FLY CREEK _ An informational meeting about conservation subdivision regulations being discussed by the Otsego town board addressed some of the questions residents have, but failed to satisfy opponents, who believe the proposal unjustly limits the rights of property owners.

The workshop meeting, attended by approximately 150 people who crowded into the overflowing town office building, was the "first in a series of meetings" on the comprehensive plan and was designed to get people educated about the conservation subdivision, town supervisor Tom Breiten said.

Half of the meeting featured a PowerPoint explanation of the comprehensive planning process and proposed regulations by planning consultant Nan Stolzenburg. After her presentation, the floor was opened to town residents, who had questions or comments.

At the opening of the meeting, two attendees interrupted Breiten and shouted that he was "saying things which aren't factual." Breiten said he didn't want the meeting to devolve into a shouting match and that he would call the state troopers to have people removed if they wouldn't adhere to the meeting's structure.

Stolzenburg provided a brief history of the comprehensive planning process, which began in 2001 with a questionnaire sent to town residents. In that survey, she said residents indicated they wanted the town to retain its rural character and provided other information that was the basis for the comprehensive plan.

The comprehensive plan, she said, is a "community-based document which defines municipal goals and objectives" toward land use, economic development, recreation, agriculture and other things. She described it as a "road map" which helps guide a town in future decision making.

Comprehensive plans are not laws, she said, but the conservation subdivision is a law that is separate from the plan, but being developed at the same time.

While the town's comprehensive plan is still in draft form and has not been adopted by the board, she said they were in the final phase of the planning process where the town evaluates what laws they might need in order to reach the goals set forth in the plan. The proposed conservation subdivision regulation is one such law, she said.

Under the town's current zoning laws, Stolzenburg projected that 7,374 new homes could be built in the town over time. Based on the three-acre minimum lot size, this would result in almost all of the available open space being developed with houses.

Under the proposed regulations, landowners would still be able to sell the same number of lots, but open space would be preserved, she said.

Conservation subdivisions require that a percentage (50 percent in the case of Otsego's proposed law) of buildable area be designated as undivided permanent open space.

Many of the questions asked after Stolzenburg's presentation were written down and submitted to Breiten and the board for review. Those questions will eventually be answered and posted on the town's website at http://townofotsego.com/, Breiten said.

While Breiten was hesitant to open the meeting up for discussion, preferring to hold a separate meeting for that another time, he eventually opened the floor after numerous people expressed outrage that they would not be allowed to speak.

Residents asked what would happen to the land that was designated as permanent open space.

Stolzenburg said the town would not take over control of that land and that it would remain in the possession of the property owner or new owners who shared in the open space.

Clustering was not the only option for these lots she said, in response to numerous comments that clustered housing developments were not what people wanted to buy when moving to this area.

The process would be the same as it is now, Stolzenburg said, in that landowners would come before the planning board with plans in hand.

One resident questioned why the board was focusing on something that wasn't a burning issue in the town _ the subdivision of large lots into numerous homes _ instead of focusing on getting more business in the area or replenishing the number of young, working families in the town.

Jim Ainslie, one of the people who organized a meeting earlier this month to discuss the law and distributed a flyer citing problems with the law, said Tuesday that nothing he heard at the meeting had changed his mind or the minds of people he had talked to.

Breiten said the meeting went very well and that a lot of input was received from the public.

"We've heard a lot of concerns, received a lot of suggestions and will certainly consider them as we move to revise the draft regulation," he said.

A copy of the proposed law can be found on the town's website. No further meetings on the regulations have been scheduled yet, but additional meetings are in the works.