WATERFORD – Western Maine voters have not been known to embrace land use regulations, but the town of Waterford hopes to change all that in an effort to control growth.

Tonight and Feb. 7, residents will have the opportunity to comment on a proposed land management standards ordinance and an accompanying district map. The standards and map were created by the Waterford Comprehensive Plan Implementation Committee, which will ask voters to approve the documents at the annual March town meeting.

“We spent three years developing this to make it as fair and equitable as possible,” said Waterford Selectman Whizzer Wheeler, who also is a member of the plan implementation committee.

The comprehensive plan was approved by voters in 2000, Wheeler said, and calls for the land management regulations.

Controlling growth and development can help prevent sprawl and a sky high tax rate, Selectman Chairman Charles Fillebrown Jr. said. “We are trying to protect this town.”

If approved by voters, the land management standards ordinance would go into effect Jan. 1, 2006. The document calls for the creation of five distinct districts: the historic village architectural district, village district, rural district and the aquifer overlay. The latter would provide special protections for sand and gravel aquifers.

Each district is proposed to have lot size, street frontage and setback requirements. For example, a one-acre minimum lot size would apply in the village district, while the general development and rural districts would be subject to two-acre minimums. Subdivisions in the rural district would fall under a five-acre minimum lot size requirement.

According to John Maloney, senior land use planner for the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments, the proposed ordinance is not as strict as traditional zoning regulations. He helped develop the document.

Traditional zoning, Maloney said, “will have a whole long list of uses that are not allowed.” Waterford’s proposed ordinance relies more on the existing site plan review ordinance to make such determinations.

There are, however, some restrictions in the proposed ordinance. Gas stations would not be allowed in the historic village architectural district or rural districts, for example. Casinos would be prohibited from all districts, and hotels or motels would only be allowed in the village district or rural district.

Home occupations would be allowed throughout town, while accessory apartments would require code enforcement officer approval.

Wheeler said the proposed ordinance may face some challenges. “Very few towns around here have gotten this through,” he acknowledged.

Mexico is one such town. Code Enforcement Officer David Errington said the town didn’t have a hard time gaining support for their land management ordinance in 2000.

“If you get as many people from different areas of town as possible involved, it helps,” he said.

Mexico Planning Board Chairman Dan Casey said passing the ordinance was “a lot of work,” but it has helped as the town has faced growth in recent years.

Despite being open to public involvement, the town of Bethel didn’t face such a smooth process.

Ken Bohr, former chairman of the former 2003 committee, said attempts to pass a land management ordinance were abandoned due to public upheaval. Only a historic district in the village center was approved.

“We had some meetings where people were very upset about the idea of zoning, general zoning, and we had to give up at (that) time,” Bohr said.

Bethel Planning Board Chairman Al Cressy agreed that many are wary of ordinances that may infringe on their property rights, but said discussion of district-style regulations has resurfaced as development has increased.

Waterford’s public hearings on the land management ordinance will be held at 7 p.m. at the town office.