue at a special meeting of the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission, only seven spoke in favor of the proposed regulations.

Rick Renfro, owner of Johnny's Tavern, 401 N. Second St., speaks before the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission about proposed floodplain changes. Renfro discussed his experiences with the flood of 1993 and trying to collect an insurance claim. More than 150 residents of the affected areas spilled into the hallway Wednesday at City Hall while waiting to speak to the commission.

Many more business leaders, developers and a number of homeowners who have found themselves caught up in the net cast by the rules decried the lost economic opportunities and lowered property values they said would surely ensue if the regulations were passed.

And a few spoke against the regulations in their current form, saying they would be a financial burden on existing homeowners, but urged planning commissioners to restrict future floodplain development and do more to mitigate current flooding problems.

“The city is asking individual homeowners to bear the burden of Lawrence’s uncontrolled growth,” said Jacqueline Richardson, a west Lawrence resident whose property will be affected by the rules.

Hundreds of people packed City Hall to hear testimony on the regulations officials have been working on since last fall.

The current version of the rules would allow building in the floodplain only if a property owner could produce a hydrological study showing the new structure wouldn’t change the floodplain’s elevation or contours.

The proposed regulations also expand the floodplain to include areas that would be affected if the elevation of the Federal Emergency Management Agency-designated, 100-year floodplain was raised 2 feet. The expanded floodplain would include 1,200 additional properties not designated by FEMA, officials have said.

	Be heardThe Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission will take further public comment on proposed floodplain development regulations at its next meeting, 6:30 p.m. July 24 in City Hall, Sixth and Massachusetts streets. Commissioners said they didn’t expect to take up the issue until about 9 that night. A decision on the regulations is possible at the meeting.

Many of those property owners spoke Wednesday, saying the new designation would lower their property values and force them to purchase expensive flood insurance.

“This is the most ridiculous thing the city has come up with in recent years,” said Mel Lisher, another west Lawrence resident whose property would be affected. “If you do this, it’s just another way to pass the buck to overtaxed citizens.”

Kelvin Heck, representing the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce, agreed.

“We believe if adopted, these regulations will put our dramatic damper on our business environment,” he said.

City Commissioner David Dunfield said the city already had paid millions in stormwater mitigation projects because it didn’t act sooner to restrict floodplain development.

“We can’t speak credibly about protecting property values until we speak about protecting properties,” Dunfield said.

	Floodplain map

Some commissioners floated the idea of exempting existing households from the regulations, but Lawrence resident John Greer whose Kansas City restaurant has flooded multiple times urged them not to.

“Water has the authority far more than any of us. It respects no exemption; it goes where it wants to,” he said. “I’ve never seen an exemption or regulation helping me when I’m down digging out of the mud.”