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The outdoor boilers are used by some as an alternative means of heating private homes. The units are independent of the house and connected only to the home's water line.
They should not be confused with interior wood-burning stoves or fireplaces.
The town has nothing in its code at present to regulate the outdoor boilers. A second public hearing is required because the proposed law received major changes from the initial version discussed this spring.
Town building director Steve Myers said he suggested the town establish some type of regulation after he received a notice from the New York State Department of State declaring the outdoor boilers a zoning issue rather than a building department matter.
"We don't have many of them in town right now, maybe five or six," Myers said, "but some downstate municipalities ran into problems with requests for them when fuel prices were skyrocketing."
Myers believes it is a good time to see what the public and the board feel about putting some regulation into place.
"I get about one call a month asking about them," he said. "If someone wanted to put one in we'd probably require a permit and go out and check the connection to the house when it was set up. That would be about it."
In the new proposal, the outdoor boilers are limited to conservation-residential zones, and are required to be on property with a minimum of four acres with specified setback from the nearest lot line. They are also required to meet federal Environmental Protection Agency standards, have minimum smokestack heights, burn only permitted fuels, and be used only after obtaining an installation permit.
Town attorney Tom McCarthy said the proposed law is based on one being used in the Town of Queensbury. He sees the law as relieving the town's building department of being burdened with making interpretations on the boilers and putting their regulations clearly into town code.
McCarthy and Myers are interested to see what the public and the board think of the issue.
"This law is a simpler version than the one we presented in March," McCarthy said. "And if it goes into the code the ZBA will be authorized to grant variances and waivers."
