This week at the WRC: 2/22 - 2/26
- February 23, 6:00 pm: Planning Coordination Committee, remote meeting
- February 23, 6:00 pm: Stratton Town Plan Public Hearing, remote meeting
- February 24, 1:00 pm: Zoning Administrator Trainings & Education Discussion, remote meeting
- February 24, 4:00 pm: Looking Forward Webinar, remote meeting
- February 25, 5:00 pm: Natural Resources Committee, remote meeting
Full Meetings and Events Calendar, and Warnings | Current Newsletter | January 2021 Staff Report
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From the Director, December 2020: Thinking About Community in 2021
The events of 2020 have caused me to think a lot about community, and more specifically the interrelatedness, fragility and resilience of the systems and things that make, and can unmake, a community. This leads to consideration of what a community is and what community means. I frame a lot of my thinking about community around the works of author, farmer, and academic Wendell Berry, the works of whom I began reading in the early 1990's when I was commuting back and forth to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C.
Looking Forward Webinar Series
WRC has planned a new webinar series looking at how we move forward post pandemic. The series kicked off this past fall with a webinar that focused on community development tools and strategies. The next webinar in the series will provide communities with information about tax credits and how they can be used to revitalize historic structures. Please join us for this unique opportunity to lean from national experts!
Wrapping up the Local Government Expense Reimbursement Grant
Cleanup and Assessment Funds Approved for the Garage in Bellows Falls
The WRC Executive Board approved an RLF cleanup grant for Windham Windsor Housing Trust in December 2020 for the Garage Project in Bellows Falls. The approved cleanup funds are a small but important piece of the funding stack needed to redevelop this site, which was originally built as a garage and also housed a dry cleaners and a dyers. The site will be redeveloped into apartments affordable to residents of various income levels. While the site fronts on Rockingham Street in downtown Bellows Falls, it also has incredible views to the east of the Connecticut River and beyond. Below is an architectural drawing of the revitalized site that will include a commercial space on the Rockingham Street level.
In the Field with Lisa Donnelly, WRC’s GIS/Transportation Tech
Working remotely is easy when your office is outdoors! Most of my 2020 field season was spent collecting road erosion inventory data, conducting traffic counts, inspecting Grants In Aid sites, and setting up pedestrian counters in on hiking trails. Because some of this work required several days of long commutes from Brattleboro, I had the unique opportunity to combine my love of the outdoors with my work by setting up camp at some of Vermont's State Parks. For example, camping at Jamaica State Park while working on the road erosion inventory in Winhall shortened my commute from 45 minutes to 10. As a bonus, I got to end my day relaxing by a campfire!
Check out "Energy Bites," Lunchtime Programs for Energy Efficiency
Energy Bites: Lunchtime Programs for Energy Efficiency is a short series of presentations offered to energy committees and residents to learn more about energy efficiency opportunities for homes and businesses. There are many ways that residents can save money and decrease their carbon footprint. These programs highlight partners throughout the State of Vermont who are offering incentives for residents to accomplish their energy efficiency goals.
Addressing COVID-19 Restrictions with Interim Bylaws: WRC Can Help
The WRC is available to assist towns interested in addressing issues in their zoning that may hinder re-opening of businesses under COVID-10 restrictions. If there are solutions not currently permissible, such as facilitating outdoor dining areas, you may be able to address them through short-term or temporary amendments to the zoning bylaws.
Collaborating with numerous partners, the WRC helped to develop a brief guidance document on how towns may address COVID-19 pandemic restrictions through the use of Interim Bylaws. You can access that guidance document here.
WRC Welcomes Abby Touchet as Summer GIS/Transportation Technician
Abby Touchet’s grandfather was the longtime highway superintendent of Westhampton, Massachusetts. That seems fitting, as Abby will be spending time this summer walking the roads of the Windham Region doing culvert inventories and working on a host of other GIS and transportation projects. Currently she’s focusing on Guilford’s culvert inventory.
COVID-19 Community Response and Recovery Team Forms
The WRC has been involved with the formation of a multi-sector team focused on the response and recovery needs of residents in the Windham Region. This team, called the Windham Region COVID-19 Community Response and Recovery Committee (CCRRC), is led by Sue Graff with the local Vermont Agency of Human Services district, and meets regularly to share updates, identify gaps and needs, and allocate resources appropriately. It functions as an ad hoc committee of the Southern Windham Community Organizations Active in Disaster (SWCOAD).
From the Chair & Director: WRC Operations During COVID-19 Social Distancing
The Windham Regional Commission stands ready to assist the towns of the Windham Region with their needs during this time of global response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the immediate term we have provided the town contacts that we have to the local Department of Health districts so they have a direct line of communication with you, and we have sent towns information about continuity of operations planning. The following is an update.
COVID-19 Information and Support for the Businesses & Economy of the Windham Region
The Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation, the regional development corporation for the Windham Region, is coordinating the regional response to the economic impacts of the pandemic. The BDCC has formed the COVID-19 Windham Economic Resiliency Team, which includes the WRC, and is serving as a conduit of information to and from the region’s business community.
For more information visit: https://brattleborodevelopment.com/covid-19/.
Coordination of Volunteers in Response to COVID-19
Volunteer coorination in response to COVID-19 is happening at the state level and regionally. The State of Vermont is looking for volunteers in a variety of areas and professions to help in communities across the State that have been affected by COVID-19. The state's volunteer website directs residents with health care training to register with regional Medical Reserve Corps units. Those teams can supplement local health care providers if hospitals get overwhelmed by COVID-19 cases. Volunteers are also being sought with other skills, among them drivers, food service workers and construction workers. To sign up go to: https://www.vermont.gov/volunteer
Internet Connectivity Resources During COVID-19 State of Emergency
The Vermont Department of Public Service has developed a map of libraries, local and state buildings, and schools offering free, open Wi-Fi internet access. They also have information about what cable, telephone, and mobile carriers are doing to assist consumers, including those with low income, and places where consumers can find internet access and be updated as new information becomes available. Here’s the link:
Take a Hike, Off the Trails
During Southeastern Vermont’s school spring break, each day WRC is offering some suggestions for hitting the trails safely this week during the COVID-19 pandemic. For Friday, we’re actually suggesting taking a walk someplace other than a trail where social distancing might be easier.
How about an in-town walk? Villages like Bellows Falls and Brattleboro have large street networks with sidewalks, and in low traffic areas you may be able to safely step into the street to keep your distance from others. (In fact, many larger cities have been converting a travel lane or an entire street to pedestrian use because there are more people on the sidewalk and fewer cars on the streets.)
