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SUMMERFIELD — Residents of this small community in northwest Guilford County are invited this week to a somewhat unusual town meeting where they can try on a bunch of different hats: architect, municipal planner, legislator or zoning administrator.

Summerfield leaders are asking constituents to attend an open house Tuesday to help define the community’s future with a new comprehensive plan. The plan will guide local government for a decade or more in virtually every aspect of community life for the town of more than 7,000.

“You can’t please everyone. But at least if we go through this process, everybody has a chance,” Mayor Pro Tem Dena Barnes said of the gathering. “You can come and speak out, you can write a letter or you can sit at home and do nothing while others decide for you.”

Issues include what sort of development should be allowed where, design standards for new stores and housing developments, and how widely trails and bike paths will be provided.

“This gives a lot of power to the citizens to determine whether their leaders have been following the plan,” said Town Manager Michael Brandt. “You’ll be able to go to the plan and ask them, 'Have you been following policy 1.5 or whatever it is and if you haven’t, why not?’”

At Tuesday’s meeting, residents will see large tabletlike pages with specific policies and actions recommended in 12 major areas covered by the proposal.

Residents can vote to agree or disagree with each specific item, then list their reasons. The town has numerous copies of each page, so there should be plenty of room for everybody to comment in full, Brandt said.

The plan was assembled by a 20 member committee appointed by the council three years ago after it became apparent the town’s existing long-range plan wasn’t broad enough and seemed outdated.

Elected officials took a hands-off approach as the committee did its work, said Mayor Mark E. Brown: “We really do want this to be a citizen-driven thing.”

The committee will review comments submitted by those who attend Tuesday, starting that evening after the open house. Ultimately, the group will present a reworked plan to the council for review and adoption.

The committee foundered through its first year but began hitting its stride in mid-2008 when the town hired Glenn Harbeck, a planning consultant from Wilmington who encouraged community outreach.

That began with a townwide meeting in September 2008, where residents made lists of things they did and didn’t want for the town.

From hundreds of comments, a shared vision emerged: an eye-pleasing community with plenty of trails and bike paths, and residential development emphasizing single-family houses on large lots, Harbeck said.

“These policies were determined by the citizens who came to that very first town meeting,” Harbeck said of the plan being unveiled Tuesday. “There were very different voices but they were saying similar things.”

Now committee members are awaiting the verdict of their fellow residents, said Randall Tinsley, co-chairman of the committee with fellow Summerfield resident Mia Malesovas.

“My hope is that they’ll comment on every part of the plan,” Tinsley said. “Give us a complete grade on all of it.”

Contact Taft Wireback at 373-7100 or taft.wireback@news-record.com