Whitefish's effort to create a downtown master plan reaches a pivotal point Thursday when consultants glean ideas from the public about what the city core should look like.

"There are lots of possibilities people will want to consider," Portland consultant George Crandall said.

Slated at 9 a.m. at the O'Shaughnessy Center in Whitefish, the meeting is billed as the most important of four sessions planned by the Crandall Arambula consulting firm.

"We need the people who live there to turn out," Crandall said. "They know their community better than anyone else, and we want it to be their plan. If they turn out, it will be."

The Heart of Whitefish, a nonprofit group of downtown business owners and other civic leaders, began shepherding the master-plan project about a year and a half ago. The group solicited pledges from local businesses and the city of Whitefish is paying about three-quarters of the consultant fees.

While the consultants do the design work, a steering committee is overseeing the process. Committee members include Bayard Dominick representing the Whitefish Chamber of Commerce, Gary Stephens with the Heart of Whitefish, Mayor Andy Feury; City Manager Gary Marks, City Council member Cris Coughlin, Eric Mulcahy of the Tri-City Planning Office, and at-large members John Kramer and Chance Cooke.

Crandall and consulting partner Don Arambula will outline various alternatives for downtown development before engaging in discussion with the audience. Those attending will fill out a form noting their preferences and ideas. The meeting will last close to two hours.

The consultants held their first session last November, sharing scenarios of both successful and dismal downtown redevelopment projects around the country.

"We'll be talking about business vitality and how to strengthen retail," Crandall said.

The pending reconstruction of U.S. 93 through Whitefish, potential locations for a new City Hall and the possibility of creating a village green zone downtown are among the topics on Thursday's agenda.

"We'll talk about how to strengthen the connections between downtown and the natural environment, to the river, lake and views," he said. "We'll talk about where housing might be built downtown and parking issues."

Both city and private money would be used to pay for the revamp. At the last meeting, Crandall said every dollar of public money spent must generate $7 to $8 in private development.