Regional planners walk Granville through town-plan update, housing target and draft land-use map

Two Rivers Regional Commission staff reviewed a draft regional future land use map with the Granville Planning Commission in a virtual consultation and outlined next steps for a town plan update. Presenters said Granville is at the beginning of the update process and encouraged the commission to apply for a municipal planning grant to help fund plan drafting and related work.

"This is really the beginning stages for us of updating the plan," said Speaker 4, a Granville planning commission member, reflecting the town's early stage and limited in-house capacity. Two Rivers staff said they can help with grant applications, training for new commission members, drafting the town plan and guidance on meeting agendas and open-meeting law.

Why it matters: the regional map feeds into statewide housing targets and the state planning goals the RPC must follow. The RPC explained its method for disaggregating the regional housing target and said Granville’s share is very small — described in the meeting as about 0.3% of the regional total, rounded to a goal of roughly 10 housing units by 2030 (the town’s range was cited as 0–10). "Granville is not getting 80%. It's more like 0.3% of the regional housing target," a presenter said, noting the regional target itself is roughly 3,600 units.

What the RPC advised: the regional planning staff urged towns with near-term plan expirations to consider applying for a municipal planning grant. "The next application round would be in November," a regional planner said during the session, and staff said towns typically start drafting in September for an end-of-November/early-December deadline. RPC staff also described capital budgeting as a nonregulatory tool towns can use to implement a plan and noted that, while permitted to assist select boards, many small commissions do not take on capital budgeting now.

Draft map and constraints: staff walked the commission through proposed village expansions and three rural categories (rural general, rural ag & forestry, and rural conservation). They stressed the team removed parcels in mapped floodplains from development calculations and accounted for steep slopes and large protected lands (national forest), which strongly limit where new housing can be added. Staff said Lower Granville likely has the most infill potential; upper village areas are hemmed in by floodplain or steep slopes.

Local capacity and resources: Granville participants said they have no dedicated local funding for the planning commission, reported difficulty recruiting and confirming members, and said some residents strongly oppose zoning. RPC staff offered remote training recordings and slide decks, one-on-one follow-up, paper map copies to mark up, and an online map with a pin-and-comment feature for public input.

Next steps and timeline: the presenters described the regional schedule: RPC review beginning in January, a draft map ready for hearings by June, a first adoption hearing expected in September, and a wrap-up target in December (noted in the meeting as December 2026). Staff will provide the shareable link to the interactive map and asked Granville to send specific, parcel-level feedback in annotated PDFs or on paper copies.

What was not decided: no formal votes or motions were taken. Town members did not commit to adopting zoning or capital-budget roles at this meeting; they instead asked RPC staff to provide materials and application support so the commission and select board can consider options.

The consultation concluded with RPC staff offering follow-up help and asking the commission to return marked maps or emailed comments for consideration before the regional board and state review process.