The Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission on Wednesday approved a new rule that could make it harder for developers to get exceptions from the city’s subdivision regulations.

The regulations say that such exceptions to the rules  governing everything from the locations of trees on a lot to the length of a cul-de-sac in a housing development  should be granted only when the rules cause an “undue hardship” to developers.

Until Wednesday, there was no definition of “undue hardship.” Planning commissioners have clashed repeatedly during the last year about granting such exceptions, known as “variances.”

Commissioners said they hoped the new rule would help settle such debates. The rule they adopted Wednesday defined the renamed “unnecessary hardship” happening when:

 Applying the rules would be an “arbitrary and capricious” interference with private property ownership.

 The rules would make it impossible to use the property legally.

 The rules would amount to government’s taking of property without paying for it.

“Mere financial loss or the loss of a potential financial advantage does not constitute unnecessary hardship,” the definition says.

Commissioner John Haase said that definition might have stopped some variances the commission has granted in the past year. One notable variance, he said, was allowing a proposed light-industrial subdivision at 15th Street and Wakarusa Drive to include a lot smaller than allowed for in the regulations.

He estimated the commission had granted two dozen variances in the last year.

“Had this definition been in place during the period of time I’ve been on the planning commission … the majority of variances that have come before us would have been ineligible,” he said.

But Commissioner Ron Durflinger said not much would change.

“Don’t think that once we pass this, the discussions will get any shorter,” he told his colleagues. “There will still be differences of opinion.”

The definition now goes to the city and county commissions for approval.