HOUGHTON — The Houghton Planning set up two subcommittees at its Tuesday meeting — one for studying the parking deck and downtown issue, and one for working on two chapters of the city’s master plan.

In January, the City Council charged the Planning Commission with reviewing the year and a half leading up to the Veridea Group’s withdrawal from negotiations over the sale of the big parking deck area on Lakeshore Drive, and with making recommendations on how to proceed.

At the Planning Commission’s previous meeting, Chairman Tom Merz suggested two possible options: taking up the issues as an entire commission, or splitting off into subcommittees.

Commissioner Dan Liebeau suggested it would be “a big lift” for one group to tackle the master plan update and the parking deck issue simultaneously. Last month, the commission agreed to revise master plan chapters 10 (the downtown) and 13 (zoning and future land use).

He suggested two subcommittees that would report back to the Planning Commission at its regular meetings. A separate parking deck group would allow it to delve into specifics such as the economics of the parking deck, viewscapes and green space, he said.

“If we work side by side at the same time on these two issues, and we came together at the regular Planning Commission meetings, we could find common ground on both of them, and still really be able to focus on the community’s concerns related to the parking deck, and then also the community’s concerns related to the (chapters),” he said.

The parking deck subcommittee will also include some members of the public.

The commission tentatively assigned Mike Needham, Eric Waara, Dan Liebeau and Tom Merz to the parking deck subcommittee and Jennifer Julien, Michele Jarvie-Eggart, Kristine Bradof and Bill Leder to the master plan subcommittee. Bob Backon will serve as alternate.

Julien requested to serve on the master plan subcommittee to avoid potential conflicts of interest. In January, Julien had asked for the council to hold a public hearing on her company

Braveworks’ proposal to redevelop the parking deck site through brownfield funds.

Merz suggested amending the initial lineup for the parking deck group, which included Waara, Needham and Backon. Having the city manager and both representatives from the council could create the appearance of a conflict of interest, he said.

Meetings for both subcommittees will be open to the public. Julien asked to make sure both meetings are not scheduled for the same time, to ensure the most public access.

Both subcommittees might reach out for assistance, whether through surveys or enlisting Michigan Statue University’s Charrette Institute. Houghton is also nearing certification as a Redevelopment Ready Committee, making it eligible for assistance from the Michigan Economic Development Corp.

“They actually have money available to us as soon as we’re redevelopment ready, and we’re very close,” said Clerk Ann Vollrath. “Some of it can help us with the cost of master plan updating. As a separate item, it could help us with a redevelopment area, which could be the parking deck. So we’ll have two places for them to offer us assistance.”

Bradof, who had suggested the Charrette Institute, said it could help with some of the issues the Planning Commission grappled with Tuesday, such as what groups would be represented by the public members of the parking subcommittee.

“Maybe it won’t be the proposal they sent us, but have a meeting with them, like ‘How do we do this?’, because they do it all the time with different communities,” she said. ”

The Planning Commission is next scheduled to meet at its regular monthly meeting on March 23.