Planning board reviews town code amendment on gas stations, signs and small event spaces

At an Aug. 18 public hearing, the town Planning Board considered CTA 2025-04, a staff-requested text amendment to the town's land development ordinance that would revise several use definitions and development standards, Planning staff said. The board opened and closed the hearing with no public comments and then discussed how the changes would affect downtown event spaces and the relationship between the use table and the town's land-use plan.

Planning staff told the board that the amendment establishes the term "environmentally sensitive areas" to describe a range of non-developable lands, adds "convenience store" to the retail sales and service category while establishing "gas station" as a separate use with improved development standards, creates a new projecting-sign type (covering blade and suspended signs and allowing multi-tenant and multi-floor buildings), offers an alternative layout for the Type C buffer that would allow a brick or stone wall to replace part…