Members of Heritage Baptist Church can go ahead and build their new $1 million auditorium northwest of Lawrence, Douglas County commissioners decided Monday.

Commissioners approved a site plan for the project planned at the church’s 26-acre campus at the southwest corner of the Farmer’s Turnpike and East 800 Road.

Plans call for an auditorium with 700 seats, plus classrooms for Sunday school. For the past two years, the 340-member church has been meeting in an educational building that has room for 300 seats.

Scott Hanks, the church’s pastor, said that church members would begin construction in the spring. He expects the project to take two to three years to complete.