Lebanon — It’s been five years since Lebanon last signed off on a Master Plan, and the city has changed a lot in that time. New residents have moved in and out, businesses have come and gone, and new developments have been proposed.

With all of the ongoing and potential changes for the city, Lebanon’s planners are wondering if residents’ opinions on the future of their neighborhoods have also changed.

The city planning department intends to find out with two community forums this month intended to gauge public opinion on potential zoning changes associated with the Master Plan. Among those changes is an expansion of mixed-use spaces along Route 120 and through the heart of West Lebanon.

“If what we hear from the community is that what the future land use map calls for is still right, then we would move forward to consider zoning amendments,” said Lebanon Planning Director David Brooks during an interview last week.

But if residents don’t want the proposed changes, Brooks said, city officials will know to focus their attention elsewhere.

When the Master Plan was adopted in 2012, he said, it was intended to serve as a guiding document that planners would work to implement over time. The plan itself looks out to 2030 and is scheduled to be updated every six years.

The plan’s goals are meant to be achieved incrementally, said City Councilor Clifton Below, who also serves on a steering committee for the Master Plan. In the last five years, he said, the City Council has approved new rules on in-law apartments, wild lands setbacks and renewable energy, all of which are related to goals in the plan.

“A lot of these have been chipped away at and worked on,” Below said.

But those are small accomplishments compared to changing the zoning map, the lines that demarcate the districts that determine what kinds of development can go where, according to Below.

The city tried to change its zoning in 2008, and presented voters with a 131-page zoning ordinance designed to increase affordable housing and concentrate residential units around commercial areas. Proponents said the move would ideally have allowed development to continue in a manner that would protect Lebanon’s rural lands.

However, the voters shot down the proposal by a vote of 1,140-922, with some residents calling the rezone “pro-development.”

Brooks said this month’s public forums are a way of avoiding a replay of that scenario. By asking residents what they want for the neighborhoods, he said, officials should be able to craft a plan that passes muster with voters.

The Master Plan’s track record hasn’t always withstood the test of time.

Last August, Brooks and city officials proposed a new mixed-use zone for the Route 10 and Sachem Village area. Citing the Master Plan’s call for “small-scale nonresidential uses” in the neighborhood, they came to residents bearing a proposal that would have lowered the restrictions on restaurants and retail.

But instead of receiving praise for following the Master Plan, the proposal was widely panned by about 40 residents who attended a public forum and said the area should retain its residential feel.

“They were pretty clear that they don’t want a mixed-use area,” Brooks said, recalling the forum.

The opposite was true for downtown, where a recent visioning study reaffirmed the Master Plan, which calls for a revitalized city center.

“When we did the visioning study for downtown, I think what came out of that very public process was that what the Master Plan says for downtown is very accurate,” Brooks said. “Five years later, that’s still what people want to see for downtown.”

“So taking the two experiences, what we want to do now is we’re looking at areas of the city where the existing zoning doesn’t appear consistent with what the (Master Plan’s) future land use map suggests is desired,” he said.

City officials have plotted 33 areas across the city that would have to be rezoned to match the plan. Although it may seem like a lot, Brooks said, that only accounts for roughly 6 percent of the land within city limits.

Much of that would also be reclassified as mixed-use areas, where businesses and homes are to exist in compact, walkable patterns akin to “New England village centers.” Much of the land slated for this new zoning type exists along the Route 120 corridor and north and south of Interstate 89 in West Lebanon.

If feedback supports the changes, they would have to be approved by the city’s land-use boards and likely would be on a municipal ballot. But if they’re not well-liked, Below said, officials will likely look elsewhere to make changes implementing the Master Plan.

“It’s the first major public outreach we hope to culminate next March in municipal elections,” he said.

The city will hold its first community meeting in West Lebanon at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, May 10, at the Kilton Public Library. A meeting for Lebanon will be held at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, May 16, in City Hall. Residents can find more information on the proposals by going to the city’s website at bit.ly/2qiKynW.

Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223.