HOUGHTON — The city of Houghton will have a precharrette as a step toward determining its goals for the Lakeshore Drive parking deck and downtown development.

The Houghton City Council approved up to $9,000 for the workshop, after recommendation from the Planning Commission. It also stipulated the workshop be conducted in person.

The precharrette would be used to determine what the city wants in a final product from a full charrette, what groups would need to be involved and what outcome they want.

“This isn’t a magic bullet that’s going to solve all the downtown things,” City Manager Eric Waara said. “This is a precharrette workshop, which would kind of set the rubric by which we could then request proposals to do a charrette.”

The precharrette is intended to lead either to a full charrette or another decision-making process that would involve the public. Councilor Mike Needham said he would keep an open mind as to which method would better serve the public.

Waara said a full charrette could cost the city between $50,000 and $100,000.

In a full charrette, stakeholders, decision-makers and experts would come together to help refine a final idea, such as a downtown plan, Holly Madill, director of the National Charrette Institute at Michigan State University, said during a recent Planning Commission meeting.

Up to 13 people will participate in the precharrette. While precharrettes can have as many as 30 people, around 15 is a more workable number, Madill told the Planning Commission last month.

The 13 participants will include up to three members of the City Council; up to four members of the Planning Commission; up to two members of the city administration; and four members of the public.

The limits were set to prevent any group from having a quorum, which would violate the Open Meetings Act. Officials with multiple roles in city government — such as Waara, who also sits on the Planning Commission — will be double-counted.

“Following this path, at least the breadth of decisions that have to be made are narrowed down by the council,” Waara said.

The council will determine which people fill those roles at its next meeting.

The workshop would consist of five sessions of about three hours each, Madill said.

Council members agreed the workshop should be not done virtually.

“You get a lot more done in person,” Councilor Joan Suits said. “I think it’s a lot of money, but it’s a big project, and I think it’ll be worth it.”