PARIS – A 57-page document proposing several revisions to the town’s subdivision ordinance was delivered to the town office last week, Town Manager Sharon Jackson said Monday.

The ordinance has been a continuing source of controversy since its narrow passage last year. In January, resident Ron Fitts presented the Board of Selectmen with a list of eight proposed revisions to the ordinance, all of which are addressed in the revised ordinance.

Selectmen voted 3-2 to form a 10-member ad hoc committee, consisting of the Planning Board and five residents, to review the ordinance. The committee dissolved after resident Robert Moorehead filed suit against two selectmen, charging them with conflict of interest in their votes. Moorehead later asked that the suit be dismissed due to changes in the municipal government.

Twenty-four residents filed a discrimination suit against the town shortly after Moorehead’s case was dismissed, accusing the town of bias against real estate developers and brokers in selectmen’s appointments to the Planning Board. The ordinance states that the Planning Board will enforce the subdivision ordinance.

The discrimination suit was dismissed on the basis that it was not filed in a timely matter. Several landowners in Paris have also posted their land against recreational use as a protest against the ordinance.

Copies of the document would be given to the selectmen and members of the Planning Board on Monday, Dec. 1, Jackson said. A copy is also available for viewing at the town office.

The proposed revised ordinance was delivered to the town office on Friday by the office of attorney Dana Hanley. The revised ordinance does not list any authors, but the letter accompanying it states that it will be followed by a petition to consider the ordinance at a special town meeting. Jackson said such a petition would require 211 signatures for consideration.

The revised ordinance does not differentiate between major and minor subdivisions. In the current ordinance, passed in a 487-468 vote in June 2007, a major subdivision is defined as one which is divided into 10 or more lots. A major subdivision is also defined as having extension of sewer and water service and a proposed street, while a minor subdivision contains neither and has nine or fewer lots. The application procedures differ between the two categories in the current ordinance.

The ordinance adds a section on cluster development, defining it as allowing development of lots smaller than those normally required in a subdivision in return for a provision of permanent open space. The ordinance states that cluster development intends to control sprawl through “innovative concepts of housing development where maximum variations of design may be allowed, provided that the net residential density shall be no greater than is permitted under traditional single-family development.”

The ordinance adds a section suggesting that private subdivision roads may be constructed to the minimum town standards for gravel roads where the current ordinance states that they must be up to the standards of paved roads. It also proposes that fire protection measures meet the specifications of the fire chief. The current ordinance requires hydrants connected to a public water supply, a 20,000-gallon storage tank for private water supplies, or fire sprinkler systems in the buildings as a possible alternative.

In other changes, the revised ordinance seeks to:

• Allow applicants to appeal Planning Board decisions before the Board of Appeals instead of the Oxford County Superior Court;

• Have the code enforcement officer enforce but not interpret the ordinance;

• Remove language barring the Planning Board from granting waivers in several sections;

• Remove or reduce restrictions on the frequency of entrances into certain streets; and

• Require erosion and sedimentation plans to go before the Oxford County Soil and Water District for review and approval only if a licensed engineer has not prepared them.