Floodplain decision to wait for maps
New city floodplain regulations will wait until maps are created showing which areas would be affected.
The Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission spent two hours on the topic Wednesday, but it deferred a decision until members can see the maps. That should take about two months.
That decision came after a series of speakers asked the commission to see the maps before approving the policy.
“As great a proponent as I am for these regulations, I think we need to be responsive to those concerns,” Commissioner John Haase said.
The proposed regulations would allow development in the 100-year floodplain, but only if property owners produced a hydrological study showing their plans wouldn’t make the floodplain bigger.
Those rules would be employed in a “floodplain overlay district” that would include the floodplain plus 2 feet of elevation designated in maps created last year by the Federal Emergency Management Agency
That drew some criticism from some people who said hundreds of properties outside the FEMA-designated areas but within the overlay district would be subject to get expensive flood insurance as a result.
Commissioners said they want to find out if that was true.
“I don’t think we can make a policy decision in a vacuum,” Commissioner Andy Ramirez said. “I think that’s important information to have before we make that leap.”
The issue will be tabled for three months to give the public a month to digest the maps.