Just days after town council finalized appointments, the tri-site concept plan advisory group is getting together to put their collective noses to the grindstone.

Thursday night is the first meeting for the 10-member advisory group. Town Councillor Susan Flowers, its nonvoting chair, says the meeting will primarily be spent on orientation, updating members on what has happened so far and taking the opportunity to get to know each other.

Town Councillor Susan Flowers is the nonvoting chair of the committee.

"Then we'll plan our meetings for the summer and figure out who will need to hear from and we'll get presentations from all the groups interested in being involved," says Flowers.

"I'm excited about it. I think we can be really creative and I'm looking forward to hearing everybody's ideas."

A cross-section of people, long-time residents, newcomers and a youth under 18 years old, were selected from the 15 who put forward their names. The seven members selected were Art Norris, Emily Nattress, Jackie Shier, Jared Kassel, Robyn Usher, Samantha Chrysanthou and Valerie McCracken. They will be joined by voting members from the Cochrane Lions Club and the Boys and Girls Club of Cochrane and Area.

Other than traffic, Mayor Jeff Genung says he believes this is the most important project in front of council.

"I'm excited for every group and person that will be providing input at the committee level and start to evolve what we can do with those three sites," says Genung.  "It's probably one of the most important things we can do this term except, obviously, traffic. This is something long lasting that will really define the core of our downtown for years. So I think it's important we get this right and spend the time and come up with a concept plan that people can rally around."

The largest of the three sites is on 5th Ave. where the Lions Rodeo Grounds, Lions Events Centre, two ball diamonds and Boys and Girls Club are located. It's also the former site of the Big Hill Leisure Centre that was demolished in the late fall. The other sites are on Railway St.; one adjacent to the Nan Boothby Memorial Library and the other immediately across the street on land purchased by the town to originally serve as a transit hub.