BANGOR – A proposal to bump up membership on the planning board was well-received when it was unveiled Tuesday night to members of the Bangor City Council subcommittee, who agreed to begin the approval process.

That is expected to happen in the near future, after another round of discussion. Some details that need to be worked out are how many members would be needed to attain a quorum and how many affirmative votes would be required in order to make a decision stick.

Once the details have been ironed out, the plan will be sent to the council for referral back to the transportation and infrastructure committee. After further discussion and analysis, the plan will go back to the council for a decision.

As it stands, the planning board consists of eight members, five of them regular members and three of them associate, or nonvoting, members. Associate members are called upon to vote only when regular members are absent.

Under the proposal, planning board membership would increase to seven regular members, with no associates.

Councilor Hal Wheeler, who served several years on the planning board before his return to the council in November, proposed the increase in membership.

Wheeler said the measure would put an end to what he called the “potted plant syndrome.”

Though associate members faithfully attend meetings and do the necessary homework, he noted, they don’t often have a role when it comes to decision making.

At this time, the board has only two associate members because the third moved away and has not been replaced. The two current associates, Alice Brown and Jeff Barnes, would be upgraded to regular membership under Wheeler’s proposal.

When the current associate member system was put in place several years ago, the idea was that it would help ensure enough members would be on hand to constitute a quorum and that it also would help familiarize new members with board work that often is highly technical and complex, according to longtime City Engineer Jim Ring.

Council Chairman Susan Hawes, however, thought that concept was “outdated.”

“We don’t do it for the council,” which also deals with complicated issues, she said.

Councilor Frank Farrington agreed.

“It seems to me an associate member is a second class citizen. I know there is a learning curve,” he said, but added that the one for councilors “is just as steep.”

Brown, an associate member for four years despite nine year’s experience on a planning board in Massachusetts, said she thought her input was valued by board members.

“They never made me feel like I was second class,” she said.

Several planning board members who weighed in the concept agreed it was one worth pursuing.

Nathaniel Rosenblatt and Miles Theeman both said they supported the proposal but urged city councilors to make it clear up front how many members would be needed to attain a valid vote when the planning board is asked to make decisions regarding such matters as site plans, or recommendations on zone changes and other matters in which the council has the ultimate say.

Planning Board Chairman Robert Guerette said he was in favor of the seven-member concept, though he though the board might still encounter quorum-related issues.

Guerette noted that the city has “had to twist arms” to keep its associate members on board.