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.

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.

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.

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.”