VOORHEESVILLE — One-hundred people turned out to imagine a village with more green spaces, places to dine and gather, and quieter trains. They want to keep the small town feel and the schools as they are.

To help create a comprehensive plan for the village of Voorheesville, a “visioning session” was held at St. Matthew’s Church in the village. In a series of activities, attendees distilled what exactly they liked or disliked about Voorheesville, and what they wanted for its future.

The session came about in part from the uproar following the siting of a Stewart’s Shop and plans for multi-family housing at St. Matthew’s Church this past fall, and the proposal by the village to create a Planned Development District in which one area was zoned differently from neighboring tax parcels. These plans dissolved, but in their place came efforts by the village to create a new master plan.

Shortly after, a committee was formed to compile community feedback, working with groups like local churches, business owners, and local clubs.

Nan Stolzenburg, a local planner who has worked with several other area municipalities, has been hired by Voorheesville to guide the committee in creating a comprehensive plan. She was in charge of Wednesday’s session, instructing residents to work in groups at their tables. Participants first had to introduce themselves and write down what they liked about their community.

This was then followed by participants looking over lists of positive aspects in their community, negative aspects in their community, and opportunities the community should take advantage of. Participants could also add items to any of the lists. They were instructed to place stickers on what they found to be the top three items.

Stickers accumulated around positive features like the Voorheesville School District, access to the Capital District and its activities, and the small-town feel in the village.

Negatives highlighted included a lack of sidewalks, poor infrastructure, and a lack of housing opportunities for the elderly and for new families.

Opportunities to take advantage of such initiatives as shared services with the town of New Scotland were also highlighted.

Items added by participants included the need for “quiet zones,” where passing trains do not need to blow their whistles as often, and laws incorporating green space in the community.

Participants had to envision what would make their community better in the next 15 to 20 years. Stolzenburg asked residents to imagine that Voorheesville had been given an award 15 years from now, and to think of reasons why it would be given an award. Each idea would be relegated to one Post-it Note, and participants were asked to group similar ideas together on a large sheet of paper, and then create a phrase summing up these clusters of ideas. Participants could then meld phrases into a vision statement for the village.

Ideas included places residents could dine and converse with one another. Many wanted more sidewalks and better traffic.

Throughout the session, participants had conversations with one another about Voorheesville. Two women agreed that the school district was why they had stayed in the village, for either their children or prospective children. Another man discussed the dilemma of a small town.

“I’m willing to pay a little bit more in taxes...for small-town character,” he said. “You don’t want 85A becoming Wolf Road,” he added, referring to the slew of businesses on Wolf Road in Colonie allowing the town to tax residents less as it taxes more businesses.

The village’s population is gradually aging, said Celeste Harp, a planner working with Stolzenburg. She described the area as a historic place, with fewer and fewer young people staying as time goes by.

The village is planning on conducting a “mini version” of the visioning session at the Clayton A. Bouton High School in the hopes of gathering opinions from younger residents as well as those living outside of the village.

Stolzenburg was impressed by the turnout at Wednesday’s session. She counted around 100 people. Usually these visioning sessions bring in 30 to 40 people, she said.

“This truly is a workshop,” she told the crowd.