PARIS — Nearly three-fourths of Paris voters said they favored an ordinance to carry out the town’s Comprehensive Plan. Now, the town is looking for volunteers to help create one.

The question on the Nov. 2 ballot was intentionally vague, according to Paris Planning Board Chairman Robert Kirchherr. Everything about the ordinance, even the name, is up in the air at this point. It could be called controlled growth, Paris development, or even the Z-word.

“’Zoning’ has a lot of baggage with it,” Kirchherr said Tuesday. The goal of the ordinance, he said, is to create something that voters will approve. That means getting citizens who have a stake in any land-use ordinance to take part in its creation.

Kirchherr said he’ll be collaborating with Town Manager Phil Tarr and Selectman Raymond Glover on a newspaper ad calling for volunteers to be advocates for those groups affected by the ordinance.

In an e-mail to selectmen, Kirchherr named residential property owners, rental property owners, the agricultural community, the historic district on Paris Hill, the business community, land developers and construction companies as possible groups of stakeholders who might form committees.

“Those are groups that are obviously going to be stakeholders,” Kirchherr said. “I may have forgotten some.”

Committees would be formed to represent each group of stakeholders and report to selectmen.

Kirchherr said the process could take a year or two, so serving on a committee will be a major commitment.

One thing planners don’t want is an overly restrictive ordinance. Kirchherr said the Planning Board found ordinances in some towns dictating where people could hang their laundry or park their cars. “I think we’re all interested in making sure that people can do what they want to do, and that people can still use land the way they want to use it,” he said.

Protecting the historic district has become the best-known goal of the ordinance, but the ultimate goal, as stated on the nonbinding ballot question, is to direct development so that it complies with the Comprehensive Plan. That 163-page document approved in 2007 outlines the town’s goals over the next 10 years, and policies and strategies for achieving them.

The plan includes goals for preserving historic areas, wildlife, ground water and scenic vistas, as well as directing road use and future business growth.

treaves@sunjournal.com

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