Cape Elizabeth is asking residents to speak out on the services they want offered, how much development is appropriate and if chain restaurants and businesses should be allowed in town.

These are just a few of the topics, to be broached when the town requests comment from residents about revised portions of the town’s comprehensive plan.

Every 15 years, town leaders and residents evaluate the town plan, looking at its efficacy, updating it and setting new goals. Town Planner Maureen O’Meara referred to the project as an evolution of the present plan. “Mostly, I see it as a progression to the next level,” she said.

The next level for business in Cape, according to O’Meara, will focus on creating business districts within neighborhoods. The former town plan focused on creating a town center business district, which O’Meara said has been achieved.

The comprehensive plan committee, the group charged with revising the town plan, has been meeting for nearly a year and formulated eight sections of the plan, including economics, housing, recreation, transportation, marine and water resources and critical natural resources.

The committee is composed of five residents, two town councilors, two planning board members, one conservation committee member, one zoning board member, and a school board member. O’Meara said she believes the committee is evenly balanced, representing a broad selection of the community.

The residents on the committee range from fisherman to dentist to a local business owner. O’Meara said this variety of backgrounds is necessary to build a town plan that accurately reflects the needs of all residents. “It’s important to have business owners… to have people who believe in preserving open space. You want a committee that covers a lot of ground,” said O’Meara.

O’Meara said the town has solicited public comment on multiple occasions, including a telephone poll of just over 300 residents that served as a benchmark for revising the town plan. The results of that survey were released in December and can be accessed via the town’s Web site.

The town has used multiple venues to involve and inform residents in developing the new town plan, said O’Meara, including public meetings and Web site postings. The town held their first forum seeking public comment on finished sections of the plan in December. O’Meara said that public meeting drew about 50 people.

Since then, O’Meara said the meeting minutes as well as the committee’s preliminary recommendations to revisions in the plan have been posted on the town Web site.

O’Meara said the last of three public hearings on the plan is scheduled for January 2007 and a final draft of the plan should be completed by February 2007.

The last comprehensive plan update began in 1990, and was approved and implemented in 1993.