Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Future Land Use Map topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Planning commission favors CCRPC future land‑use map as baseline, plans local tweaks to protect conserved land
Summary
Commissioners agreed to use the CCRPC's second-draft future land-use map as a starting point for Richmond’s town plan, with local adjustments to mark known conservation easements and to relabel growth-area terms to 'village areas' to reduce public concern.
At the Aug. 6 meeting, Chair Virginia told commissioners the steering committee recommends adopting the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission (CCRPC) future land‑use map as Richmond’s baseline for the town plan, then making documented adjustments where on‑the‑ground evidence (for example, conservation easements) supports different coding.
"We can use CCRPC's map as our map with some adjustments," Virginia said, noting municipal plans must be compatible with the regional map and that starting with the CCRPC draft is efficient given the town's timeline. She and other members emphasized that the CCRPC designations are not zoning but policy categories (dark green = conserved, teal = agriculture/forest, beige = general) used to guide planning and conservation priorities.
Commissioners discussed a recommendation to relabel CCRPC "planned growth areas" outside the downtown as "village areas" on Richmond's town map to reduce perception-driven resistance among residents, while acknowledging the definitions overlap and the state/CCRPC tier 1b designation would still apply. The commission also agreed staff and local conservation partners will flag parcels that are already conserved (easements or current-use holdings) and ask CCRPC to reflect those holdings or document compatibility.
The steering committee will circulate draft plan sections for public review and focus outreach on neighborhoods such as Riverview Commons and Jonesville, with targeted on-site events where appropriate. Commissioners noted time and funding uncertainty at the state and federal level and acknowledged floodplain and resiliency concerns must be integrated across plan sections.
What's next: staff will prepare map adjustments supported by conservation documentation, circulate redlined draft sections, and pursue outreach to identified neighborhoods ahead of finalizing the town plan.
