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.