Planning staff asks board to review updated General Code land-use text before joint public hearing

Chip, planning department staff, told the Wayne Planning Board on Aug. 21 that a consolidated, updated version of the town's land-use regulations produced by General Code is ready for the board’s review. The package includes a web-format draft and a separate document that tracks every change made from the existing code.

"We are just interested in the land use subdivision," Chip said, asking the board to concentrate on chapters germane to the planning board and to report typographical issues or substantive concerns within the next weeks. He said Henry (staff) is coordinating changes outside the planning board’s purview and that the combined product will be finalized for a joint public hearing with the select board and the planning board and then forwarded to a town meeting vote, potentially at the upcoming November election.

Chip said General Code’s work included updating regulations to reflect new state requirements and consolidating prior addenda — for example, shoreland and accessory-dwelling-unit (ADU) material — into a single, cleaner document. He asked board members to review the separate “changes” document, which shows each edit, so reviewers can see precisely what was altered compared with the current ordinance.

Board members asked whether the planning board ordinance itself or internal board procedural rules were altered; Chip said those items were not part of this package and that the General Code project concentrated on land-use regulations and related chapters.

Chip asked the board to return comments within a few weeks so staff can prepare for a joint public hearing and subsequent town meeting action. He noted the online format will make future updates easier.

No formal vote was taken at the meeting; the board agreed to review the materials and report errors or substantive concerns to planning staff.