As the city council moves on with plans for a new shopping center, a significant portion of the community is coming together to express its desire for “smart growth,” or efficient city development.

An open forum was held Wednesday at City Hall in order to educate the community about what “Smart Growth” is.

A large number of Ames residents made an appearance at the forum, trickling in slowly at first.

By the time Erwin Klaas, professor emeritus in animal ecology, began his presentation about the definition of Smart Growth, the room was packed.

The Ames Smart Growth Alliance, a group of Ames residents interested in effective city planning, was formally organized in 2002, Klaas said.

Klaas has spent the past six years of his retirement doing volunteer work. He said he, along with a group of other concerned residents, has been generally interested in city planning and growth since the ’90s.

The proposal for a new shopping center prompted Klaas and his friends to formally unite under the banner of “Smart Growth,” which is actually a national movement.

The Ames Smart Growth Alliance, he said, has registered with the state, and is working toward being an official nonprofit organization.

“I assure you that Smart Growth is a very positive program,” Klaas said.

Klaas addressed a number of concerns, such as general population growth in the country since World War II and how population growth and “urban sprawl” are related.

He defined urban sprawl as expensive, and “development that takes our tax dollars away. We often don’t think of it that way.”

The organization is interested in city planning on a number of fronts, among them transportation and vehicle emissions, and, in general, utilizing the city’s resources in an efficient manner.

Holly Fuchs, Ames resident and member of Ames Smart Growth Alliance, was the first citizen to show up at the forum.

Fuchs said she came to Ames in 1957 and has seen the city change in ways that have taken away from her own quality of life. She doesn’t have expertise in city planning, she said with a wide smile, but she has her own opinions about what is “pretty” and good for the community.

Fuchs said students’ voices and knowledge are important to the pursuit of efficient growth.

“Conserving our resources and using them effectively is a better future for all of us, and [students] have energy and ideas. [They] will be the ones accomplishing it,” she said.