W

A national search is underway for an Execu-tive Director for the Rut-land Regional Planning Commission. The Execu-tive Director oversees a staff of six and is respon-sible for overall leader-ship of the RRPC in coor-dination with a board of commissioners.

Salary is negotiable with an expected hiring range of $70,000 to $85,000 per year plus health, dental, and retirement benefits. The deadline for applica-tions is June 15, 2014. Apply at: www.rutlandrpc.org

Of Note: Executive Director Update

Mark the Date!

Impeachment hearings on Wa-tergate lead to Richard Nixon becoming the first U.S. president to resign

Gasoline shortages and price in-creases disrupt western econo-mies.

U.S. imposes 55 MPH speed limit to preserve gas.

Prices in 1974: Cost of a gallon of gas: 55 cents Average cost new car: $3,750.00

The Universal Product Code is used for the first time: a package of Wrigley's chewing gum is scanned in Ohio

Sears Tower in Chicago becomes the world’s tall-est building

The governor of Ver-mont? Thomas Salmon,

of course.

Winter 2014

RUTLAND REGIONAL PLANNING COMMISSION NEWSLETTER Spring 2014

Special points of interest:

Search for Exec-utive Director

New round of

Municipal Plan-ning Grants

New ACCD

Secretary

Inside this issue:

Segment 2 of Rutland Creek Path nears completion

2

Crossroad of VT Byway signs are up

3

Municipal plan-ning: what’s going on in the region

4-5

Local Emergency Planning

6

Benefits of Front Porch Forum

7

Address questions to Frederick Nicholson by e-mail: Frederick@ rutlandrpc.org. No phone calls please. The RRPC is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

On June 24th, Judy Holcomb celebrates her 40th anniversary with RRPC. Congratulations, Judy! She not only holds this organization together with her many tal-ents, she has extraordinary institutional knowledge. Here’s a look back at what was happening in 1974 when she first came on board. She knows all about these too!

Judy Holcomb - financial administra-tor, database manager, website administrator, receptionist, secre-tary, etc., etc.

Construction started this Fall and Winter for Segment 2 - from State Street to West Street. On June 6 at noon there will be a ribbon-cutting to celebrate the new segment. The path had informally exist-ed, but is now a paved, 10-foot-wide surface. The project must be accessible for persons with disabilities so the old noncompliant boardwalk un-der the VT Railway tracks was dismantled by Elnicki as part of the in-kind service match, and a new compliant boardwalk, with lumber donated by La-Valley, opens it up, connecting two paved surfaces on either

side. Segment 4 (from Meadow Street Park to the Dorr Drive Bridge) is in the right-of-way phase, and that will be followed by construction, either this fall or Spring 2015. Meetings on the scoping study for Segment 5 from the River Street/Dorr Drive bridge to the College of St. Joseph. The first task was to document the existing condi-tions, followed by the develop-ment of potential alignments, their evaluation and selecting a preferred alignment. The RRPC is serving as the local pro-ject manager on these 2 seg-ments.

Page 2 RUTLAND

For more information on transportation issues,

call Susan Schreibman at 775-0871, ext 204

Susan@rutlandrpc.org

RRPC COMMISSIONERS Benson – Daryl Burlett Brandon – Castleton – Jack Master Chittenden – Donnaleen Farwell Clarendon – Carol Geery Danby – Annette Smith Fair Haven – Lauritz Rasmussen Hubbardton – Robert Gibbs Ira – Tim Martin Killington – Jim Haff Mendon – Larry Courcelle (Vice-Chair) Middletown Springs – Tom Hurcomb Mount Holly – Patricia Teter Mount Tabor – Pawlet – Eric Mach Pittsford – Patricia Lewis (Secretary-Treasurer) Poultney – Tracy Carris (Chair) Proctor – William Champine Rutland City – David Allaire Rutland Town – Sherman Hunter Shrewsbury – Mark Goodwin Sudbury – Karen Sommerlad Tinmouth – Robert Lloyd Wallingford – William Brooks Wells – Rebecca Dittmeier West Haven – Christopher Hoyt West Rutland – Denis Lincoln Area-Wide Citizen Interest Members:

