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GREENSBORO — More than 120 people turned out Tuesday night at the Carolina Theatre to help develop the latest in a long line of plans on the future of downtown.

They did it by playing cards.

“This is not your father’s planning process,” Ed Wolverton , president and CEO of Downtown Greensboro Inc. , told the group gathered in the Renaissance Room . “We’re building on past plans.”

Since 1995 , at least a dozen planning efforts have focused to varying degrees on the center city.

Earlier this year, city and county officials agreed to take the unfinished recommendations from those reports and develop what is being called the Downtown Area Consolidated Plan.

“This shows that the city and the county are working together,” said Melvin “Skip” Alston , chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners . “We want to define a common vision for the downtown area.”

Community leaders hope the plan that emerges sometime next summer will provide a framework for economic development in the center city.

To start the process, organizers divided the crowd into groups representing various downtown quadrants.

Wolverton told each to use a suit of cards to rank the top five projects in their area, with an ace being the highest.

“Any city is dealt a certain hand,” Howard Katz , a professor at Elon University School of Law , told participants. “... We can either play it well or we can play it poorly. If we play it poorly, they will say shame on us.”

The group representing downtown’s southwest quadrant, known as the Morehead neighborhood, said they wanted to see more retail concentrated on South Elm Street.

Those considering the possibilities in the northwest part of downtown, called the Bellemeade neighborhood, favored partnering with large land owners to develop under-u sed spaces, including a district that would feature retail, restaurants and housing.

The group representing the Southside neighborhood, the area south of the railroad tracks, gave their highest card to the South Elm Street redevelopment area, hoping that the project will include an entertainment feature.

Those looking at the needs of the Church Street area on the east side of downtown wanted to eliminate barriers that would hinder future development.

Each person also got to play a wild card: some project they want to see developed downtown.

Simonne McClinton , the owner of M’Coul’s on McGee Street , said she favored a concert hall, a possibility that’s drawing increased conversation since the defeat last fall of the $50 million bond referendum to improve War Memorial Auditorium .

Whatever happens with the future downtown plan, McClinton said she doesn’t expect those involved in revitalizing the center city to fold their hand.

“I applaud them,” she said. “It is quite an undertaking, but I think there will be progress either way.”

As the plan unfolds, the next public meeting will be held in April or May . City and county leaders could vote on the recommendations by July .

Contact Donald W. Patterson at 373-7027 or don.patterson@news-record.com