This week at the WRC: 2/17 - 2/21
- February 17, 2025: The WRC Offices will be CLOSED in observance of Presidents' Day
- February 18, 6:00 pm: Regional Emergency Management Committee
Full Meetings and Events Calendar, and Warnings | Current Newsletter | January 2025 Staff Report
**All Committee meetings take place virtually via Zoom and at the WRC office unless otherwise noted.
From the Director, Fall 2024: Bringing University Faculty & Students into the Region
I came to the WRC from academia. As an assistant professor of landscape architecture and graduate program coordinator at Mississippi State University I engaged with communities to explore planning and design solutions for their benefit, and for students to get real world, direct community engagement experience. The students also brought new eyes to what were often lingering problems and could engage with communities in ways that transcended entrenched fault lines of opinion. As a faculty member I applied my research and community service to regional, state, and local needs. Among these projects was collaboration on the development of Firewise guidance to help communities plan for wildland fire mitigation, the creation of introductory materials for towns about planning, zoning and manufactured homes, and examining planning for a freight hub. That experience, and my experience as a student, has led me to engage faculty and students in the Windham Region, as well as Vermont as a whole, because I’ve seen the difference it can make.
WRC to Host Public Meetings on Draft Regional Plan Update
The Windham Regional Comission will be hosting in-person and remote public meetings in February to present a draft of the Windham Regional Plan update. WRC is transitioning the Regional Plan to a web-based format to improve navigation and the use of the plan. The draft web-based plan can be viewed here: http://plan.windhamregional.org
The Regional Plan provides guidance on the future for the region and is used for WRC’s work program and regional planning efforts. Members of the public, municipal officials, and local organizations are encouraged to attend the meetings to learn more about the role of the Regional Plan and to provide input. Please see below for the meeting schedule:
January 2025 Full Commission Meeting Recording & Act 181 Presentation Slides
1/28/25 Meeting Recording: click here
Act 181 Presentation Slides: click here
VTrans Announces the Next Round of Better Roads Grants
Applications due December 27, 2024
Better Roads Grants provide funding for ditching, culverts, and road erosion inventories. Category A grants, which fund road erosion inventories (REIs), will help towns meet the Municipal Roads General Permit requirement for all towns to have REIs updated by the end of 2027. Category B grants will fund projects which include drainage culvert replacement and ditching improvements, particularly stone lined ditches. Category C grants cover mitigation of streambank erosion issues, while Category D grants can be used for larger stream culverts.
Municipal Vulnerability Indicators Tool Training Session Recording Available
Are you curious about your town’s social, environmental, and economic characteristics, and how climate change might impact your community? Would you like to learn how to use maps to identify vulnerabilities and inform local planning decisions?
The Municipal Vulnerability Indicators Tool (MVI) is a mapping tool to help municipalities understand their vulnerabilities to climate change across several social, economic, and environmental factors. The MVI can help Vermont communities identify where climate change is placing pressure on transportation, electrical grid, housing, emergency services, communications infrastructure, and more. It can inform towns’ hazard mitigation plans, local energy plans, or other climate-related efforts. It includes both climate hazard data (for hazards where mapping is feasible), and community characteristics that could indicate vulnerability to climate hazards.
Windham Regional Commission Helps Towns Explore Housing Options
Last spring, the Windham Regional Commission (WRC) entered into a new partnership to explore housing needs and solutions in the towns of Jamaica, Londonderry, Weston, and Winhall. WRC partnered with the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Center for Resilient Metro Regions in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning and the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Foundation’s Communities by Design (CxD) Program to assess housing needs and develop recommendations to address potential solutions.
The first phase of the project involved the development of a housing needs assessment led by a UMass graduate student and faculty member. They gathered and analyzed data and identified potential sites that could work for housing because they’re in proximity to village centers, and locations out of flood plains and river corridors. The housing needs assessment identifies gaps in housing tenure, housing types, housing locations, and housing affordability and burdens. This information is important for communities to understand as they plan for the future.
MERP Implementation Grants
Vermont Buildings and General Services, administrators of the Municipal Energy Resilience Program (MERP) announced last week that, due to a number of factors, only municipalities that received energy audits in the program and that were listed as High or Highest Energy Burden municipalities in the 2019 Energy Burden Report will be able to apply for implementation fund grants under the program.
WRC Welcomes New Planner!
