The Shepherdstown Planning Commission hosted a public input meeting for Shepherdstown’s Comprehensive Plan last Thursday evening.

Land use, development and community character; transportation, infrastructure and public service; economic development and tourism; environmental issues and natural resources; recreation, and cultural and historic resources were all topics up for discussion.

A room full of local residents attended the three hour meeting held at the Shepherdstown Community Club building.

David Rosen, member of Shepherdstown Planning Commission and Comprehensive plan subcommittee said he was pleased with the meeting’s overall results.

“We are very pleased with the attendance level at our public input meeting for our comprehensive plan. We actually had 10 percent higher attendance then expected, but the volunteers did a great job and were able to facilitate higher numbers at their tables,” he said.

Breaking off into small groups, community members, business owners and representatives from various Shepherdstown organizations were in attendance to offer their personal thoughts on Shepherdstown’s future.

Planning Commission member Than Hitt could be heard discussing growth at the “Rumsey Green Area” of town, a spot that many agreed would be a center of growth for Shepherdstown in the future.

Shepherdstown Business Association President Meredith Wait participated in a discussion about the impact of annexation on the town.

Local residents and business owners Maria Allen and Lillian Potter-Saum discussed the affects Shepherdstowns Streetscape project had on main street.

Potter-Saum said “parking, parking, parking,” would continue to a dominant concern for the town and it’s main street business as it grows and changes.

Community Club member Mike Austin discussed access to affordable housing in Shepherdstown with members of his small group.

“The real demand in our community is housing for students,” he said.

David Rosen said much was gained from the input meeting though, the committee is still in the process of collecting and discerning information.

“Between the survey and the public input meeting, we have received a good amount of feedback,” he said.

Rosen said the comprehensive plan survey has had 280 responses so far and will continue to be available on the towns web site at www.shepherdstown.us through the end of the week.

“Over the next month we will begin going through surveys and meeting input and processing the feedback. Our next public input meeting, in March, will be to review the draft that will be developed based on the input gathered.” Rosen said.