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Windham Regional Commission HomeAbout the WRCMeetings & EventsNewsCommitteesPublicationsTownsContact Us Skip to content This week at the WRC: 10/17 - 10/21October 17, 4:00 pm: Transportation Committee, via ZoomOctober 19, 6:30 pm: Planning Coordination Committee, via Zoom CANCELLEDFull Meetings and Events Calendar, and Warnings|Current Newsletter| August 2022 Staff ReportFrom the Director, Summer 2022: Keeping Vermonters In VermontWe are in a situation whereby housing supply is far outstripped by demand.Being a small state, it doesn’t take many people moving in from out of state who can afford the housing that is available to make housing supply and affordability even more challenging for those already here.The result is serious. Those who cannot find housing appropriate during different life stages – be it young people moving out of the family home for the first time, couples having children, empty nesters downsizing, loss of a spouse by death or divorce, seniors and others seeking housing to fit their independent living abilities – will find themselves having to consider leaving the state if they have the means to do so because they cannot find the housing they need.For others it could mean making do with less than optimal housing situations, or even homelessness.Read more ...John Bennett to Retire After More than 20 Years of Service to RegionAssociate Director John Bennett will be retiring on September 30thafter more than 20 years of service to the region.John first started working for the WRC in 1996 as a Special Projects Planner. His responsibilities then included managing the update of the Windham Regional Plan, developing a Strategic Plan for the Economy of the Windham Region, conducting regional Act 250 review for Mount Snow development projects, and aiding region towns with land use planning and regulation and assorted other general issues.Read more ...WRC Proposed Intermunicipal Services Bylaw Amendments & Public Hearing NoticeThe Windham Regional Commission (WRC) is considering the adoption of bylaw amendments that would enable us to support intermunicipal service agreements among towns. An annotated copy of the proposed bylaw amendments can be found here. This is a service many towns have asked us to provide, however, statute requires regional planning commissions to amend their bylaws to support this service and we must hold a public hearing to get formal comments on the proposed bylaw amendments. The hearing will be held on Thursday, October 13th at 5:30 p.m. via Zoom, the Public Hearing Notice can be found here. The Zoom login and call in information is below.Read more ...Newfane Studies Sidewalk and Crosswalk Improvements for Village CenterThe Town of Newfane is studying potential changes to create a safer and more walkable village center. This summer and fall, the town will be working with the Windham Regional Commission and the engineering firm DuBois & King to assess potential sidewalk improvements and pedestrian crossings along Route 30 in the Village of Newfane. Please visit the project website to learn more about this project and how you can get involved!Grants in Aid Program Continues to Benefit Towns, and Their RoadsJust 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.Read more ...Windham Region Electricity Resiliency Zone Project – A Partnership With Green Mountain PowerThe 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.Read more ...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.Read more ...TrailFinder Can Help You Plan Your Next HikeThe 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.Read more ...Road Foremen Meet After Two Year HiatusRepresentatives 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.Read more ...Route 30 Transit StudyA 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.Read more ...Windham Region Broadband Project Receives AwardThe 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.Read more ...Nine Towns Apply for Municipal Planning and Bylaw Modernization GrantsA 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;Read more ...Guidance Available on the American Rescue Plan Act and What Funds Can Be Used for In Your CommunityThe 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.Read more ...With Regional Plan Assessment, WRC Prepares to Readopt its Current Regional PlanThe 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.Read more ...CISMA: Fighting the Spread of Invasives Through EducationRegional 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.Read more ... ProgramsBrownfieldsCommunity DevelopmentEmergency PlanningEnergyMaps & GISNatural ResourcesProject ReviewTown PlanningTransportationTrailsWater QualityVermont Yankee Find Us OnFacebook Home Top Skip to content Powered By T3 Framework