Property owners in Lawrence may see a big cut in their flood insurance premiums next year, thanks in large part, city officials say, to new floodplain development regulations.

City officials said Wednesday federal officials had told them the insurance rates might drop between 10 percent and 15 percent — as much as $60 a year for many property owners.

“That’s something we predicted,” said Mayor David Dunfield, who pushed for the tougher regulations passed last year by the Lawrence City Commission. “Now that people can actually see that, I hope it will create more support for the floodplain regulations we put in place.”

Commissioners approved the regulations in 2002. The rules require builders to do a hydrological study showing that new developments in the 100-year floodplain won’t expand the 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 home buyers and business customers.

After passing the regulations, the city applied to participate in the Community Rating System, which gauges how well communities protect themselves from flood damage. Those ratings then determine a community’s eligibility for flood insurance payment reductions.

“It’s basically a reward for being responsible for activities that happen in the floodplain,” said Rhonda Montgomery, the National Flood Insurance Program coordinator for Kansas.

Montgomery, who has reviewed an early draft of the city’s application, said Lawrence participated in the system during the early 1990s, with a rating of 10 — the lowest possible.

After dropping out of the system in 1992, the city experienced 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.

The city has since spent more than $11 million to put in place a stormwater master plan to prevent a repeat of 1993, and officials expect to spend another $40 million by 2014.

Those costs, in turn, spurred creation of the floodplain development regulations.

Montgomery said Wednesday those regulations — and, to a lesser extent, the stormwater plan — were the biggest reasons the city could expect its CRS rating to jump to “8” or even “7.” The first rating would result in a 10 percent drop in premiums; the second would cut another 5 percent.

Federal law mandates lenders pay for insurance on properties in the 100-year floodplain. City officials say there are 420 flood insurance policyholders in Lawrence, who pay an average of $399 per year.

Officials said the benefits go beyond cost savings.

“This is just one of the byproducts of regulations that take into account a realistic picture of flooding,” said John Haase, a member of the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission. “It doesn’t stand alone as justification.”

Montgomery agreed.

“Because of the higher regulation standards, they’re going to reduce damage to structures” during a flood, she said. “And that’s going to reduce loss of life, loss of property.”

The Planning Commission is considering a similar set of regulations for use in rural Douglas County. The city should know its final rating by Feb. 28.