An 18-month process to adopt a long-range plan for Southern Pines is nearing an end.

The Town Council held a public hearing Tuesday night on the proposed comprehensive plan. The council took no action on the plan and kept the hearing open to allow additional comment during the next regular meeting at 7 p.m. April 13 at Douglass Center.

The council could vote on the plan during that meeting or delay action to allow more time to review the document.

During Tuesday's meeting, council members still appeared to have unresolved issues with some parts of the plan.

"There are some concerns I have about this long-range plan," Councilman Fred Walden said. "If we can keep it open for a while, there are questions I need answered."

All the council members expressed a sentiment that the plan would likely be edited - if only slightly - before it is ultimately adopted.

"It's a document we can work with, a document we can tweak and make changes to," Councilman Mike Fields said. "It's something to work from."

Councilman Chris Smithson said he agreed with 99.9 percent of the plan.

"I fully expect as the council goes through this that we are going to have little tweaks here or there," he said, "but I'd be really surprised if there'll be any fundamental changes in this document from here toward adopting."

Consultant Bill Grimes, of Studio Cascade, the firm hired in 2008 to help create the plan, made a brief presentation before the hearing.

During the hearing, 13 residents spoke. Most offered positive comments, praising the plan itself and those who helped craft it. Several speakers served on the 20-member advisory committee that worked with the consultant to create the document.

Other speakers raised issues with parts of the plan. Two were very critical of the plan and the process used to create it. One resident said the plan was a "colossal waste of money." Another said the council should give it back to the consultant because it is "incomplete."

Smithson refuted the criticism in his comments after the hearing.

'This is not an ordinance," Smithson said. "This is a framework of what we (the council) refer to when we pass ordinances or make decisions. This is the level anyone who looked into it, would have expected."

The 219-page plan offers a guide to current and future councils on issues that will likely face the town and offers a prioritized list of issues that the council likely will have to deal with over the next 20 years. It does not provide step-by-step instructions to deal with any particular issue.

"I hope that as you are looking at this process, looking to amend the plan, that you reflect on the process and think about how what you have before you can really serve the community best as it looks forward to the next 20 years," Grimes said. "We don't know what's going to happen in 20 years, but we know something is going to change between now and then. Maybe a bunch of somethings ... This plan needs to be one that sets a course, is flexible enough to change, so that you can still have the Southern Pines you recognize in 20 years."

Contact Tom Embrey at (910) 693-2484 or by e-mail at tembrey@thepilot.com.