Rutland County RPC advances draft regional plan; future land use map outreach to start after town meetings

The executive director reported to the Rutland County Regional Planning Commission on Feb. 11 that staff has reached roughly an "80% mark" on a draft future land use map and plans to begin town-level outreach after town meeting day and post‑restructuring select board meetings in late March and early April.

The board was told staff will visit each town with the select board, the town planning commission and the regional commissioner to present the current town zoning and future land use maps alongside the regional draft, explain changes tied to Act 181 and Act 250, and conduct mapping sessions to gather specific feedback. The executive director said some map elements — notably downtowns, village centers and planned growth areas — are tightly constrained by the mapping methodology while other rural categories may allow movement.

The executive director said an online GIS version of the map exists but is not publicly posted yet and that staff will share it with commissioners when they can provide appropriate background and methodology. "We want to wait until town meeting day and board restructuring meetings to start in late March, early April," the executive director said, explaining the timing seeks to avoid meeting with boards that may change membership immediately after town meeting day.

Staff outlined how the map ties to tiers under Act 250 as described in the meeting: tier 1, tier 1a, tier 1b, tier 2 and tier 3, with tier 1a noted as a complete Act 250 exemption and tier 1b applying to certain housing projects. The executive director clarified that mapping of critical natural resources (tier 3) is handled by the Agency of Natural Resources.

Commissioners and staff also discussed public engagement for the larger regional plan. Staff reported just one survey response so far to a multi‑chapter draft, and said the plan team is considering a shorter executive summary to share broadly in May or June with the full draft available online for those who want to read it. The executive director urged commissioners to read chapters and bring substantive comments to upcoming meetings to avoid last‑minute issues during adoption.

Logan, the regional town planner, was identified by staff as the technical lead who will brief the board on map methodology at a future meeting. Staff also said RPC planners across the state are meeting to share mapping methods and engagement best practices; the executive director noted Rutland County's small staff relative to larger RPCs but said progress on the map is strong.

The commission discussed committee structure for deeper review of technical items such as Section 248, the substantial regional impact criteria and other regulatory language; staff recommended using a regional plan ad hoc committee for nimble, topic‑specific work rather than the larger regional committee.

The meeting closed with staff urging commissioners to use the upcoming full board session to pose focused, chapter‑specific questions and to avoid treating the session as a platform for extended general statements that do not produce review comments. Staff said they will continue drafting and plan to narrow the next review cycle to make subsequent revisions minimal.