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Strategic Planning Top Priorities:

Housing, Broadband, Agriculture

At a strategic planning meeting for Otsego County, local residents including Craig Gelbsman, Karen Sullivan Pat Knuth and Johnathan Gell, look over the list of top priorities with Nicole Allen, planning services manager, and Rebecca Yanus, Junior planner, at SUNY's IRC building tonight. Top concerns for our area included, expanded broadband internet, affordable housing and development of vacant agricultural land. Results from tonight's meeting will be added to ones from earlier today and presented on Tuesday. (Ian Austin/AllOTSEGO.com)
At one of four strategic-planning sessions Thursday evening across Otsego County, county Rep. Craig Gelbsman, R-Oneonta, county Planning Director Karen Sullivan and Oneonta residents Pat Knuth and Johnathan Gell, look over the list of top priorities with Laberge Planning Services Manager Nicole Allen, third from left, and Junior Planner Rebecca Yanus, second from ler, at SUNY's IRC building.   Simultaneous sessions convened at Edmeston, Richfield Springs and Unatego central schools. (Ian Austin/AllOTSEGO.com)

By DON MATHISEN • for AllOTSEGO.com

ONEONTA - Expanding and upgrading broadband, cultivating vacant agricultural land and building affordable housing topped the list of economic development projects proposed during a workshop Thursday night.

About a dozen Otsego County residents and elected officials gathered for two hours of brainstorming at SUNY Oneonta directed by Planning Services Manager Nicole Allen of the Laberge Group, the Albany engineering firm contracted by county government to put assemble a countywide strategic plan, the first ever.

The goal was to identify the counties strengths, weaknesses and potential economic development projects.  Simultaneous sessions were convened at Edmeston, Richfield Springs and Unatego central schools.

The planners intend to have some initial conclusions by Tuesday, that would include input from mayors and town supervisors, highway superintendents and municipal department heads who participated in similar brainstorming throughout the day Thursday at the county's Meadows Complex.

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