In October 2010, CCRPC was awarded a Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant from the Partnership of Sustainable Communities (US Departments of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Transportation (DOT), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). One of the major deliverables of the grant is an updated and enhanced Chittenden County Regional Plan. With these new resources, The Plan will be enhanced and improved to address economic development, housing choice and affordability, energy and climate change impacts, healthy communities and food systems. The enhanced Plan will involve a greater focus on sustainable development performance measures and outcomes and active engagement with many important regional and local partners to identify and implement strategies to improve Chittenden County’s long-term sustainability. CCRPC will consider the Regional Plan for adoption in Spring 2013.

The Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission [CCRPC] has prepared this Chittenden County Natural Areas Planning Guide in order to; 1. Document and explain the importance of protecting and enhancing natural areas in Chittenden County using a Countywide perspective, 2. Identify key strategies for enhancing the County’s capacity to protect and enhance well-functioning natural areas, and 3. Provide information about tools that may be used to implement these strategies.

The Chittenden County Open Space Plan (OSP) is being undertaken to; 1. Provide public, private organizations, and government officials with the information and insights needed to make responsible decisions and informed policies concerning the County open space system; 2. Facilitate local efforts to prioritize and target non-regulatory strategies to implement local conservation plans; and; 3. Achieve the necessary levels of coordination to support the protection and enhancement of the County open space system. The protection and enhancement of the County’s open space system will help to ensure the health of the County ecosystems, support the economy, and improve quality-of-life.

Fair housing laws are intended to ensure that people have equal access to housing that meets their needs. These laws prevent housing discrimination and enable the people who experience it to seek redress for the wrong done to them. Fair housing laws also protect all property owners and residents from being victimized by destructive discriminatory practices (such as steering potential residents to certain neighborhoods) that all-too-often diminish property values and destroy communities.

The Northwest Vermont Project, which began in 2003, has been a collaborative effort to study growth and development in northwestern Vermont as it relates to the region’s transportation infrastructure. The over arching goals of the project were: 1. To project future growth at the local level using state-of-the-art growth modeling tools; 2. To assess municipalities’ abilities to manage growth now and in the future; 3. To develop model tools and strategies to be used by municipalities to plan for future growth in a manner that reflects local land use and transportation goals.

The 2006 Chittenden County Regional Plan provides broad policy direction, rather than detailed requirements, for planning development in locations that sustain Chittenden County’s economic prosperity, environmental integrity and quality of life. The County’s 19 municipalities continue to make the primary, site-specific decisions that determine how this vision is realized.

In 2001, the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission invited housing experts and business and community leaders to serve on the Chittenden County Housing Task Force (2001 Task Force) to identify strategies to address this crisis. It was found that the major cause of the County housing crisis is the failure of the supply of housing to keep pace with the housing demand resulting from the County expanding economy. This group also recommended that CCRPC assemble representatives of its 19 municipalities in order to build greater regional collaboration in addressing housing shortages.

Presentation on recommendations of the Housing Targets Task Force.

To initiate the Regional Build-out Analysis project, Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission (CCRPC) staff and an RBA Steering Committee prepared: (1) a draft methodology, (2) a preliminary landscape suitability analysis in which partial and prohibitive constraints (wetlands, prime agricultural soils, steep slopes, etc.) are applied to determine a buildable land area, and (3) a zoning analysis in which local zoning and other land use regulations determine the residential and non-residential development potential of the buildable land area.

Fair housing laws are intended to prevent discrimination in how housing is sold, rented, appraised, financed, and advertised. These laws protect everyone. They protect people of all races and religions, people with disabilities, the elderly, and families with children. These laws also protect all homeowners and residents from being victimized by destructive practices such as steering potential residents to only certain communities, neighborhoods, or developments. Fair housing laws mainly regulate the actions of property owners, landlords, lenders, realtors, and appraisers. However, municipalities also must comply. Municipal responsibilities are derived from a complex and changing body of law. This paper is intended to brief municipal officials with only the basics of these responsibilities.