Natural Resources –

Housing/Low Inc – Regional Libraries – Paula Baker Ex-Officio Members:

REDC – Jamie Stewart

RRCC – RRTC – WIB -

RRPC STAFF Interim Executive Director – Fred Nicholson Assistant Director – Susan Schreibman Finance Administrator – Judy Holcomb GIS Manager – Steve Schild Senior Planner – Edward Bove Planner — Laura Keir Planner – Barbara Noyes Pulling Planner – Jaime M. Lee

RIBBON CUTTING FOR SEGMENT 2

TRANSPORTATION

High risk rural roads (HRRR) are defined as those roadways that are functional-ly classified as rural major collectors, rural minor collec-tors, or rural local roads with a fatal and incapacitating inju-ry crash rate above the statewide average for those classes of roadway. Also in-cluded are roads that are likely to experience an in-crease in traffic volume that leads to a fatal and incapaci-tating injury crash rate in ex-cess of the average statewide rate.

Annually the Rutland Re-gion Transportation Council (TAC) submits to VTrans candidate sites- intersections and corridors – to study and VTrans selects one of each. The following candidate sites were submitted for the HRRR Program: Intersections Walker Mountain Road

and Creek Road in Clar-endon

US4/VT100/Killington Rd in Killington

VT103 and Lincoln Hill in Shrewsbury

Corridors Walker Mountain Road in

Clarendon Tinmouth Road in Danby N. Grove St/Corn Hill

Road from Crescent to VT 3 in Rutland City, Rut- land Town and Pittsford The Towns of Clarendon and Danby will be participating this year in the program. Low cost improvements, such as signs, guardrails or striping will be implemented the following year.

HIGH RISK RURAL ROADS

Page 3 Spring2014

SIGNS ARE UP FOR THE CROSSROAD OF VT BYWAY

The Crossroad of VT Byway designation was the result of a collaboration of municipalities including West Rutland, Rutland City, Rutland Town, Men-don, Killington, Bridge-water, Woodstock, Hart-land and Hartford (representing White River

and Quechee) with assistance from the Rutland Regional Planning Commission and the Two Rivers-Ottauquechee Regional Planning Commis-sion. Travel all the VT By-ways this year and enjoy the ride!

Road Commissioners/Foremen meet the first Wednesday of most months at various garages around the Region. Please encourage your highway department to attend.

Land Use and Economic Develop-ment Studies Castleton – While the specific focus area of the project is the VT Route 30 corridor from US4 to Lake Bomoseen, the land use and economic devel-opment plan will analyze the entire town. Existing and potential commercial/industrial uses will guide the work and Crane As-sociates will be conduct-ing a market analysis. Funding for the project through a FY14 MPG. Proctor – A Proctor Prosperity Plan is being created, a land use and economic development plan for the village center. The RRPC assisted the town in applying for and receiving a $30,000 Plan-ning Grant from the Ver-mont Community Devel-opment Program. RRPC is serving as the project administrator and Bread-loaf is the consultant working on the project.

Rutland City – RRPC, Rutland Redevelopment Authority and Rutland Downtown Partnership have teamed up to work on the Downtown Rut-land Gateway Plan. The Gateway Plan will focus on streetscape improve-ments to three areas ad-jacent to the Downtown which serve as “gateways.” Landworks is serving as the project consultant. Funding for the project is from a FY14 MPG.

Municipal Plan Updates Danby – RRPC staff is working with the Town of Danby Planning Com-mission on the update. A Plan Danby community event was held on May 6th to gather input for the plan. A survey has also been distributed. Funding for the project is from a FY14 MPG. Rutland Town – The Rutland Town Planning Commission and RRPC are working together to update the municipal plan and incorporate new, required chapters.

Coming Soon:

Next Round of

Municipal Planning

Grants

FY15 Municipal Planning

Grants (MPGs) program

descriptions and

guidelines are expected

to be released in June.

