Regional planning agencies ask for base funding, municipal technical assistance and increased brownfields support

Charlie Baker, government relations committee chair for the Vermont Association of Planning and Development Agencies and executive director of the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission, told the House Committee on General & Housing on Feb. 19 that regional planning commissions support a set of budget requests to help towns prepare for housing and redevelopment.

Baker said the association supports the administration’s proposed base funding for regional planning commissions and asked the committee to treat RPC base funding similarly to other state agencies. He identified four specific items in the association’s letter to the committee: base funding in the governor’s proposal (cited as $7,700,000), $3,000,000 for a municipal technical assistance program directed at low‑capacity towns, and an expanded brownfields package. Baker said the association intended to update its letter to request $2,000,000 for site assessment and $4,000,000 for cleanup — a total brownfields ask of $6,000,000 — to help communities ready properties for redevelopment.

"We're a little bit indirect. We don't provide housing. We're not building housing, but we do some of the work that makes it possible for people to provide housing," Baker told the committee, summarizing the RPC role in planning, initial engineering and grant‑ready work for municipalities. He said municipal technical assistance funds have been targeted to the lowest‑capacity towns and that assessment grants have been used either directly to property owners or through RPCs.

Baker also voiced support for the Vermont Bond Bank fund discussed earlier in the hearing and said the association will send an updated letter with revised brownfields numbers. No committee votes were taken during his remarks.