OXFORD — A special town meeting is set for Thursday to vote on warrant articles that would amend the town’s zoning and mass gathering ordinances, and create rules on medical marijuana dispensaries.

The changes would help the town adjust to recent developments such as  the Nateva Festival, the casino planned by Black Bear Entertainment and the legalization of medical marijuana in Maine.

The meeting will take place at 6:30 p.m. Jan.6 at Oxford Elementary School.

The proposed mass gathering ordinance amendments were written in response to complaints about last year’s Nateva Festival from people living near the fairgrounds.

The new rules dictate that if a road is to be closed, residents there will get written notification beforehand. For events with more than 10,000 people, such as the Nateva Festival, abutters living withing 500 feet of the event will get written notification of the public hearing on the application.

Town Clerk Ellen Morrison said Nateva organizers have already called the Town Office about permits for the 2011 festival, so it was important to get a town vote on the matter.

The zoning ordinance changes would raise the building height restriction on Route 26 from 35 feet to 65 feet.

It would also change a rule setting the lot lines around hotels, motels and inns from 60 feet from the building. The amendment says no part of the building can be less than 50 feet from a right of way or 25 feet from the lot lines.

It would also strike a provision that considers any hotel room with “cooking and eating facilities similar to those traditionally found in residential dwelling units” to be a dwelling unit, and subject to the standards required of multifamily developments.

The medical marijuana rules were adapted from an ordinance recently passed in Brewer, Town Manager Michael Chammings said.

The proposed ordinance would set the property lines of medical marijuana dispensaries 1,000 feet from schools, and 500 feet from pre-existing churches, homes, day care facilities and methadone clinics.

It would also bar more than one medical marijuana facility from being located in Oxford. The dispensary and cultivation facility must be on the same property and under common ownership.

Marijuana consumption would be illegal on the grounds of the facility, except by employees who are registered patients, and even then they must ingest, not smoke it.

There are also required security measures, including deadbolts, surveillance cameras and burglar alarms.

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