This week at the WRC: 5/23 - 5/27
- May 26, 5:00 pm: Natural Resources Committee, via Zoom
Full Meetings and Events Calendar, and Warnings | Current Newsletter | March 2022 Staff Report
From the Director, Winter 2022: RPCs Have Been Level-Funded for 20 Years. To Better Serve Our Towns, This Has to Change.
Vermont’s regional planning commissions have been close to level funded since 2001. This makes it difficult to keep up with the needs of the towns we serve and the work we want to do in service to the Region as a whole. It also diminishes the role and responsibilities of our Commissioners, and our ability as a Commission to work with towns to establish regional priorities. Funding for Municipal Planning Grants has also been stagnant, and have actually decreased during the same 20-year period. This reduces access to planning funds for towns during a period when planning demands have only increased in number and complexity.
WRC is Hiring a Municipal and Regional Senior Planner
The Windham Regional Commission (WRC) seeks a highly skilled, self-motivated, full-time (37.5 hrs./wk.) Senior Planner with a municipal and regional planning background and desire to work in a rural context with a team of dedicated professionals, volunteer WRC Commissioners, and municipal officials. For more information, click here.
Request for Proposals for Website Design and Development for a Web-Based Regional Plan
The Windham Regional Commission (WRC) is seeking proposals from consulting firms to assist in the design and development of a web-based Regional Plan. The WRC recently began the process of updating the Windham Regional Plan, with the goal of launching a web-based plan in the Spring of 2024. Proposals are due by 4:00 p.m. on May 20, 2022. For more information, please contact Matt Bachler at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Windham Regional Commission RFP for Web-Based Regional Plan
Windham Regional Commission Announces Federal Funding to Support Resiliency Zones in Partnership with Green Mountain Power
The Windham Regional Commission (WRC) is on tap to receive funding through Congressionally directed spending supported by Senator Bernie Sanders to help towns in southeast Vermont plan Resiliency Zones. This innovative work to increase resiliency in the face of climate change is a collaboration between WRC and Green Mountain Power (GMP).
Updated Guidance on the American Rescue Plan Act and First Reporting Deadline
The Treasury Department recently issued the Final Rule for the use of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds by municipalities, with some important new guidelines that towns should be aware of. The deadline for the first ARPA Project and Expenditure Report is April 30th and towns should begin preparing to submit the required information to the Treasury Department. Please contact us at the Windham Regional Commission if you have questions or need support.
Energy Storage Webinar with Green Mountain Power
Interested in learning more about improving your home's resiliency while cutting costs and carbon? Join your Regional Planning Commissions and Green Mountain Power at 7 pm on February 8th for a webinar to learn how GMP's battery storage programs can help you stay powered up, while also reducing carbon emissions and lowering costs for all GMP customers.
Road Foremen Meet After Two Year Hiatus
Representatives from 19 towns met the last week in October 2021 at the Dover Town Garage to discuss issues relevant to their road crews. Whether their title is - road foreman, road commissioner, highway superintendent, or public works director - the folks who take care of your roads came together for what WRC calls a Road Foremen’s meeting—the first one in over two years. The meeting featured a packed agenda, with topics including the current and upcoming funding rounds for Grants in Aid, the Better Roads grant program, equipment grants, attendee’s experiences with leaf blowers and hydro seeders, how towns are using tables and smartphones for mapping, stone lined ditches, and salt and sand availability issues.
Route 30 Transit Study
A transit study is underway in the Windham region that aims to bring public transit service to residents of the Rt. 30 corridor from Brattleboro to Stratton Mountain. Southeast Vermont Transit, in collaboration with VTrans and the Windham Regional Commission have begun work on the study that will evaluate the possibility of fixed route bus service along Rt. 30, through Brattleboro, Newfane, Townshend, Jamaica, and Winhall. RLS & Associates, a transportation consulting firm headquartered in Dayton, Ohio, has been hired to conduct the study.
