People should begin thinking now about what their vision is for the future of the area because in January Nan Stolzenberg is going to ask them to tell her about it.

Stolzenberg, the consultant hired to complete a generic environmental impact statment, or GEIS, plans to seek out residents' idea of what they want to see for their community in the coming years.

She and town supervisors David Bliss of Middlefield and Bill Gates of Otsego met with village mayor Wendell Tripp last Wednesday morning to discuss progress in what could be a year-long process.

The first series of workshops went well and helped identify issues people are concerned about, although Stolzenberg told the leaders that it was probably nothing new to them.

"From my point of view, we learned a lot and it will head us in the right direction," she said. "I have 15 pages of notes I have to shrink and summarize. We've made lots of progress with the GEIS data collection."

Light pollution was an issue which came out of all three of the first workshops that surprised Stolzenberg.

"That's a tough one," she said. "It's not an issue I expected to hear."

She added there is no data that assessed the level of ambient light years ago to use as a comparison against current levels which will be measured as part of the study.

Another issue that she wants to work to qualify is what people mean by the term "rural character." Stolzenberg said statements about preserving the rural character of the area cropped up often, but it is hard to know what people mean because everyone's interpretation is different.

To help reach a better understand of what people mean by "rural character," Stolzenberg suggested they employ a visual preference survey. The process consists of showing people a series of slides which depict differing rural characteristics and asking viewers to rate the slides. By looking at the ratings and contents of each photograph it is possible to then develop a picture of people want.

"We use a slide show to get a handle on what it is people prefer looking at. It helps us pin down rural character - the aesthetic issues. It's a valuable tool for the community," she said.

Another upcoming meeting will revolve around the idea of asking people to create a vision statement for the future of the area.

"We have to put the future of the area into context. We have to get people to share their vision of the future for the area," she said.

The meeting will again divide participants into small groups who will be asked to write up a vision statement.

Knowing what people want for the area will help Stolzenberg put her analysis in context and give it direction.

She and the local officials also discussed the necessity for involving groups, organizations, businesses and institutions in the process.

Tripp said he was concerned about getting a diverse cross-section of the community.

"The people who are likely to attend are the people who favor preservation, and I include myself in that group. I'm concerned about representation," he said, adding that he believed it was important to also get the input of those who represent the "capitalistic merchant."

"You make an excellent point," Stolzenberg said. "We need to make an effort to ask people with different points of view."

Gates cautioned that he believed it would be a waste of time to focus too much on what he called lobbying groups. "If you spend a lot time talking to lobby groups you might get a distorted point of view," he said.

"I think it is worth the effort to learn their point of view," Stolzenberg said.

The group tentatively plans to hold the vision statement and visual preferences meetings in January at the Cooperstown high school.

Local officials will met again with Stolzenberg on Wednesday, January 3, at 10 a.m. in the village offices.