NATCHEZ &045; A group of citizens formulating a plan to develop the area will hold its next meeting today.

The meeting will start at 5 p.m. and is open to the public. And before the group leaves the convention center that evening, it will have selected a community project it can finish in a month.

That’s what Rena Jean Schmieg, organizer of the group Vision Natchez, told members of its parent organization, the Chamber of Commerce’s Community Alliance last week.

&uot;A lot will be determined by the people who show up at that meeting,&uot; Schmieg said.

On March 21, dozens of people filled a room at the convention center for a Vision Natchez meeting in which consultant Vaughn Grisham explained what he said are the keys to community development.

Among other things, Grisham said the group must pick a project to finish in a month, building up momentum to work on future, longer-term projects.

Project ideas aired at that meeting ranged from building a industrial site to adapting the old First Baptist Church building on Main Street for a new use.

Ideas added Wednesday by Community Alliance members included organizing a recycling program and buying additional benches and trash cans for downtown Natchez.

Also in the Alliance meeting, city Grants Coordinator Brett Brinegar said that while much work must still be done, there’s a chance U.S. Department of Agriculture funding could be secured to build walking trails along the bluff.

There was also a discussion about setting up a Community Alliance fund under the Chamber of Commerce, which already has a 501c3 designation.

Otherwise, the Alliance would have to spend hundreds of dollars and several months to establish its own nonprofit status for the purpose of applying for grants and corporate donations.