The Unified Development Ordinance is the document that gives the town enforceable rules to carry out the town's comprehensive use plan.

It's been a long time coming. The ad hoc committee that created the draft spent more than two years working through the proposal.

The town accepted public comments on the plan for over a month.

And the Planning Board meticulously worked its way through nearly 20 proposed changes to the document before endorsing the plan unanimously.

With a vote last week in favor of adopting the plan, the commissioners must now vote once more to make the document Wendell's official land use regulation document.

The plan is a sound one and it should be passed again on Nov. 23.

Despite all the work that's gone into this, one commissioner is already promising that the town board will work to fix it. And a commissioner-elect has also expressed reservations about the plan.

What appears likely to happen is what Planning Board chairman Sam Laughery warned against when he urged commissioners not to nit-pick the document during its deliberation processes.

Most folks have agreed that the UDO is a document subject to change.

Commissioner Carol Hinnant has said the passing the new rules would be like throwing the baby out with the bathwater - along with the soap, washrag and everything else. She expressed concerns that the new rules give developers too much leeway in establishing new developments.

But the truth is, the town can offer no alternatives that aren't likely to draw the scrutiny of the development community. And they will seek out opportunties to make the new rules work in their favor. It's the nature of their business.

The new document offers residents several protections, including restricting how far apart buildings with viny siding can be. The rules also disallow development in flood plains.

We offer two suggestions in this space today.

First we encourage the board to approve the document at their next meeting.

Second we suggest to the incoming board that laws aren't created lightly and they should tread cautiously before making wholesale changes to a plan that has engendered the support of so many over the past two years.