On Tuesday night, the Windham Town Council set a date of July 26 for a public hearing on Design Guidelines as a potential land use ordinance for the town. This future date was set to give the two new councilors, John MacKinnon and Carol Waig, ample time to digest the material surrounding the issue.

For over four years now, the Town Council, Planning Board and Windham Economic Development Corporation have been mulling over the details of the design guidelines. This past February, the Town Council decided that the guidelines would be objectives, not steadfast rules, which would direct new construction in the all three commercial districts of Windham.

“They will be listed as objectives,” Councilor David Tobin said. “This will show developers what we’d like our buildings to look like. It will be up to the developer to show the Planning Board how they will meet these objective.”

Tobin sees these guidelines as a form of protection for existing businesses in Windham.

“There are a lot of businesses that are investing a lot of money in the area,” Tobin said. “We want to make sure that any new business does not detract from the overall appearance. If people invest the money and time in Windham, we want them to be protected.”

These guidelines are the ninth in a set of land use ordinances for the town. Councilor Michael Shaughnessy chose the objectives from a study done on design standards, Tobin put those objectives into ordinance form and Town Attorney Kenneth Cole III worked out the legal details.

The public hearing on July 26 will give Windham residents and local businesses in town the opportunity to discuss the nature and implementation of the design guidelines.

After hearing public comment, the Town Council may choose to vote on the proposal or postpone the vote to a future date.