LATHROP — An estimated 660,000 people call San Joaquin County home, but planners think that number will double by the year 2030 and exceed one million people by 2050.

Lathrop residents are asked to come out for a community workshop next week to weigh in on issues surrounding this unprecedented growth.

The San Joaquin Valley Blueprint Process workshop, sponsored by the San Joaquin Council of Governments, will begin at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 8, at Lathrop City Hall.

In this first workshop, residents will be asked to point out what they like most and least about the city. Residents can also give ideas about what they would like to see changed over the next four decades, regional planner Anthony Zepeda said.

Air quality, open space conservation, traffic congestion and public transit will be among topics discussed.

A second set of workshops will ask residents what sort of growth they want to see in the area, looking at different scenarios for the county in the year 2050.

All eight counties that make up the San Joaquin Valley — San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, Fresno, Tulare, Kings, and Kern — are taking part in the project.

Organizers say the results from the workshops will be made public and distributed to local leaders to guide their decision-making, as early as June 2008.

Manteca residents will have their workshop in two weeks, at 6 p.m. March 21 at the Manteca Branch Library, 320 W. Center St.