BY D’ARCY EGAN

Mayor Michael Snider wants to know what the people of Port Clinton feel should be the identity of this coastal city on the Lake Erie shoreline.

Port Clinton’s manufacturing base has shrunken over the last few decades. Is Port Clinton now best known as vacationland, a tourist destination, a fishing Mecca, or just a place to relax and enjoy nature?

Those were the questions Snider asked at a community meeting on Saturday morning at Port Clinton Middle School. In a simple message to business and community leaders, Snider queried them on what they wanted Port Clinton to be as a city when it grows up?

“I want to build on the attitude of our citizens, and how they identify the city,” said Mayor Snider. “The object is to build a master plan, with goals and objectives.

“I’ve gathered information from a wide variety of other political subdivisions and their master plans, whether those officials called it strategic plan, a business plan or simply white pages.”

Port Clinton, he said, not only does not have a master plan, but is the rare city that does not.

“We need Port Clinton City Council to authorize an engineering firm to create a master plan for Port Clinton, which would help achieve your goals and move forward. Twenty years from now we want the city to continue moving forward.”

Port Clinton has plans for a $20 million infrastructure project created by Poggemeyer Design Group that would revitalize the city streets and sewer and water lines. The mayor and council are working to determine whether to put that project on the ballot or have it approved by council.

“The meeting (on Saturday) was a chance to get everyone together and look at the need for a master plan that would address our wants and needs,” said Snider. “The meeting was pretty much an ice-breaker, a chance for people to tell their unique stories and get together in small groups.

“There was a heck of a lot of laughter, a great deal off consensus, and the realization that attitude is a Port Clinton problem that needs to be addressed.”