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, behind. Mr. O'Malley said he believes Ms. Wenger is here to see the plan is implemented and not put on a shelf until it is revised again in 4 years. He said Mr. Yager's point should be well taken in that there can be some backlash involving people in the community, the business community, councilmen, and getting the input. With that input, they own it and they are right there with the board as you go along in the process. As opposed to the document being the Planning Commission's master plan. He pointed out that the regional planning commissioners had recommended focus groups so that public participation can take place. He asked Ms. Wenger if it is fair to say that there could be as much as 6 months of public input before they get to the point of outlining goals and get through the data. Ms. Wenger said yes, but not to the exclusion of doing other work elements. They can be data gathering and setting goals along with the public input gathering process. It depends on the issues in the community. Some communities have extreme issues and they have very passionate citizens. Those types of communities tend to have a longer process because of consensus building and there are issues that divide the community. There are other communities where things have gone on fine, things are status quo and those situations do not require as much consensus building. The trick is to pin point early on at what level the citizens desire to participate and determine those methods that are most appropriate for the community. It can talk a long time depending on the methods used to gather the input. Mr. O'Malley asked for the relationship between the Planning Commission as a body and the steering committee and -what the frequency of meetings will be and the process for reporting back to the Planning Commission. He asked if the Planning Commission meeting will serve as the forum for the steering committee to conduct its business. Ms. Wenger said it is really up to the community because there have been formats where it has been all citizen driven steering committees with maybe 2 representatives from Council, or members of the Planning Coinmission. She has also been on the opposite end where it was all administration, council, and planning commission with little or no citizen participation of the steering committee. She thinks a good balance for a 15-20 person committee is to have half be Planning Commission, Council and administration representatives and the other half be citizens, the business community, and other special interests in the community. She indicated the normal frequency of ineetings would be once a month and it would not be in place of a Planning Commission meeting; it is in addition to it. Reporting can be every month or as needed to update people on the progress. Some months there may be a lot of data gathering and number crunching that might not be of interest to report and other times there may be a lot to talk about. Mr. Allan said a big concern has been the far west end of the city on Lorain Road. He said most if it is zoned light industrial. He asked if there is an opportunity for green space and fields, which the residents want. He asked for Ms. Wenger's thoughts on that area. Ms. Wenger said in reviewing the 1992 master plan, she saw it identified 4 target areas and it included the west end. The target areas were areas in which greater focus needed to be placed upon them to identify strategies and future land use that is appropriate. She said the other 3 areas have flushed out a bit more but the west end is a more nebulous, undefined area. The plan also described a lack of open space in the community. It does not ineet national standards for the amount of acreage for open space and recreation needs so that is certainly a concern. Being in close proximity to a significant interchange also presents economic opportunities. It is important to balance those and it will be an area of exploration through the planning process. They also have to protect those subdivisions that are already existing at that end of town. IX. OLD BUSINESS: Continued discussion of Master Plan Review- See NEW BUSINESS above X. ADJOURNMENT: Mrs. Hoff-Smith excused the absence of Mr. Koeth, Mr. Lasko, and Mr. Spalding. The meeting was adjourned at 8:10 p.m. // .?S/? Hoff-Smi , cting Chairman Date Annie Kilbane, A sistant Clerk of Commissions 4