Windham Region Broadband Project Receives Award
The Windham Regional Commission and its partners, ValleyNet, Rural Innovation Strategies and the Deerfield Valley Communications Union District have received a 2021 Aliceann Wohlbruck Impact Award from the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) for the Windham Region Broadband Project.
The Windham Region Broadband Project was developed pre-COVID pandemic because our communities already understood that their residents who were not connected to the internet were being left behind. It was one of the first projects funded by Vermont’s Broadband Innovation Grant (BIG) program. The primary objective of the Windham Region Broadband Project was to serve the unserved and underserved areas of the region. Once COVID hit, internet access was no longer considered a luxury by anyone but a necessity for work, education, health and well-being.
Nine Towns Apply for Municipal Planning and Bylaw Modernization Grants
A number of Windham region towns worked long and hard to develop and submit applications for Municipal Planning Grants (MPGs) by a November 1 deadline and for Bylaw Modernization Grants (BMGs) by a November 15 deadline. The MPG applicants included:
- Brattleboro for a Walk/Bike Master Plan to evaluate the pedestrian and bicycle system and create a prioritized action plan;
- Putney for a Town Plan update including an Enhanced Energy Plan, mapping and evaluation of Act 171 forest blocks and habitat connectors, and agricultural uses and their supporting lands;
- Rockingham for identifying three alternatives for 37 Main Street and producing a street plan for the west end of the Designated Village Center in Saxtons River;
Guidance Available on the American Rescue Plan Act and What Funds Can Be Used for In Your Community
The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), a response to the impacts of the Coronavirus on the economy, is bringing a lot of important funding to our municipalities. Windham Regional is looking forward to working with you to help answer questions, provide resource information and assist with strategizing for long term economic investment. Questions on what and how municipalities can spend the ARPA money on are numerous and we all will all have to be patient as guidelines for the use of the money are released and then interpreted.
With Regional Plan Assessment, WRC Prepares to Readopt its Current Regional Plan
The Windham Regional Commission (WRC) intends to readopt its current regional plan, originally adopted September 30, 2014, and subsequently amended on April 24, 2018 to include the Windham Regional Energy Plan. Per 24 V.S.A. § 4348b, a regional plan that has expired or is about to expire may be readopted as provided under section 4348 for the adoption of a regional plan or amendment. Prior to readoption, the regional planning commission shall prepare an assessment report which shall be submitted to the Agency of Commerce and Community Development and the municipalities within the region. At its meeting on March 30, 2021, the Full Commission voted unanimously to send this regional plan assessment to the aforementioned statutory parties.
GMP Proposes Use of Pole Socks Statewide
Green Mountain Power (GMP) attended the December 2020 WRC Project Review Committee (PRC) meeting to discuss the relocation of approximately 5700’ of power line along Weatherhead Hollow Road in Guilford which required an Act 250 permit (2W1365). The District 2 Environmental Commission (DEC2) had proposed to permit GMP to use alternate pole materials for several poles that were within wetland or wetland buffer. GMP was resistant to this proposed permit condition, wanting instead to continue to use chemical treated penta poles, and they called for a hearing. Because of this seeming impasse, the PRC suggested to GMP the consideration of the use of plastic ‘pole socks’ as a way to both use penta poles and prevent seepage to the surrounding environment.
Grants In Aid Program Brings Nearly Half a Million Dollars to Region’s Towns
Twenty-six towns in the Windham Region are each poised to receive anywhere from $5,000 to as much as $31,000 this year for construction projects to improve water quality and make their roads more resilient. The Grants in Aid program provides funds to towns to help them comply with the conditions of Vermont’s Municipal Roads General Permit. Construction projects can include ditching and stone lining or seeding, and small culvert upgrades.
CISMA: Fighting the Spread of Invasives Through Education
Regional organizations and foresters have banded together to form the Southeastern Vermont Cooperative Invasive Species Management Alliance (CISMA), a group looking at forest invasives and how to manage them. As part of the steering committee, WRC staff have been involved in helping form the CISMA and launch its fall and winter webinars focusing on forest invasives.
