HANCOCK — Should Hancock be more walkable? Should there be more recreational options? And are more changes needed to the city’s zoning?

Hancock residents can proactively weigh in on those and other topics at two sessions next week that will help the city decide its direction the next five years.

“It’s so important for us to get the public input now, so that the resources that we have are going in the direction that everybody wants them to,” Hancock City Manager Mary Babcock said. “You know, this is the time and the place for people to get their voice heard.”

Launch parties for the city’s five-year master plan will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Orpheum Theater and from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday in the Sisu Room of the Houghton County Arena.

Progressive AE, an urban planning firm from Grand Rapids, will assist in next week’s meetings.

Stations will be set up for different facets of the city where residents can give thoughts on what’s going well in the city, what people want to see in the future, and some big picture ideas.

Refreshments will also be served at both locations.

“Their goal is to have a very casual event,” Babcock said. “People can walk through to the different stations, and just have discussions with the representatives of the city and of the company that’s assisting us.”

The master plan covers topics such as land use, infrastructure, recreation and economic opportunities. The most recent version of the plan is online at cityofhancock.com/docs/City_of_Hancock_Master_Plan.pdf.

Goals in the city’s master plan translate into action. The city’s met about 65% of the goals that were included in the 2018 plan, Babcock said.

“Our current master plan is a lot about resiliency,” she said. “I see that continuing. And so I think that the base of the master plan will stay the same. It’s just that our goals will be further developed and added onto.”

That plan also recommended changes to the city’s zoning ordinance, many of which ended up in the version the city approved last year.

City officials described that ordinance as a “living document.” And the next master plan will influence what the next changes to the city’s zoning will look like.

“Once we get that done, we’ll look at that master plan and go, ‘You know what, the zoning fits, or doesn’t fit,'” Babcock said. “So really, it is the basis of where we’re supposed to be going, the direction we’re going for the next five or 10 years.”

The city will also reach residents with an online survey. Progressive AE will then take that feedback and public comments from next week’s sessions and prepare a report for the Hancock Planning Commission.

Those will be developed into subcategories, which the planning commission will work on over the next few months before sending it to the city council. Babcock said she hopes to have the new plan approved by early fall.

There will be opportunities for public comment up to the final approval of the master plan. But the earlier residents make their feelings known, the more the plan can reflect their ideas, Babcock said.

“This is your time,” Babcock said. “And it shouldn’t just be the nine people on the Planning Commission, or the seven people on the City Council. It should be as many as we can get.”