One of the most contentious land use debates of the 1990s may be coming back to Town Hall.

The Planning and Zoning Commission on July 24, voted to accept a recommendation from a subcommittee to review the town’s hillside regulations.

Commission Vice-Chairman Mike Archambault, who chaired the subcommittee, said the hillside disturbance regulations in the subdivision ordinance are the “most burdensome and troublesome for property owners.”

The subcommittee came up with six recommendations for changes to the ordinance.

They are proposing a 20-foot wide disturbance exemption for driveway between the front property line and the garage door, or front door if there is no garage.

“We felt that 20 feet is reasonable width for a driveway with grading and allowing for utilities,” Archambault said.

They are also recommending a 10-foot exemption for utilities to be placed on the lot to accommodate the utility needs.

The proposal also defines “hillsides” as any slope that is 20-percent or greater, anything less is subject to disturbance. They are also recommending that up to 40 percent of the hillside slope areas on a lot be subject to disturbance.

Under the proposal commercial and industrially zoned property would be exempt from hillside disturbance limits.

The committee is also proposing an exemption for residential lots zoned R1-6 through R1-10A. These are lots roughly 10,000 square feet or smaller. They would be subject to 100 percent disturbance.

“We need to look at our ordinances and keep them fresh,” Archambault said. “This is a great example of regulations so cumbersome a property owner would need an engineer to determine whether they could even put a house on a lot.”

The commission voted unanimously to accept the recommendations of the committee, and cast a second 7-0 vote to have staff initiate the changes to bring back for further discussion and consideration.

Commission Chairman Lloyd Pew limited the discussion to the general recommendations of the committee, saying any details should wait for discussion when the proposal comes back.

Archambault, Pew and Commissioner Steven Harris sat on the committee along with Town Councilman Dennis Brown. Two local engineers, Dave Montgomery and Clint Scherf also served on the committee.