A long-discussed, $65 million sewage treatment plant south of the Wakarusa River is about to become real.

Lawrence city commissioners at their Tuesday evening meeting awarded the first of many construction contracts for the project, which will be just south of where O’Connell Road intersects with the Wakarusa River.

“It is kind of a momentous day at City Hall,” City Manager David Corliss said.

Commissioners awarded a $5 million contract to King’s Construction to do some excavation and road work for the project. The bid came in about $1.7 million less than engineers had estimated.

When completed in 2017, the new sewage treatment plant will give the city greater capacity to handle additional growth and to meet tightening treatment regulations by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Residents are most likely to notice the plant, however, on their monthly water and sewer bills. Commissioners gave approval to a new set of water and sewer rates that will help pay for the project and others. The rates will increase the bills of consumers by about 5 percent to 7 percent, depending on the type of user.

In other news, commissioners:

• Approved a contract for the firm of Convention Sports & Leisure to conduct a study to measure the market demand for a conference center in Lawrence. The cost of the $29,000 study will be split by Kansas University and the city. The first phase of the study, which is expected to be done by the end of the year, will measure the demand for a conference center. A subsequent phase would study possible locations for a conference center. The World Co., the publisher of the Journal-World and LJWorld.com, has proposed a site on downtown property owned by the company, but other sites also are expected to be considered.

• Approved a site plan for a Menards home improvement store near 31st and Iowa streets. On a 4-1 vote, commissioners rejected an appeal from the development group that owns the Home Depot property that is adjacent to the site. The development group was seeking a change in how Menards dealt with stormwater issues on the site. Commissioner Bob Schumm was the lone vote against the site plan. With the site plan approved, a representative for Menards said the plan is for the new store to open in the spring of 2015.