The Gloucester County Planning Commission held a panel discussion about high-speed internet service during a meeting Thursday night in the colonial courthouse. Although the five panelists agreed there might be merit in such service becoming readily available here, the commission took no vote on the matter.

The county’s planning department has been charged with investigating how Gloucester residents can access affordable high-speed internet through broadband service, planning director Anne Ducey-Ortiz said. Also, she said her staff was instructed by the Gloucester Board of Supervisors earlier this year to create a set of standards and to suggest changes to county ordinances to permit the necessary infrastructure to accommodate such uses.

A public hearing will be held on the high-speed internet issue later, planning officials said, perhaps early next year.

Ducey-Ortiz said there are various methods of accessing high-speed internet, but the present county ordinance is "...