Floodplain development regulations have been the subject of debate in Lawrence for more than a year.

But it’s still anybody’s guess what will happen when the Lawrence City Commission sits down Tuesday night to resolve the issue.

“I don’t know” what will happen, Mayor Sue Hack said Friday.

“All I can say is I’ve had conversations with planning folks, and I’ve had conversations with people who are concerned about the regulations, and somewhere in the middle of it I’m going to have to make a decision,” she said. “There’s a lot there to go through.”

Commissioners on Thursday received a 2-inch-thick packet of informational materials for the meeting. It includes two possible sets of regulations, a planning staff memorandum on the issue and letters of comment from dozens of Lawrence residents and developers.

That follows a year of meetings by the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission and a subcommittee in which a variety of opinions on the issue were heard.

Both sets of proposed floodplain regulations would require builders to do a hydrological study showing their development wouldn’t expand the floodplain.

The version recommended by the planning commission applies only to properties already designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency as part of the 100-year floodplain.

A second version, advocated by planning staffers but not recommended by the planning commission, would also apply those rules to a bigger “Drainage Protection Overlay District.” That district comprises more than 1,000 properties that would be covered if the FEMA floodplain were expanded by 2 feet an area also known as “freeboard.”

During a study session last month, Commissioner Marty Kennedy noted the FEMA floodplain was based on 1996 data. Development in Lawrence since then has probably made the floodplain bigger, he said.

¢ City commission could select stricter set of floodplain regulations (09-27-2002)¢ City commission enters floodplain fray (09-04-2002)¢ Floodplain rules win approval (08-29-2002)

“The freeboard brings us back closer to what the FEMA map would be at this point in time,” Kennedy said at the study session. “In fact, the FEMA floodplain might be larger than the freeboard.”

But Kennedy said Friday he was still studying the issue and would need the whole weekend to digest the information packet.

“We’ll kind of deal with it when we get there,” he said of Tuesday’s decision. “It’s very important for the city to have an effective storm water plan for years to come.”

The meeting begins at 6:35 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, Sixth and Massachusetts streets.