LANCASTER TWP — The township wanted words, and they got them. Candy-colored words.

Lancaster Township held an open house Monday night asking for input about words residents would use to describe the township. This kicked off a discussion with residents as they chatted about the township’s future and ideas for its comprehensive plan.

Session leaders put up an array of poster boards, each with a question in bold print at the top. Topics included various subjects, including where future housing should go, and what services are needed to keep residents in the township instead of spending their money somewhere else.

Here are some of the responses on the colorful sticky notes people put up:

“We already have two parks,” read one note. “That’s enough. We need to develop the ones we have.”

“Restaurants, grocery, shopping,” read another, responding to a question about development needs.

“Various housing but no more than two stories high!” added another note.

The open, creative process was a way to reset Lancaster’s comprehensive plan — the township’s plan for the next 10 years. The process was halted in 2019 due to COVID-19, according to event organizers.

The idea was to update the plan without entirely discarding past discussions and agreements, according to Jerry Stephenson, planning committee member.

“People are afraid of over-development,” said Stephenson, a 26-year township resident. “They don’t want to see this turn into Cranberry Township.”

It won’t turn into Cranberry, he said, but at the same time Lancaster is something of a bedroom community for Cranberry.

“There’s mostly an older group here,” he said. “And they don’t want to see development, but it’s inevitable. And if it’s done right, I think it would be great.”

At this time, the township’s leaders do not have a set method for sorting through the opinions they’ve received, said fellow committee member Sylvia Wack. It’s important they gather information first before acting, Wack said, to keep the conversation open.

The debate over balancing development and preservation seems similar to debates in boroughs such as Zelienople, Wack said. However, the vastness of the land around Lancaster makes the place different, she said.

“Zelienople doesn’t have very much property to be developed,” Wack said. “They’re almost all built up.”

Lancaster has much larger tracts of land to work with, she said.

It’s too early to say what the community wants or how much it may cost, but leaders will continue gathering resident input, including creating a survey for community members.

“The supervisor has tasked us with creating a set of questions that determines where changes happen, what people think is accurate and what’s not,” said Ben Levenger, founder of Downtown Redevelopment Services. This group has partnered with the township to enact its comprehensive plan.

“Because, as everybody knows, Lancaster Township has grown exponentially in three years. ... You’ve got housing, land use, developments, ordinances, codes. So we’re really asking questions as to what people think about each one of them, and then we’re going to see how much of the plan from 2019 is still relevant or accurate. And from there, we will make amendments to adjust, change or rewrite as necessary.”