This week at the WRC: 8/8 - 8/12
- August 8, 4:00 pm: Transportation Committee, via Zoom CANCELLED
- August 9, 6:00 pm: Executive Board, via Zoom
- August 10, 4:00 pm: Brownfields Committee, via Zoom
Full Meetings and Events Calendar, and Warnings | Current Newsletter | May 2022 Staff Report
From the Director, Spring 2022: The Joy of Planning
I worry sometimes that approaches to the planning process itself can suck the joy out of what can and should be an exhilarating endeavor. Think about it: we live in a state in a nation where we’re supposed to engage with one another to develop a vision with our neighbors of where we want to be in 5-10-15-30-50 years from now, and how to get there. In the span of human history, that’s a pretty amazing thing! To be sure we are still in the process of forming our more perfect union, but we have no king or dictator telling us how things are going to be. We are not at risk of being attacked by a neighboring power to subject us to their will. Planning should be a celebration of our ability to shape our communities’ futures, and bringing all of our neighbors together to have that conversation.
WRC is Hiring a Municipal & Regional Planner or Senior Planner
The Windham Regional Commission (WRC) seeks a highly skilled, self-motivated, full-time (37.5 hrs./wk.) Planner or Senior Planner (depending upon experience) 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.
Grants in Aid Program Continues to Benefit Towns, and Their Roads
Just about every town road crew in the Windham Region (or their contractors) are busy this summer working on road drainage projects funded through the Vermont Agency of Transportation. Stone or grass ditching and new, larger culverts are just some of the practices being put in place. The ultimate goal is to improve water quality under the direction of Vermont’s Municipal Roads General Permit (MRGP), but many towns acknowledge these practices are also making their roads more resilient. With these improvements to their drainage systems, roads are washing out less often during intense rainstorms.
Windham Region Electricity Resiliency Zone Project – A Partnership With Green Mountain Power
The WRC has received Congressionally Directed Spending (earmark) through Senator Sanders to work in partnership with Green Mountain Power to develop resiliency zones. These zones are community-scale custom energy storage projects that pair clean power generation with utility-scale batteries to provide community resilience in the face of increasing storm-related grid outages. The WRC’s role is to work with towns to discuss community needs and work with them to develop resiliency zone plans.
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.
TrailFinder Can Help You Plan Your Next Hike
The Windham Region is blessed with many hard-working organizations that build and maintain non-motorized trails. With so many organizations though, it means you have so many different places to look when you want information about local trails. Enter TrailFinder, which can serve as a one-stop portal for trail information.
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.
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.
