East Lansing residents may be passing up a chance to let city planners know what they think.
Since March 11, two forums have been held at Hannah Community Center with light attendance, said Kevin Beard, East Lansing Planning Commission chairman.
“We know there are concerns out there,” he said. “We wish we had a few more people participating.”
Student participation has been even lower at the meetings.
But Beard said he hopes those numbers change.
The final forum will be held at 7 p.m. Monday focusing on east campus, Bailey and southeast Marble areas.
“We are hoping we get a few more students involved this time because we are doing the east side of campus,” he said.
The information gathered from the forums will be given to the Comprehensive Plan Team to determine major issues in the city.
The results will be released in the fall.
The team is part of the Big Picture, the city’s comprehensive plan, which will be used as the basis of development within the city for the next 10 to 20 years.
Each forum was divided into different areas of the city.
So far, the improvement issues residents wanted to see have been similar, with traffic and transportation consistently at the top of the list.
Parks and recreation facilities in the city, like the bike and hike trails, have been popular.
Councilmember Vic Loomis serves on the Comprehensive Plan Team that will provide the final tabulations of top issues.
The forums have been doing an excellent job of gathering information for the team, he said.
Each meeting asks residents to write down on large pieces of white paper issues they think need to be addressed and how the city has improved over time.
“In my humble opinion, (the meetings) are very well organized and very well run,” Loomis said.
This won’t be the last time the public can comment.
Once the information has been compiled, the Comprehensive Plan Team will be asking for additional input, Loomis said.
The lack of student involvement may come from the length of the information gathering process, general management senior Jayne Jaeger said.
Jaeger’s busy schedule has kept her from getting involved with issues concerning the city, she said.
“I don’t think students take it seriously enough, they’re more concerned with university life,” she said.
