May 3, 2004

Present: Gary Vanderhorst, Peggy Gaines, Steve Caine, Andrea Herrin, Jim Leupold, Deborah Herrin, Dorothy Mitchell, Guy Mitchell, David Wood, Rick Smith, Marv Schorr, Al LaRue, Sally Ellms, Lynda Battenhausen, Doug Flynn, Dean Durst, Leonard Wessell, David Adams, Dawn Szurek, Christy Schrader, Nan Stoltzenburg, Don Meltz.

This meeting took place at 8:40 P.M. after the sample Image Survey was presented to two separate groups. Nan explained to the committee, and passed out a sample of, how respondents to the Image Survey would vote for the slides they see. The rating system is from a –5 being the most negative, to a +5 being the most positive. The answer sheet can be scanned and tabulated automatically into a spreadsheet. Nan said that 120 slides can be shown in one-half hour and each slide is shown only for a few seconds. It’s done quickly so that people will rate the pictures on their gut reactions. Nan said that it’s not the use of what’s in the photo that she’s trying to get people’s reactions to, but the visual point of view; if they like what they see. When all the photos are scored, Nan rates them from the highest rated slides to the lowest rated slides. She then organizes them by streetscapes, open fields, signs, developments, farms, etc. From this she gets a pattern of the negative vs. positive slides. Nan showed the group several sample slides of what could be shown in the Image Survey. She also passed around the land use section of Cobleskill’s Comprehensive Plan so the committee could see how the results can be written up. The town of Stockport used their Image Survey to identify the issue of rural character. Nan stressed to the committee that the Image Survey gets used to the degree that they want it to be used. This Survey gets people to see if there is a consensus of visual character for the town.

Steve opened comments and questions up to the committee. Dave Adams asked how the slides would be chosen. He asked if the committee discusses or suggests what criteria should be used in choosing the slides Nan is going to use. Nan stated that if the committee wants to use or include examples of things that are, or could be, in the community, they should let her know. Dave asked if the committee approves doing the Image Survey, should they have another meeting to discuss the things they hope to get out of the Survey which will help Nan to know what slides to select. Nan doesn’t feel another meeting is necessary. Nan would like to put together the slides of a lot of different things and see what happens.

Gary Vanderhorst asked if the slides are just of Charlton, and Nan said the slides are from all over, and there would be very few of Charlton itself. Nan said people are very sensitive to seeing a slide of their street or area on a screen when they know it’s going to be rated. She tends to use broad landscape views and long subdivision streets for this reason. 90% of the slides will be from somewhere else. Local slides could be used if the committee wants people to rate what is already here. Gary feels it would be good to show pictures of the rural areas of the town. That’s where the potential is for change. Nan said one idea that could be used is to take pictures of the rural community and then photo-simulate something different into it, then it would be rated what it is vs. what it could be.

Jim Leupold asked Nan if she has ever done several passes of the same slide, e.g., the first pass is how you’d want commercial development to look; the next pass would be another issue but showing the same slide. Nan said it could be done if there was a reason to do it. This is strictly to see what people like and what they don’t like.

Steve Caine asked Nan if she doesn’t use slides of Charlton, how could we keep the town the same? Nan said she can add slides of Charlton but would not take pictures of someone’s house. It comes down to extrapolation. If there were a slide of a subdivision that gets rated negatively, then the town’s subdivision regulations would be reviewed and determined if it allows the result of that particular slide. Marv Schorr said that in this example, it could be used as guidance to the people who are making decisions on subdivisions.

Al LaRue said he understands using slides of a housing development to help the town decide they may need more setbacks, but when you show rural views he is concerned. He owns land and if he wants to sell it, he’s afraid that because people in the town may want to keep the rural views as they are, he won’t be able to sell his land if he wanted to. Nan said that’s not what will happen. Nan said people rate rural land very high. If you show a slide with rural farmland with a house, and another slide with farmland and several houses, with a progression of two to three houses to a hillside of houses, you would see the scores go down. Nan said this just says this is a visual landscape that people like and it helps the town to figure out a way to keep the landscape attractive as development occurs. Doug Flynn said that if you showed Albert’s farmland, people would rate it as a positive five. If Al decides he wants to sell the land because he isn’t making any money farming, these same people who voted positive five will be upset if Albert wants to sell his land. Nan said that she could take all of the undeveloped pictures out so there is no comparison if the group thinks this would be an issue. Dave Adams said after looking at Nan’s email, he came to the conclusion that a useful purpose for the results of this Image Survey would be for the Town, Planning and Zoning Boards to use the information when dealing with special use permits. Dave wondered if there were certain goals the group would like to get out of the Survey. Steve asked the group if it was the slide presentation, or how the information received from the Survey will be used that is the issue. Steve said it’s unknown what information we will receive from this Survey and he feels the group should go into this with an open mind and see what information is retrieved, and then decide what to do with the information, if anything. It was asked what the cost of the Survey is and Steve told the group it was $975.00 and that it was included in the budget.

Steve commented that Nan is the expert and asked her how she would shape this? Steve agrees with others that there should be a certain area of focus in the Survey. Nan thinks it should be focused in the area where the group feels changes to the landscape are going to be impacted the most. Gary Vanderhorst asked if the committee should make that decision or if they should wait until the written survey is back and tabulated to see what the people want. Nan said the written survey could be looked at and examined to see if there is a particular topic that people feel threatened by and if so, steer the Image Survey around some of those topics. (Steve said, to date, they have received 393 surveys back).

Steve asked if the committee wanted to vote on the Image Survey issue or if they wanted to meet again next month for more discussion. Dave Adams suggested voting on whether or not to do the Image Survey and then what kind of guidance the committee wants to give to Nan before she does the Survey. A vote was taken to decide if the Image Survey would be conducted. The majority was in favor of doing the Image Survey.

Dave Adams felt that to get the most beneficial information from the Image Survey the committee needs to give Nan areas of focus that the Survey should cover. Christy Schrader feels the Image Survey needs to remain generic and open, and not focused on any particular topic. Marv Schorr commented that it needed to be decided how the Image Survey is going to be used It’s most likely not going to be used to set standards, but rather for guidance purposes for the different town boards. Steve agrees that the Survey should remain generic, but at the same time feels that if there is a critical issue to the town, it should be included in some way. Steve said that one option would be for Nan to design the Image Survey and let the committee know the major themes being used. Jim Leupold suggested that if a generic Survey is used and some of the information isn’t useful, then the committee should just ignore it. He feels that if Nan uses generic slides, it may be very helpful in finding out what the people want about streetscapes or how the majority of the people want developments to look. Steve asked if the group felt it was necessary to have another meeting to give Nan guidance in what to include in the Image Survey. The majority felt that Nan should do a generic Image Survey and that there would not be another meeting, and the committee would not give Nan specific guidance. Dawn Szurek suggested emailing Nan if someone had something specific they felt should be included in the survey. Nan said she could try to find a slide of a specific concern if someone felt strongly about including something in the Survey.

Meeting adjourned at 9:35 P.M.