Regional planning commissions brief Senate committee on housing, infrastructure and brownfields funding needs

Leaders of Vermont's regional planning commissions told the Senate Government Operations Committee on Jan. 15 that RPCs are the state's primary regional staff resource and will press for additional state funding for brownfields cleanup, municipal technical assistance and emergency preparedness.

"Regional planning commissions really our main role in the state is to provide staff support and technical assistance to towns and state," said Charlie Baker, executive director of the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission and a representative of the state association of planning and development agencies. He told the committee RPCs are "the only regional level governmental entity that exists in the state of Vermont" and that they are political subdivisions accountable to towns, state agencies and federal funders.

The presentation explained why the commissions say they are integral to housing production, infrastructure and cleanup projects. "We were given special one-time funding through the HOME Act to deliver special services known as housing resource navigators," said Debbie Neary, executive director of the Rutland Regional Planning Commission and chair of the state association, describing a Rutland housing resource guide that local developers used. Catherine Dimitryk, director of the…