(Woodstock, VT)— After three years and over 100 meetings, the action plan is finished and already being implemented.
East Central Vermont: What We Want is the product of a three‐year planning process funded by a Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) through an interagency partnership consisting of HUD, the Department of Transportation (DOT), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The program’s goal was to support planning and collaboration efforts that integrate housing, land use, economic and workforce development, transportation, and infrastructure investments in a manner that helps communities with the interdependent challenges of: (1) economic competitiveness and revitalization; (2) social equity, inclusion, and access to opportunity; (3) energy use and climate change; and (4) public health and environmental impact.
Two Rivers‐Ottauquechee Regional Commission (TRORC) was the lead applicant for the grant and—with much help from the Consortium for a Sustainable East Central Vermont (Consortium), Southern Windsor County Regional Planning Commission (SWCRPC), our other subgrantees, town representatives, community volunteers, and consultants—we created an action plan that will move us toward a more sustainable future.
Sally Miller, Executive Director of Sustainable Woodstock and the Chair for East Central Vermont Sustainability Consortium, said, “Unique to the process was the opportunity to work with and get to
know the different personalities across many different fields, people who we don’t usually get the chance to know.”
Peter Gregory, Executive Director of TRORC said, “This process that lead to the support of dozens of concrete action steps by multiple partners was the most comprehensive planning process of which we were ever a part. To see ideas become actions toward improving the region’s economy and quality of life is most gratifying.”
The full plan is available for download at ECVermont.org.
For more information about this project, contact Loralee Morrow at 802‐457‐3188 or via email at [email protected].
Download the official press release here: ECV: What We Want Plan Press Release