To be eligible, towns

need RRPC approval of

their municipal plans.

Page 4

MUNICIPAL PLANNING

Danby residents gather to participate in drafting their next municipal plan. (May 6, 2014)

RUTLAND REGION TOWNS WORKING WITH THE RRPC ON LAND USE PLANS AND BYLAWS

For more information on municipal planning issues,

call Ed Bove at 775-0871, ext 208 EBove@rutlandrpc.org

Ira – RRPC is also work-ing with the town of Ira to update its municipal plan and incorporate new, required chapters. Zoning and Subdivi-sion Regulation Up-dates Mendon – In updating its Subdivision Regulations, work in Mendon has fo-cused on streamlining the application review pro-cess and focusing on nat-ural resource protection and stormwater manage-ment. Funding for the project is from a FY13 MPG.

Wallingford – The town’s update of its Zon-ing Regulations will incor-porate form-based princi-pals into the zoning bylaws to promote development which is consistent with the existing historic village center. Work will also focus on streetscape im-provements to Main Street to facilitate pedestrian and bicycle mobility. Funding for the pro-ject is from a FY14 MPG.

Tinmouth – The Town of Tinmouth Planning Commis-sion is working with RRPC to update the zoning and subdi-vision regulations. Areas of focus areas include the Lakeshore District, non-conforming uses and bounda-ry line adjustments. Funding for the project is from a FY13 MPG.

Municipal Plan Updates (cont.)

Page 5 Spring2014

Wallingford residents conduct an on-the-ground analysis of their Main Street. (May 17, 2014)

Pat Moulton Powden to Head Commerce and Community Development Pat Moulton Powden has been named to replace current Agency of Commerce and Community Development Secre-tary Lawrence Miller. Powden has held several key posts including Chair of the Natural Resources Board, Labor Commissioner, and Deputy Secretary of ACCD. She cur-rently serves as the executive director of the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation. Secretary Miller will become senior advisor to the Gover-nor and Chief of Health Care Reform. He will transition to his new role at the beginning of June, when Moulton official-ly becomes Commerce Secretary.

The Rutland Region Local Emergency Planning Commit-tee (LEPC #2) has started the process of updating its plan. LEPC #2 held a seminar on April 23rd which engaged 40+ emergency responders, local and state officials, nonprofits, and businesses. What is the LEPC #2 Plan? Federal and state statute re-quires each LEPC to have a plan that includes information on hazardous materials in the region, such as identification of facilities that store such materials and emergency

evacuation routes. The LEPC #2 has a plan in place that was adopted in 1990. Since then, LEPC #2 has drafted plan up-dates but none have been final-ized and readopted. Addition-ally, LEPC #2 (along with most other LEPCs) now takes an all-hazards approach to emergen-cy planning rather than focus-ing solely on hazardous materi-als. This plan update will re-flect that. The updated plan will provide organizations throughout the Rutland Region with an understanding of the emergency management plan-

ning process and resources, focusing on regional scale inci-dents. It is not a response or operations plan, but rather a resource directory and plan-ning guide. The next major step in the LEPC #2 Plan update process is a workshop, likely to be held in September, which will allow regional stakeholders to delve into updating various sections of the plan. It is not too late to get involved in this process if you are interested! Visit the LEPC #2 website for more in-formation on this group: http://rutlandrpc.org/LEPC.php

Page 6

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS

For more information on emergency preparedness issues,

call Laura Keir at 775-0871, ext 205

LKeir@rutlandrpc.org

or Barbara Noyes Pulling at 775-0871, ext 202

Barbara@rutlandrpc.org

LEPC #2 PLAN SEMINAR HELD ON APRIL 23RD

Program―what applicants need to know before FEMA comes to town, and what to collect for FEMA to compile your Project Worksheet. The briefing will cover Pro-curement Procedures, new project thresholds, and other FEMA policy changes.

We will also discuss EMMIE (FEMA’S storage for Federal grants) and towns’ ability to access this site and view pro-ject worksheets before they are submitted. Town officials are encouraged to attend and learn about Public Assistance before the next disaster!

