The Wayland City Planning Commission Tuesday night recommended the City Council adopt a new master plan and had an extensive discussion about the possibility of a Central Business District Overlay ordinance.

Commissioners agreed make a recommendation after receiving a 145-page document from Beckett and Raeder. A representative from the firm made a presentation outlining goals and objectives of the new master plan, which had not been updated since 2015.

The rep said there had been a proper 63-day review period that included the Gun Lake Tribe and neighboring municipalities, youth engagement sessions at Wayland High School and Steeby Elementary, engagement with stakeholders and an on-line survey that prompted 128 responses, most from the age group of 25 to 44 years.

It was noted that Wayland has a population of 4,435 in the 2020 census, an increase of 8.7%, has 34 percent of its households occupied by families with children, has a median age of 33.3 years, younger than many other communities in this area, and contained 37% of land classified as exempt and 28% residential.

Biggest concerns brought up by citizens who took the survey were sidewalks, safe roads and a need for smaller residential units. However, a big plus is that 70% of Wayland residents are within a quarter of a mile, walking distance, to recreational parks.

After fielding no public comments, the commission voted 5-0 to forward the new master plan to the City Council later this month.

But most of the lively discussion in the evening concerned the Main Street program and Downtown Development Authority and their plans to craft a Central Business District Overlay ordinance.

DDA Director Holly McPherson presented information about why the overlay ordinance is under consideration. She said its purpose is to try to attract more traffic to downtown business.

Though current businesses and services are protected under the practice of grandfathering, the new ordinance would insist on being open a minimum of 20 hours a week. It also very clearly would encourage retail and restaurants to be in the downtown rather than services and offices.

“I’ve done a lot of thinking about this,” McPherson said, “and I think this definitely will move Wayland to where it needs to go… We want to encourage a lot of foot traffic.”

Further discussion on the topic is planned for City Council and Planning Commission members.

In other business, the commission agreed to recommend adoption of its by-laws.