CRANBERRY TWP — The third Cranberry Conversation session on Tuesday, Aug. 11, kicked off a process to collect resident feedback about community priorities and values.

Responses gathered at Tuesday’s workshop will be used to decide the focus of the three remaining sessions slated to take place Sept. 1, Oct. 6 and Nov. 10.

Tuesday’s session follows two others in June and July. The previous events focused on key issues identified by township officials: park projects in development and ongoing challenges with emergency medical services.

The Conversation series will help the township update its comprehensive plan, according to Dan Santoro, township manager.

Unlike the first two Cranberry Conversation sessions, Tuesday’s meeting did not involve much sitting for attendees.

Instead, residents of the township who were in attendance walked around the township municipal center’s council chambers along a series of poster stations sharing their thoughts and feedback with township staff.

Attendees were given a set of sticker dots in three different colors — three black, three red and four orange — to rate the importance to them of present and future core values of the community and key issues facing the township.

Key issues to rate included housing; land use, mobility and redevelopment; activity centers and quality of life; and any other issues not listed. Each of those was further broken down into components of the larger issue on separate posters.

“This session is really about listening to you,” Santoro told attendees.

Township officials are looking to update Cranberry’s long-term comprehensive plan, which is designed to outline a vision for decades to come, Santoro said. The work for that will begin in 2027. This year, he said, is the listening period to prepare for that work.

“In order to do that, we really need to zero in on the things that the community — you as a public — feel are important for us,” he said.

Township Supervisors Bruce Mazzoni and Karen Newpol, who were both involved in putting together 2009’s comprehensive plan, spoke at the session.

“This plan is actually critical to our success as a township,” Newpol said.

Anthony Bertolino, the most recently elected supervisor, said he has seen a lot of growth in Cranberry since he moved to the township in 1988.

“Like anything, anytime you grow, there's always growing pains with things like traffic (and) population,” Bertolino said, adding he feels the growth has been managed properly thanks to the comprehensive plan.

The Cranberry Conversation series is an undertaking in partnership with czb LLC, a Maine-based planning and community development consulting firm. The firm previously worked with the township in 2023 on a redevelopment study.

“We’re really happy to be back in town to help with this process,” said Pete Lombardi, a partner at the firm, who was in attendance.

Lombardi said a critical component of comprehensive planning is to avoid making it too comprehensive right off the bat, because doing so makes it difficult to find a good starting point. Tuesday’s session will help the township hone in on top priorities, he said.

About 20 to 30 attendees signed up for the session on Tuesday, Lombardi said.

“We expect to have some more folks trickling in,” he added.

To collect additional feedback, a survey with the same questions as the in-person event will be published on Wednesday, Aug. 12.

“We hope to get hundreds of folks submitting responses,” Lombardi said.