PARIS — The town will try to reconcile two documents regulating land use, setting the stage for voters to consider a zoning law later this year.

Selectmen authorized the Land Use Committee to reconvene Monday evening to amend a proposed zoning ordinance to match the town’s Comprehensive Plan.

While selectmen have not yet given the committee a specific mission, it is understood the board intends to ask committee members to set minimum lot sizes in rural parts of town at one acre.

If passed, the law would create five unique districts, all with different levels of regulations and restrictions on types of development. The proposal has been in the works for several years, but has been stymied by disagreement on whether the town needed a zoning law and to what extent it should regulate land use.

The most significant disagreement has been over minimum lot sizes in rural parts of town. 

In June, voters amended the Comprehensive Plan, reducing lot sizes in rural areas from two acres and 250 feet of road frontage to one acre and 150 feet.

The move has set the stage for a similar reduction in the proposed Land Use Ordinance, which is only a draft. While towns do not have to have zoning laws, if they do, they must be consistent with the Comprehensive Plan. Selectmen previously said they intend to put the question to voters after streamlining the documents.

The one-acre minimum lot size was a compromise between the Comprehensive Plan Amendment Committee, comprised of large landowners who wanted half-acre lots to brush away impediments to businesses, and some residents who argued the two-acre lot size was necessary to retain the town’s rural character.

Terms for the seven-member committee have expired, and the town will request members to sign on to a three-month stint in the coming week, Town Clerk Elizabeth Knox said.

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