Two Gorham citizens and a town councilor  are surrounded by empty chairs when a public hearing convened Tuesday to hear input on the proposed update of the town’s Comprehensive Plan. Pictured in the foreground are Pamela Tiffany, left, and a former Planning Board chairwoman, Susan Robie; and Town Councilor Ben Hartwell. Town Councilor Marla Stelk also was in the audience but not pictured.

Following a sparsely attended public hearing, Gorham’s Comprehensive Plan Committee Tuesday recommended that the Town Council adopt the town’s updated version of the plan as amended by the committee.

The committee voted 7-0 (Jon Smith and Doug Carter absent) that the Town Council adopt the town’s updated version of the plan with the committee’s proposed changes.

“I anticipate it will go to public hearing with the Town Council most likely on Sept. 6,” Town Manager David Cole said before Tuesday’s committee meeting.

The town’s Comprehensive Plan was approved in 1993 and amended in 1994. The proposed updated version with the committee’s multiple recommendations in red letters is posted on the town’s web site www.gorham-me.org.

The Town Council could approve the updated version at its regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 6, at Gorham Municipal Center, 75 South St.

The proposed update of the plan was developed by Gorham’s Planning Department and consultant Mark Eyerman of Planning Decisions in Portland. The Town Council received a revision of the proposal in April.

The Comprehensive Plan Committee, chaired by Kathy Garrard, met four times and completed its review last month. Public participation has been scant and only three people were in the audience when Tuesday’s televised public hearing convened.

Pamela Tiffany, a resident of O’Brien Drive, aired her concerns about driving violations and future increased traffic on Robie Street where she is a crossing guard at Village Elementary School. “I don’t want anything to happen to children,” Tiffany told the panel, “not on my watch.”

Tiffany felt the situation would worsen with a proposed project on nearby Railroad Avenue. She suggested making a portion of Robie Street one way.

The proposed Comprehensive Plan draft does address traffic in residential neighborhoods. In its review, the committee is proposing, as one of its amendments, “‘The town should work with established residential neighborhoods that are experiencing significant “cut-through” traffic to improve the situation.'”

Cole said he would meet with Tiffany to discuss the traffic situation, encouraged her to talk with Police Chief Daniel Jones, and to attend the Planning Board meeting when the proposed project is on its agenda.

Tiffany has been a crossing guard five years. “I love it,” she said after Tuesday’s meeting.