Lawrence residents soon will realize just how much a new sewer treatment plant on the Wakarusa River will cost.

City commissioners Tuesday night approved new sewer and water rates that will take effect Jan. 1. Commissioners approved sewer rates that will increase the bills of many typical users by 15 percent to 20 percent, and water rates that will increase the average user’s bill by about 7 percent.

Commissioners found the sewer rates particularly troubling. They noted a good portion of the rate increase would be used to fund a new $99 million sewer treatment plant that will be built on the Wakarusa River during the next five years. The plant is needed, in part, to help the community keep up with a growing population.

“Everybody in this town is going to be paying exorbitant wastewater rates for a very long time,” said City Commissioner Boog Highberger. “It makes me very sad, but either we do this or we stop issuing building permits in 2010, and I’m not sure we can afford to do that.”

Mayor Mike Rundle said the sewer rates should remind residents of the need for better city planning in how to deal with the city’s growing population in a way that doesn’t burden existing residents.

“I have been trying to understand how we got to this point,” Rundle said.

Commissioners approved rates for 2005 and approved a rate plan for the years 2006 through 2009. Commissioners will have to vote on those rate increases each year.

In other action, commissioners:

• Agreed to re-open negotiations with Kansas University officials on a proposed agreement that would govern how the campus would be allowed to grow near existing neighborhoods. But city commissioners said if an agreement couldn’t be reached within six months, they would seek to impose the city’s zoning regulations on the entire KU campus. KU officials have said they would fight such an action, claiming that state law exempts them from such regulation.
• Approved a new development code that will replace the city’s current zoning code that was adopted in 1966. The updated regulations will take effect Jan. 24.
• Approved a site plan for a new police evidence storage facility at 900 E. 15th Street. Commissioners promised concerned neighbors that they would work hard to ensure the facility fits in with the largely residential area.