GREENVILLE — The town has added teeth to an ordinance designed to preserve land and reduce potential contamination problems resulting from new rural housing development.

The Town Board approved revisions to its conservation subdivision ordinance last Monday, ending more than two years of planning aimed primarily at reducing the use of single-home wells in a town plagued by arsenic contamination issues.

"Greenville just got a little bit greener," Town Chairman Randy Leiker said Friday, paraphrasing a positive review of the new rules he said was offered by another town resident.

The new plan represents a balance of interests between residents intent on preserving the town's natural features and resources, and rural land owners concerned it will stall growth and reduce property values.

The final version of the new ordinance revises restrictions on lot densities, establishing a formula for minimum allowable lot sizes that rewards the use of shared or community water and sewer systems.

It requires that lots with independent well and septic systems must be at least two acres, while those served by community water and sewer systems can be as small as four-fifths of an acre.

Jim Ecker, the facilitator of the town's advisory Rural Land Use Committee, said the new ordinance represents more than 2½ years of effort by the volunteer panel.

"I'm happy we were able to make some progress," he said.

Town resident Marv Dorschner, a persistent critic of the process leading to the region's most restrictive rules on rural subdivision development, was less enthused.

"I just wish there were more Realtors here to tell us how just much our land values are going down because of this," Dorschner told the Town Board.

Eric Fowle, executive director of the East Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, said there is no evidence suggesting property values will decline as a result of rules extended from the town's original subdivision ordinance, passed in 1999.

Fowle said Greenville leaders will be pleased they encouraged development distinctive from the "cookie-cutter" subdivisions prevalent throughout the region.

"I think there are going to be a lot of places facing some tough times and issues marketing those properties," Fowle said. "You're going to be the only ones able offer something a bit different."

Fowle noted the new Greenville ordinance is modeled from but less restrictive than conservation subdivision ordinances prevalent in several areas of the country. He said ordinances applied to more populous areas of the United States might limit lot sizes to about a quarter-acre.

Leiker said the primary benefit of the revised Greenville ordinance will be a reduction in demand for single-property wells. They increase arsenic-contamination risks for well-users throughout the town, he said.

Jeffrey Welhouse is developing the town's first rural subdivision that meets the new requirements. His Crestview development, offering 60 lots on 78 sloping acres northeast of the junction of State 96 and Manley Road, is held out by town leaders as an example of how the new development philosophy can work to commercial advantage.

Crestview will offer suburban-sized residential lots featuring on-site community water and sewer services.

"The whole business plan was to offer something that I think the baby boomers are looking for," Welhouse said. "They all don't want to live in condos."

At Crestview, he said, "They've got the view, they've got the smaller yard to manage. They've got sewer, the water, the storm sewer and all the creature features."

The lots also will appeal to people conscious of the need to preserve natural lands and limited resources.

"This idea of everybody building their own well and their own septic is really old hat," Welhouse said. Crest-view's design "conserves water, it conserves natural resources, it takes advantage of the typography so it's going to offer some wonderful views."