Public affairs meetings in Pahrump tend to illicit reactions from officials and the public alike about what's wrong with a past policy, current situation or a particular public official and the need for changing it -- or for recalling or voting the official out of office.

But last Thursday night at the Bob Ruud Community Center a small group of people met to consider what's right in considering the future Pahrump townscape and how it, or at least its central section, ought to look.

About 20 people from the community divided into four groups, each assigned by Nye County consultant Hogle-Ireland Inc., to focus on one of four areas a half-mile in circumference and to imagine which site offered the most suitable location for Pahrump's future center of town.

The four candidates in contention are:

The junction of Highway 160 and Basin Avenue.

The junction of Highway 160 and Highway 372.

The junction of Pahrump Valley Boulevard and Calvada Boulevard.

The Calvada Eye.

The Pahrump Valley is 26 miles long and from eight to 12 miles wide, with Highway 160 serving as the current "Main Street" and the town's commercial strip development, along with Highway 372.

A slide show presentation of town centers across the country and a survey of participants' likes and dislikes, as to appearances and the differing elements that made up town centers, got the workshop off to a start.

Divided into breakout cadres, the groups spent about 30 minutes discussing among themselves why one area was more deserving than another to be the town center and which civic amenities, restaurants, other businesses and public facilities should go there.

In a project exercise, spokesmen presented the groups' rationales for selecting each of the four areas, giving participants the opportunity to consider what was essentially at stake in establishing the town center as well as what each area had to offer that the others did not.

The workshop is the first step in implementing the town's comprehensive rezoning project, according to zoning guidelines approved by voters in May 2004.

"The zoning is the basic planning tool from which the stage is set for future developments," said Kathy Lottes from Hogle-Ireland. Regulatory and design guidelines will be developed to serve as the framework for the future town center, Lottes said.

"The town center is important to any community because it gives the town an identify," said Bill Phillips, another consultant with Hogle-Ireland. In addition to civic uses, most town centers have a vital mixture of commercial development, cultural elements, educational uses, community and senior centers, clubs, churches, transit (bus) stations and hotel/casinos, Phillips said.

"What we're seeing a lot of is mixed use," he said, "office over retail or apartments over retail. Mixed ages gather there." Housing and office space are critical community components, he said, in order to maintain the presence of people 24 hours a day and on weekends.

"Restaurants are almost a must because they are one of the elements that bring people to the area," Phillips said. Structures belonging in a town center include anything "that helps bring all of the people of a community together."

Other components of town centers are farmers' markets, plazas, walking trails, village greens, day care centers, medical offices, affordable housing, museums, libraries, boutiques, movie theaters, city halls, concert centers, amphitheaters, youth centers, sports fields, playgrounds and community pools.

Another community meeting is scheduled for later this summer. From that meeting, the consultants will prepare a draft recommendation of the people's choice and their own favored town center site for the county commission's consideration.

More than one town center may finally come of the plan, or a town center and another area designated a commercial center may be recommended. Or possibly two town centers.

Hogle-Ireland maintains a Web site at www.pahrumpplanning.com. Anyone not present at last week's meeting who wants to submit a preference for the town center location in the survey has until tomorrow to do so.

The results of the survey will be posted on the site July 27. Further information on the project can be obtained from Hogle-Ireland at (949) 553-1427.