The first meeting of the Cape Elizabeth Comprehensive Planning Committee will be held Thursday, June 2, at 7 p.m. at Town Hall.

The committee will have 18 months to draft a new comprehensive plan for Cape, which will outline goals and recommendations designed to address growth and change within the town. The town’s last comprehensive plan was developed and adopted in 1993.

Town Planner O’Meara said a new comprehensive plan was necessary not because of any major deviations from the town’s last comprehensive plan, but because the 1993 plan was “a little stale.”

Cape Elizabeth has realized about 75 percent of the recommendations set down in the 1993 plan, according to O’Meara. New zoning ordinances written in 1997 implemented many of the recommendations within that plan, she said. The town has also made improvements to their affordable housing provisions and cluster development provisions as outlined in the 1993 plan.

There is no major shift in the direction the town is heading, but this reevaluation will be a good opportunity for the community to take part in the process, O’Meara said. All community members are welcome to the meetings of the committee, public opinion surveys will be distributed and public input will be collected at a minimum of two public forums, she said.

The goals and recommendations the committee will eventually present to the Town Council will need to be in compliance with the state’s comprehensive planning goals.