City leaders tried to reassure about 40 people Wednesday night that a new sewer plant wouldn’t be a terrible next door neighbor.

“Is odor a concern to us? Absolutely,” Interim City Manager David Corliss said. “But that’s the kind of thing we can professionally respond to. This plant is not the kind of thing that people will want to flee miles away from.”

Residents surrounding two areas being considered for the new $75 million plant weren’t so sure. They packed the City Commission room Wednesday night for an information meeting about the plant, which needs to be built by 2011 in order to meet the city’s projected growth.

“I think the odor is going to depend on where you are and what kind of day it is,” said Mike Manley, who lives near a proposed site southeast of Lawrence. “I think everybody admits there’s going to be some bad days.”

But engineers working on the project urged residents to drive by or tour the city’s existing sewer plant at 1400 E. Eighth St.

“I think what most people learn is that wastewater plants don’t stink as bad as you think they do, and we do not use as many chemicals as you think we do,” said Mike Orth, an engineer with Black & Veatch, who is designing the plant.

Dave Wagner, the city’s assistant director of utilities, said that his office generally received odor complaints fewer than a half dozen days a year.

The city announced Friday that it had narrowed the potential sites for the project to two. They are:

¢ A location south of the Wakarusa River and west of U.S. Highway 59 where it intersects with North 1200 Road. The city said it is looking for property on both the north and south sides of North 1200.

¢ A location south of the Wakarusa River where East 1600 Road, which is O’Connell Road extended, dead-ends at the river. The city said it primarily would be looking for property east of East 1600 Road.

Orth said the two sites both have advantages and disadvantages. But it appeared that the western site seemed to have more challenges. Orth said the western site definitely would place the plant closer to more homes, and it also would place the plant upstream of the Baker Wetlands.

Orth said he did not believe the treated wastewater that would be released into the Wakarusa River would damage the biological balance of the wetlands. But he said in other parts of the country there have been protests related to running wastewater through sacred American Indian grounds. Several members of the American Indian community have said the Baker Wetlands are extremely significant to Indian culture and history.

“It could be a very sensitive issue,” Orth said.

The biggest advantage to the western site is that it puts the plant more centrally located to handle new west Lawrence growth – which would reduce the amount of money the city spends to get the sewage to the plant – Orth said.

The eastern site is in a more isolated area and is downstream of the Baker Wetlands. But the site does contain two known archaeological sites, although neither has produced significant finds as of yet, Orth said.

Orth said that the city likely will be looking to buy between 235 acres to 300 acres for the project. Part of the property would be used to create at least a 1,000-foot buffer area around the actual plant and all adjacent property. Orth said neither site would likely accommodate previously discussed plans that would require about 1,000 acres. Those plans would have used a man-made wetland to partially treat some of the sewage.