CONWAY — The Planning Board has proposed adding a bylaw for age-restricted housing communities, and revising current laws to clarify clearance requirements around structures like sheds and ground-mounted solar arrays.

The board has scheduled a public informational meeting, to allow residents a chance to ask questions and gather information, for Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Town Hall. Next month, a public hearing is scheduled for April 6.

“The proposed senior housing bylaw makes it possible for a senior housing development to be built in Conway by special permit,” wrote board member Mary McClintock in an email Monday. “Conway’s current zoning bylaws restrict development to one dwelling per one-acre lot. A dwelling can be a one-family or two-family and either of those can have an ‘accessory apartment’ added to it.”

For years now, the town’s Housing Committee has worked to bring a senior housing development into town. If the changes are passed at town meeting May 8, the added bylaw would help provide a way for a developer to create such a project. It would also change density requirements for senior housing developments.

According to an informational statement, its purpose is “to increase the variety of well-designed, market rate, and affordable housing choices for citizens who are 55 years of age and older,” and to allow developers to build “at a higher density than would normally be allowed, and allow greater flexibility in site planning and the preservation of open space and historic resources within the development.”

McClintock added, “the proposed senior housing bylaw requires that 50 percent or more of the lot be left undeveloped and open space.”

As to the revision, McClintock said, “This issue came up with someone who was trying to site a ground-mounted solar array and wanted to know how close to their property boundaries such a structure could be sited. The proposed bylaw makes the clearance and setback (requirements) from boundaries for such structures half the setback clearance (requirements) for a dwelling. This would affect residents in that it clarifies how close to property lines structures such as ground-mounted solar or sheds can be.”

For more information, McClintock encouraged residents to attend the information session and public hearing.

You can reach Andy Castillo

at: acastillo@recorder.com