POWNAL – The Pownal Planning Board on March 19 will conduct the first of a series of public hearings to inform residents of updates to the town’s Land Use Codes.

The meeting at Mallett Hall begins at 6 p.m. Voters will consider the revised ordinances at the annual town meeting, scheduled for June 16.

Copies of the ordinances and synopses of the updates are available at the town office.

Ron Hodsdon, Planning Board chairman, said last week that the revised ordinances pertain to site plans and mobile home parks. There are no mobile home parks in town at this time, he said.

“Our ordinances were done back in the early 1970s, and updated in the 90s, and we’ve been trying to bring them up to date and make them more useable,” Hodsdon said. “We’re hoping to move some parts of the site plan ordinance into a separate ordinance.”

Liza Nichols, secretary for the Planning Board, provided a synopsis for each of the two proposed revisions.

The new site-plan change would remove all fees from the ordinance. The setback requirement to abutters would be 500 feet instead of 200 feet. There would be new lighting criteria and standards, as well as shielding, and updated language for utilities. New language on noise requirements would adhere to state standards.

Changes in the mobile home park ordinance are minimal, simply updating terms and titles. Applicants will be referred to zoning and site-plan ordinances for standards. The ordinance would adhere to current standards for sewage disposal.

In a separate issue, the Planning Board last month granted provisional approval for Alan and Heidi Curry to hold weddings in their barn and on their grounds, at 284 Allen Road. The property faces the intersection of Allen Road and Elmwood Road, and constitutes a site-distance problem, according to the state.

Hodsdon said that the conditional approval hinges on the town and the Currys to obtain what would amount to four-way stop signs at the intersection. A stop sign exists at the end of Elmwood Road, which is at the top of a hill.

“The town’s new signs on Allen Road would have solar blinking lights,” Hodsdon said. “And there would be another stop sign at the end of the Currys’ driveway.”

The Currys hope to rent the space for several weddings beginning in May, and through the early autumn months.