Residents, workers and employers in Southeast Redmond will have the opportunity to weigh in on their neighborhood’s future next week at an open house at Lake Washington Institute of Technology’s Redmond campus at 6505 176th Ave. N.E.

The event will be from 5:30-7 p.m. on April 18 and is part of the City of Redmond’s neighborhood plan update process, which began in the summer of 2012.

Jeff Churchill, a senior planner for the city, said the open house will feature feedback they have gathered from the community since then. Members of a citizen advisory committee (CAC) will be in attendance to share all they’ve compiled so far on issues concerning transportation, the environment, land use, housing, economic development, community gathering and parks and recreation in Southeast Redmond.

In addition, attendees will also be able to comment and provide feedback.

“The goal is really to hear from the community (and ask), ‘Is this on the right track? What are we missing? Is this the direction we want the neighborhood to be going?'” Churchill said.

He said the open house will address both long-term issues such as bringing light rail to the neighborhood as well as maintaining certain characteristics within the neighborhood such as keeping Southeast Redmond a desirable and attractive neighborhood.

“Now is the time for people to weigh in,” Churchill said.

After the open house, Churchill said the CAC will debrief on April 24, discuss what they heard at the open house and refine things as needed. Once that is done, the CAC will develop alternative futures for Southeast Redmond based on the community feedback. Churchill said this will take a few months before they hold another open house in July. The city will once again gather community feedback and hold one more open house in October for more feedback before they begin to develop a draft of the Southeast Redmond neighborhood plan. If people are unable to attend these events, Churchill said they can go online to learn more and comment at redmond.gov/seredmond.

He said this will conclude the CAC portion of the process.

Once a plan is drafted, it will go to the Planning Commission for review and then to City Council to be adapted and implemented. Churchill said this will happen about a year from now.

“It’s our best guess,” he said.