1st Step Taken In Cooperstown Planning Process

COOPERSTOWN – The core group that will lead development creating of a strategic plan and development process for the Village of Cooperstown met for the first time this morning at Village Hall.

Mayor Jeff Katz said he and other members of the coordinating committee, Village Trustee Ellen Tillapaugh, Ted Spencer, retired Hall of Fame archivist, and Matt Hazzard, interim executive director, Cooperstown Chamber of Commerce, met with county IDA President Sandy Mathes and Vice President/COO Elizabeth Horvath. The other steering committee member is Chris Grady, who was unable to attend.

This evening at the “Local Foods, Local Spirits” gathering at the Cooperstown Farmers’ Market, the first questionnaires are to be distributed, beginning the process of building a community consensus on a vision for the future.

Elan Planning & Design, credited with guiding Saratoga Springs’ revival, will guide the effort here as well. The full effort won’t be launched until next month, but Katz said the idea was to try to sample the opinion of summer visitors, who will be gone after Labor Day.