Below is a letter from Michael Wood-Lewis, co-founder of Front Porch Forum: Hi. Front Porch Forum offers an easy way for neighbors to connect…and now it’s available in every Vermont town. It’s free. It’s local. And it’s friendly. Check it out at http://frontporchforum.com/. More than 75,000 households across Vermont already use their local FPFs to find roofers, loan

RPC STAFF GET TRAINED IN DISASTERLAN

gion and the state, and com-municate with others. DLAN is used at the state, regional, and local levels in all types of incidents, from spring flooding to ice storms to Tropical Storm Irene. RPCs are be-coming better trained to col-lect local damage information as well as serve in the State Emergency Operations Cen-ter when necessary; DLAN is critical to both of these roles. To learn more about DLAN, contact Bob Weinert at Divi-

sion of Emergency Manage-ment and Homeland Securi-ty: (800) 347-0488 or Bob.Weinert@state.vt.us.

Four RRPC staff are now trained to use Vermont’s emergency planning and re-sponse database system, Dis-asterLAN (DLAN). RRPC staff were joined by staff from the Addison and Ben-nington County RPCs, for a training held in Rutland on DLAN. With this training, staff can now use DLAN when an incident occurs―to share local damage infor-mation, gain awareness of damage throughout the re-

Page 7 Spring2014

ladders, warn about break-ins, sell cars, rally volunteers for pie suppers, draw crowds to farmers’ markets, and share bear and moose sightings. Common topics also include road conditions, lost pets, public meetings, and a wide variety of local events. And in times of need, such as during natural disasters, your local FPF becomes especially powerful. My wife and I started Front Porch Forum in 2006 in our Burlington neighborhood. It expanded steadily, and now we’re happy to announce that local forums are available in every Vermont town. We’re excited to bring FPF to

On May 28, from 10:15am-12:15pm at 67 Merchants Row, 3rd Floor, Rutland, VT, staff from Vermont Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security will discuss what is required to participate in the FEMA Public Assistance Grant

MAY 28TH MOCK APPLICANT BRIEFING FOR FEMA GRANTS

every corner of the state, but we can’t reach everyone to tell them. Please help spread the word by forwarding this message to your Vermont friends, colleagues, and family. People typically need to hear about FPF several times before they successfully register, so don’t be shy! Send them to: http://frontporchforum.com/. Also, your FPF will be more useful and robust when many people submit postings. So please add your two cents to your local FPF. Just sign up, log in, and click Submit Posting. Thank you, and watch out for those spring potholes! — Michael Michael Wood-Lewis, co-founder FrontPorchForum.com 802-540-0069

We’re on Visit us online! Rutlandrpc.org

FY15 Municipal Planning Grants (MPGs): Applications are due September 30, 2014 with grants being issued by the end of the year. For more information, contact Annina Seiler at 802-828-1948 or visit http://accd.vermont.gov/strong_communities/opportunities/funding/overview/municipal_planning_grants. Hazard Mitigation Assistance Grants: Municipalities are encouraged to apply for Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) and Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) funding available through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Eligible applicants must apply for funding through the Mitigation eGrants system on the FEMA Grants Portal accessible at https://portal.fema.gov. The State of Vermont application deadline is June 30, 2014. For more information, visit http://www.fema.gov/hazard-mitigation-assistance or contact Ray Doherty at 802-241-5258 or ray.doherty@state.vt.us.

GRANT OPPORTUNITIES

 

SAVETHEDATE

Governmental Accounting and Auditing Symposium June 19, 2014 Capitol Plaza Hotel and Conference Center, Montpelier Sponsored by: VLCT Municipal Assistance Center, VLCT PACIF Registration deadline: June 12, 2014 For more information: info@vlct.org Northern New England Chapter American Planning Association Annu-al Conference September 11-12, 2014 Stoweflake Resort, Stowe For more information: mkane@segroup.com

P.O. Box 965 Rutland, VT 05702