A Wellsville planning and zoning group has scheduled a meeting on June 17 to talk about plans on improving the future of the community.

The meeting will be at 7 p.m. at Wellsville City Hall. Susie Keithley, Cory Harlan, Jes Schlanker, Jonathan Steele and Adam Gremminger make up the Wellsville planning and zoning group.

Keithley, Harlan and Schlanker were in attendance at the Wellsville Board of Aldermen meeting on May 28 to discuss the meeting. Keithley said the committee wants at least five people to come to the meeting to share their ideas on what will make Wellsville a better place to live.

“I’ve been talking with different people who might be interested in participating in the round tables,” Keithley said. “I’m not just looking at people who live in town, but people in the surrounding areas who have an interest. They’re invested here, they have a financial interest here and they are actually part of a community that is developing.”

Keithley and Harlan decided to form a planning and zoning committee for the Wellsville community several months ago after finding out that plans are being made to have two large data center developments near the I-70 and Highway 19 interchange in New Florence.

Harlan said the committee’s goal is to help Wellsville – which has less than 1,000 residents – become a bedroom community for Montgomery City and New Florence.

“Change is coming,” Harlan said. “It’s just how we’ll get to be in front of the change as opposed to the change happening and then we try to catch up with the change. I don’t think that’s where we want to be. I want to be ahead of the game.”

Harlan said years ago, Wellsville had plenty of businesses such as barber shops, gift stores, clothing stores and restaurants in the business district before they all closed down.

“The buildings just went away because there was no upkeep on them,” Harlan said. “Everybody moved away.”

Harlan said the committee members recently went to a training that helped them learn about ordinances and the Sunshine Law.

“It was an eye opener on how to do certain things with the realm of the law without putting yourself in jeopardy and the city in jeopardy,” he said. “I do feel like as the chair of the planning and zoning (committee) that we represent the city and we want to make the best choices for the interest in the city as well as the residents who live here.”