Lawrence city commissioners on Tuesday decided the less restrictive of two proposals to limit floodplain development would become law, effectively ending more than a year of wrangling and debate.

“It’s still a tough decision,” Mayor Sue Hack said, “because it expands the minimum requirements.”

Commissioner David Dunfield, a longtime proponent of tough floodplain restrictions, wasn’t completely satisfied.

“I think this is a turning point, a defining moment for what Lawrence is going to be,” he said. “We talk about wanting to be a great city, and that requires making the tough decision to have great policies.”

The issue Tuesday wasn’t whether there would be new regulations  opponents long ago decided instead to work for compromise  but which version would win out.

Following FEMA

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

The first version, recommended by the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission, applies only to properties already designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency as part of the 100-year floodplain. Those studies, developers say, typically cost between $3,000 and $5,000, depending on the size and location of the lot under development, money that would be passed on to homebuyers and business customers.

A second version, advocated by planning staffers but not recommended by the planning commission, also would 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.” Planners said the additional area would account for floodplain expansion caused by new construction.

Opponents of the second version said it would lower property values and result in the requirement that property owners buy expensive flood insurance, even though they weren’t in the FEMA floodplain. The annual premium on $100,000 insurance for a home in a flood-prone area runs between $321 and $1,371, according to FEMA estimates.

“This is penalizing me,” said Don Hopkins, a North Lawrence resident whose property would be in the second version’s overlay district. “Where I live has never flooded, except in the 1951 flood.”

Proponents said there would be no federal requirement to buy flood insurance.

“I live next to the floodplain,” said Jim Turrentine, who lives near 29th Street and Belle Haven Drive. “I think my property value will increase if the floodplain doesn’t increase to flood my property.”

The arguments against the second option carried the day.

“The two-foot of freeboard is arbitrary as it stands,” Commissioner Marty Kennedy said. “We’d have to do a hydrologic study of the entire community for it to get my support.”

History as a lesson

The proposed rules have been under consideration by city planners since fall 2001, an outgrowth of the city’s recovery efforts after the flood of 1993.

In the immediate aftermath of that storm, the city spent $2.3 million to repair streets, sewers and other parts of the infrastructure. Another $1.2 million went to designing and building a pump station to slow the buildup of rainwater in North Lawrence.

Additionally, the federal government provided Douglas County with $4.4 million to assist farmers, families and businesses in flood-recovery efforts. The city has since spent more than $11 million to put in place a stormwater master plan to prevent a repeat of 1993, and it expects to spend another $40 million by 2014.

Officials said that under either version of the regulations, Lawrence should be eligible to apply for a citywide reduction in insurance rates  but perhaps as much as 20 percent under the second option.

“The more stringent regulations we adopt, the bigger benefit we’ll get,” said Bryan Dyer, a city planner.

Hack and Kennedy, joined by Commissioner Jim Henry, voted for the first version of regulations. Dunfield, joined by Commissioner Mike Rundle, opposed.

Dyer said the regulations now go to the state’s Division of Water Resources for a 90-day review. After that, a formal ordinance will come back to the commission for final approval.