FARMINGTON – A special town meeting will take place at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Community Center to address open space residential development and other zoning ordinance changes.

Requests to amend the town’s zoning ordinance, adopted in 1999, includes two for open space residential development that will allow condominium and townhouse development where open space can be provided.

The plan includes trading open space in exchange for increased housing density and reduced setbacks on remaining areas.

The amendment makes provision for condominium or cluster development, something that cannot be done now, Town Manager Richard Davis told selectmen last week.

The proposed standards are needed for the Willow Springs project and other waiting condominium-style housing projects to progress.

Willow Springs, a senior’s community, is a 10-year plan to develop 72 units on 36 acres on property located at the site of a former dowel mill on Fairbanks Road.

The plan also includes more than 50 percent open space with a pond, walking trails and landscaped areas.

Developers Bryon Davis and William Marceau hired an attorney, Helen Edmonds, a specialist in land planning, to help adjust standards that were not adopted at the March town meeting.

Her work would allow types of development other than residential subdivisions.

But, it would be a voluntary move for developers who could choose either the open space or other residential subdivision rules for projects.

Voters will also be asked to amend the ordinance for driveway setbacks, creating the same distance in all districts – 10 feet – except where abutters share a driveway.

A driveway surfacing requirement would lessen the standard width of 24 feet, which has proven excessive, and allow a new width of 12 feet in most situations. The article gives the Planning Board the discretion to determine when a wider driveway is necessary.

Another article on the streets and sidewalk ordinance involves underground utilities buried in a shallow manner and limiting the town’s ability to maintain ditches and roads, Davis said. The article asks that underground utilities not interfere with town maintenance per the director of public works rather than include specific depths and location.

Copies of the proposed amendments are available at the Municipal Building during regular business hours and at the town meeting on Tuesday.

The Registrar of Voters will also be in session at the Municipal Building Tuesday at the time of the meeting to add new names to the voting list or make changes to the voting list.