When is enough, enough?

That question — asked about commercial growth in town — was raised at a recent Conway Planning Board work session.

A direct result of that session is a public hearing scheduled for May 23 on increasing the required green space of a project from 30 percent to 40 percent.

Selectmen’s representative Steve Porter made that motion, which was seconded by board member Eliza Grant and unanimously supported by the board comprised of chair Ben Colbath and members Bill Barbin, Ted Phillips, Porter and Grant. Absent were Erik Corbett and vice chair Ailie Byers.

Last year, the board increased required green space from 25 percent to 30. But Porter argued more would be even better, pointing to the approved studio apartment complex at the former Echo Computer site in Conway Village, whose aesthetics, he lamented, are marred by too much asphalt.

Porter also referenced two large hotel projects that could have been curtailed had stricter setback and size restrictions been proposed and adopted by the town.

Porter pointed to two hotel projects currently under construction, the Hilton Garden Inn and the Viewpoint Hotel.

“Now, some people don’t have a problem with having hotels right on Route 16, but I have other people tell me OMG, this looks like Nashua,” Porter told the Sun in a follow-up interview.

Now that the updated master plan has been adopted, the board plans to spend the next year bringing the town’s zoning ordinance into alignment with the plan's goals. Changes would be presented to voters at next year's town meeting, but the board does have the power to enact things like increasing greenspace without voter approval.

On April 9, voters agreed to extend by another year the one-year moratorium on commercial development of hotels and stores greater than 50,000 square feet.

“For a very long time, people have been coming up to us and saying, ‘How could you let them develop that?' " Colbath said at the free-wheeling April 25 work session

Added Porter, “Maybe we need to be a bit more restrictive moving forward — if not for our generation then for (those to come).”

An area that remains a concern for Porter is the stretch of Route 16 between River Street north to the Scenic Vista, where potentially large hotels could be built once the moratorium expires.

Contacted Wednesday, Town Planner Ryan O'Connor told the Sun, "The 40 percent green space requirement would definitely reduce the scale of development. What we are trying to encourage is redevelopment at certain spots and to increase green space there, reviewing it site by site," said O'Connor.

He said that with the master plan update finished, the board has an opportunity to address zoning changes. "It looks like we will be working on those over the next year," he said.

For more on the lengthy April 25 discussion, go to the town of Conway’s Facebook page or valleyvision.com.