BRUNSWICK - A proposed ordinance amendment that would increase height restrictions and allow smaller wind turbines in town will be the subject of a public hearing at Tuesday's meeting of the Planning Board.

Draft amendment language would allow "a small wind energy installation" of up to 80 feet, with approval granted by the town's codes enforcement office, Town Planner Kris Hulstedt said Tuesday. Larger installations would be allowed only with a special permit from the Planning Board.

To date, the planning office has not received any applications to build windmills, Director of Planning Anna Breinich said Monday, "but we have gotten a lot of calls. People are interested and the stumbling block right now is the height restrictions."

Currently, Brunswick imposes no specific restrictions on residents or businesses erecting a wind turbine, but height limits to reach optimum wind levels are prohibitive. The maximum allowable height for structures in much of Brunswick is 35 to 40 feet, with an exception for the Bowdoin College campus, where the limit is 70 feet.

Hulstedt said the ordinance amendment will likely propose two separate height standards in other areas - one in the growth zone and another higher limit in the town's rural districts.

Hulstedt said he examined restrictions in other towns when crafting proposed language for the amendment. In Topsham, for example, no free-standing or roof-mounted wind conversion system can exceed 75 feet in residential, village and some commercial districts, or 150 feet in the business park, rural residential, commercial and the industrial districts.

He also drew from a Maine State Planning Office model ordinance for guidance on setbacks and safety issues.

"One challenging part has been creating standards for lot owners in denser residential areas," Hulstedt said. "You need to have a setback requirement that takes into account the installation falling down. The ordinance we've reviewed suggests you require a setback from structures and property lines equal to the height of the wind turbine tower."

For an 80-foot tower, that would mean an 80-foot setback on all sides, which "precludes a lot of lot owners who live on small lots."

So Hulstedt said the planning department will examine standards to allow roof-top turbines designed to reach the optimum height for wind power.

Along with safety issues, Hulstedt said noise is a concern. The proposed ordinance language limits windmill sound to 55 decibels at a property line - which he said is comparable to the sound of a refrigerator 50 feet away.

Hulstedt said there was no public comment on the proposed language during a previous Planning Board workshop, but he also noted that the scale of the structures that would be allowed under the proposed amendment "are small-scale, and not industrial-sized wind turbines or wind-farm standards."

Following Tuesday's public hearing, the Planning Board might take action on a recommendation to the Town Council regarding the proposed language.

The Planning Board is scheduled to meet at 7:15 p.m. Tuesday at 6 Industry Road.