With development at the forefront in Lakewood, the city wants to field as much resident feedback as possible.

As many large cities already do, Lakewood is turning to the digital world to inform residents about city government, solicit comments and gauge the community on hot topics like development, the Lakewood Sentinel reports.

As the Sentinel’s Clarke Reader notes, the city’s turnout during the fall election was disappointing, spurring city leaders to explore how to get residents more involved in the process. The idea being, those who can’t make an evening City Council meeting can educate themselves with the details online.

After claiming victory in her bid for reelection to the Ward 5 seat on Lakewood’s city council, during an election season where the most debated topic was development in the city, Karen Harrison spoke about the need for people to get involved in the process to ensure their input is heard.

“We had dismal turnout to some of our open houses on changes to the zoning ordinance,” she said at the time. “People should go to our planning commission meetings, where they can hear some of these important topics discussed, and provide their feedback.”

The city is looking at options like LakewoodTogether.com, where interested parties can find “videos, links to documents and plans, and places for resident comments and feedback.”

The city is vetting its zoning ordinance and wants to begin posting plans to LakewoodSpeaks.org as part of the city’s new approach.