Take the area or topic i.e. - meadow, flowers, trees, dumping and describe without judgement - the Present Reality - what is happening now or what presently exists?
What are Areas of Concern?
Possibilities?
Implications of each possibility
Process for these possibilities - who needs to be in charge?
For example - Meadow
Present Reality - We have X acres of land and this summer part of it was mowed by a local farmer. The mowing was stopped before it was completed. We pay the farmer to mow it. Last year the grass was so high he broke his equipment when mowing in late August. The bobolinks nest in the meadow in late May and the fledglings fly in early August. Some in the province feel strongly that we should let it be a meadow, others feel that it should be mowed.
Areas of Concern - the cost of having it harvested by the farmer, the gas used to mow on a regular basis, the life of the bobolinks and other "dear neighbors" who use the field, the fact that our meadow is one of the largest pieces of land in the town of Colonie, who decides if it is mowed or not?
Should other things be planted in the meadow?
Possibilities - Do a survey in CE asking people's opinions. Consult with soil/land folks about the pros/cons. Estimate the savings in mowing only once a season rather than all season.
Implications - (OK so this is hard!) May not get much response to CE survey. Consultation typically has dollars tied to it and without the Master Plan information , we probably don't want to go too far down this path.
Process - PH Grounds people, PH Administrator,