Greetings everyone! My name is Anand Fedele, and I am a new Assistant Planner at WRC. I was initially brought on as an intern to support the Windham Resiliency Zone Project, but since then, transitioned to a full-time role on the Commission’s staff. I am originally from Rockport, Massachusetts, but moved to the Pioneer Valley in 2021 to attend UMass Amherst. Throughout college, I gained experience doing non-profit outreach and environmental education in Eastern and Western Massachusetts. After graduation, I made a short trek north and now live in Brattleboro near the WRC office.
Windham Region Towns Awarded VTrans Bicycle and Pedestrian Funding
Two towns in the Windham Region were awarded funding in the most recent round of VTrans Bicycle and Pedestrian grants for projects that will improve bicycle and pedestrian mobility in the region.
Newfane was awarded more than $500,000 in funding for the restoration of the existing sidewalks in the village, as well for the construction of new sections of sidewalk along Newfane Common and along the southern end of the village to Loop Road. This project will also create a raised crosswalk across Route 30 at the intersection of Court and Jail Streets adjacent to the Newfane Country Store, as well as add three conventional painted crosswalks across VT-30 within the village. This construction grant is the result of several years of collaboration between the town of Newfane, VTrans, the Windham Regional Commission and the consulting firm Dubois & King. This project had previously been scoped and designed through a grant from the VTrans Transportation Alternatives program that provided detailed designs that will be used as the basis for the sidewalk construction project.
FEMA Hazard Mitigation Funding Opportunity – Build Resilience!
Following the July 2023 flooding, an unprecedented amount of FEMA hazard mitigation funding is available to Vermont towns and other eligible applicants for projects that reduce the risk of flooding or other hazards. Entities interested in applying do not need to have damages from that event. Towns and other eligible applicants seeking funding for hazard mitigation projects must complete the Pre-Application Form by June 21, 2024. Pre-Applications will be evaluated for eligibility, feasibility, and cost-effectiveness. Projects found to meet these requirements will then be invited to apply, provided technical assistance (if requested), and submitted to FEMA once completed, by late 2024.
From the Director, Summer 2024: Thinking Continentally & Acting Locally on Large-Scale Landscape Conservation & Habitat Connectivity
In June I joined over 170 participants from the U.S., Canada, and Indigenous nations for the first Northeastern North America/Turtle Island Landscape Connectivity Summit to discuss collaboration towards conserving and connecting habitat blocks across northern Appalachia. This incredibly inspiring and productive gathering was co-hosted by the Quebec Labrador Foundation and the Center for Large Landscape Conservation on behalf of the Staying Connected Initiative partnership. One of the challenges that kept coming up was local capacity; local in this case being at the county/regional and municipal scales in both the U.S. and Canada.
Resilience Initiative for Vermont Empowerment and Recovery (RIVER)
RIVER is a project dedicated to developing locally supported ideas for reducing flood damage in several municipalities around the state that were hit hard in July 2023. In the WRC Region, that includes Jamaica, Londonderry and Weston. Community discussions for this project are being led by the WRC in concert with the affected towns. Information about the project overall is available on the project website.
Disasters and WRC Support for Towns
Dear Towns and WRC Commissioners:
Both before a disaster and after we strive to help towns through the response and recovery process. This is an overview of our role and who on our staff to contact about what. We’ve worked hard both within the region and with the state in the years since tropical storm Irene to put processes in place to help avoid confusion and duplication of effort. Unfortunately we’ve had multiple disasters since Irene that have helped us hone lines of communication and distribution of guidance, and build relationships with our staff so your emergency management directors, road foremen, town administrators and managers, and selectboard chairs know who to go to with questions. Because there’s constant change among selectboards, they may be less familiar with our role in support of towns.
WRC Transportation Committee to Make Structural Changes
The Windham Regional Commission has begun the process of transitioning our Transportation Committee to a Transportation Advisory Committee. The change in structure of the WRC Transportation Committee will give all towns the option to appoint a dedicated representative to the Transportation Advisory Committee outside of the normal commissioner structure of the Windham Regional Commission. The goal of the process is to expand regional representation on the Committee, include more towns in the regional transportation planning process and create a broader regional forum to discuss shared transportation challenges and the impact of statewide transportation policy.
An Update On The Municipal Energy Resilience Program
The Municipal Energy Resiliency Program (MERP) is underway with the capacity building mini grants being distributed to municipalities who applied throughout the end of May into June. Towns are using these funds to educate their communities on energy and resilience topics, state and federal programs that residents can leverage to make their homes more efficient, Americans with Disabilities Act audits of municipal buildings and a host of other approved uses. The Town of Wilmington is using the mini grant funds to host an energy fair at the new public safety complex.
