The “Balanced Growth Plan” for the Olentangy Watershed will return for a second round before Worthington City Council on Jan. 9.

Anyone interested in the plan is invited to read all 130 pages that have been posted on the city’s website, worthington.org, or to attend council at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 9.

The Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) created the document with the input of representatives of 27 communities along the Olentangy River, from Marion to Grandview Heights.

The goal was to create a vision for the areas surrounding the river, with a map and plan showing areas for development, conservation and agriculture.

Officials say the recommendations would be voluntary, though incentives someday might be available.

MORPC is seeking support from each of the 27 jurisdictions. It then will seek state endorsement for the plan.

According to a MORPC summary, state incentives then would become available.

Each jurisdiction helped create its own plan. In Worthington, the recommended map is identical to Worthington zoning categories and recommendations of its comprehensive plan.

A designated conservation area along the Olentangy would not affect private property, said Lynda Bitar, the city’s zoning coordinator, who represented Worthington on the committee.

When the plan was discussed for 90 minutes during a Dec. 12 council meeting, two residents expressed concerns about how the plan eventually might come back to haunt property owners.

“The history of plans like these is, they end up not being voluntary,” Fox Lane resident John Haueisen said.

Then-council member Robert Schmidt said he also was concerned about the impact on smaller communities in Delaware County, where voluntary recommendations could be interpreted as mandatory.

Still other council members wondered about the value of the plan.

“It sounds like just another piece of glossy paper that we will file away and do nothing with,” council member Scott Myers said.

Because one of the community complaints was that residents had not been notified of the discussion, council decided to give everyone an opportunity to read the plan and offer his or her opinion during the January committee-of-the-whole meeting.