LEWISTON – Councilors are banking on a new housing committee to guide the future of the downtown area.

“This is really going to be the mother of all committees,” said city Councilor Mark Paradis. “If it takes off and makes the hard recommendations, it could really change the downtown as we know it – for the better.”

The new group will write a master development plan for the city over the next 18 months, councilors agreed Tuesday. It will look at business and residential downtown, in the poorest sections of Lewiston and come up with ways to encourage new growth, new housing and boost the area’s spirit.

It won’t just focus on the downtown’s physical condition, “but on the emotional well being of the residents and their quality of life,” said City Administrator Jim Bennett.

Councilors discussed the new committee at the workshop meeting Tuesday. They’re scheduled to vote to create it at their next meeting on Dec. 5 and should appoint members at the Dec. 19 meeting.

The city is taking applications for volunteers at the city clerk’s office in City Hall.

Two of the seats on the group will be reserved for Empower Lewiston and the Visible Community. Both groups were highly critical of the city’s last attempt at downtown residential redevelopment, 2004’s Heritage Initiative. The most controversial part of that plan was a proposed $4.5 million boulevard that would run from Lincoln to Lisbon streets, cut through the Knox and Birch neighborhoods, and end at Bates Street.

The remaining seven seats will be reserved for registered Lewiston voters. Two spots will be set aside for people who live outside of downtown.

“If the committee is just made up of people that live downtown, it might be a problem for voters,” Bennett said. “Having people that live outside of the downtown makes it more credible.”