Vermont Statewide Parcel Mapping Program
Current parcel data varies from town to town in terms of content, age, and availability which makes it difficult to do mapping and analysis in some towns or across multiple towns. The Vermont Statewide Parcel Mapping Program
is a state-funded initiative to create and update parcel data in conformance with the state's recently adopted
parcel data standard
. This will result in statewide parcel data that is linkable to assessment and ownership information, while establishing an ongoing parcel data maintenance program that supports annual updates.
This program started in 2017 and aims to map 1/3 of the state each year for 3 years to create unified data. Learn more >>
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Hurricane Relief in Puerto Rico
 This past March, NRPC's AmeriCorps VISTA, Alyssa Henry, had the great opportunity to volunteer her personal time to join a team of 16 Vermonters on a service trip to Puerto Rico. The island experienced substantial damage caused by Hurricane Maria, a category 5 hurricane that decimated Puerto Rico on September 20th, 2017, causing an estimated $100 billion in damages. By the time the Vermont team landed in Puerto Rico in mid-March, 6 months after the storm, 40% of the island still did not have power; 1.4 million people still in the dark. As electric companies continue to work tirelessly to restore power, outages keep reoccurring. Recently on April 18th, an island-wide power outage occurred, leaving most in the dark while only 300,000 customers in the entire island with power.
The Vermont team stayed at a camp in Arecibo, run by faulty generators that produced power about 50% of the time, leaving the team to experience exactly what the people of Puerto Rico have lived for months; ice cold showers in complete darkness. The team contributed to many efforts, from rebuilding homes, churches, and community centers, to distributing food and water in villages that have been labelled "forgotten." Tasks such as laying foundation, removing debris, painting, cutting down fallen trees, roofing, cleaning, and distributing over 5,000 pounds of water! Many families would say they had been without water for days, waiting for help to come. As the team walked through these villages, overwhelmed by the destruction, spray-painted words on the pavement could be seen reading "SOS No Food or Water!" Many had no form of transportation, vehicles completely destroyed in the storm. They sat their waiting for help to come. Many schools were still closed from the damages to the buildings. These were the conditions the Vermont team witnessed 6 months after the storm! The Vermont team was also able to raise enough funds to purchase and donate a generator to a family who has been in the dark since September, as well as, purchase a roof for a family that had been living under a tarp.
Even with the destruction the island still faced, the feeling of hope was more present than ever. Volunteer teams, similar to the Vermont team, continue to be scheduled until November. The people of Puerto Rico are rebuilding their homes, their communities, their hope, one day at a time. Resources continue to come into the island, in the form of monetary donations, volunteer workers and materials. Puerto Rican people, organizations, ministries, and businesses donate their time, money and skills to relief efforts. It is the continued determination that will keep supplying hope to the island.
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 Creating an Online Educational
Tool for
Homeowners on Stormwater
NRPC received a grant from Lake Champlain Basin Program to create a video series that broadens the reach and impact of our stormwater educational resources. NRPC
will be taking an existing educational tool, a workshop titled, "
Managing Runoff on Your Property: A Do-It-Yourself Site Assessment"
, currently limited to a 2.5hr in-person workshop in St. Albans, and bring it to a wider audience by turning the content into video segments that are accessible online.
By providing this curriculum online it can be accessed by a larger audience on their timeframe (all at once or multiple sessions) and removes the barrier of those who cannot attend an in-person session.
The goal of the project is to increase community awareness on the impacts stormwater can have in urban and rural areas and provide tools landowners can use as a first step to identify solutions.
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Updated Broadband Information Available
On January 15, 2018, the Vermont Department of Public Service (DPS) released updated data and maps that provide an overview of the availability of broadband internet service in Vermont. The data and maps available from DPS display information on both a county-wide and municipal basis. Please visit the DPS website for additional information.
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Public Hearing - Berkshire Bylaw Update
The Berkshire Planning Commission will hold a Public Hearing on Wednesday, April 25, 2018, to solicit public input regarding proposed revisions to the Berkshire Land Use and Development Regulations. The proposed revisions include: creation of a new Forest Zoning District, creation of an optional "conservation" subdivision process and reduction of minimum lot sizes in the Extended Village District. The proposed revisions also include changes required per state statute. The Berkshire Land Use and Development Regulations were last updated in 2009.
The Town of Berkshire received a Municipal Planning Grant (MPG) from the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development in December 2016 to revise the municipal Land Use and Development Regulations. The Berkshire Planning Commission has been working with Northwest Regional Planning Commission (NRPC) to complete the project over the last 9 months. Working with NRPC provided Berkshire Planning Commission with the ability to conduct a buildout analysis to evaluate the effectiveness of current zoning districts in Berkshire to manage growth and meet the goals of the Town Plan. After reviewing the results of the buildout analysis and the goals of the Berkshire Town Plan, the Berkshire Planning Commission decided to create the new Forest District to better protect natural resources in Berkshire from future development.
Margo Sherwood, Berkshire Planning Commission Chair, states "We are grateful for the opportunity to study how our land use and development regulations impact growth and development patterns in town; it is important to all Berkshire residents that we get this right."
The Berkshire Planning Commission holds its normal monthly meeting on the third Wednesday of the month. All meetings of the Berkshire Planning Commission are open to the public.
What: Public Hearing - Berkshire Bylaw Update
When: Wednesday, April 25 at 7 PM
Where: Berkshire Town Clerk's Office.
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Vermont Arbor Day Conference
When: Thursday, May 3rd
Time: 8:30a.m. - 3:45p.m.
Where: VT College of Fine Arts, Montpelier
Cost: $40, lunch provided
Registration is now open for the 2018 Vermont Arbor Day Conference. Learn, celebrate, and network with the citizen tree stewards, municipal leaders, and professionals of Vermont's urban and community forests. Diane Cook and Len Jenshel, photographers and authors of Wise Trees, are this year's keynote speakers. Learn more >>
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Aviation System Plan Update
Vermont Airport System Plan VTrans has developed a webpage for its Aviation System Plan Update. The page contains information on the plan update, the plan development process, project timeline and schedule, and outreach activities. Over the coming months, VTrans will be populating the page with various analysis documents for stakeholder review as well a schedule of public meetings.
Learn more >>
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 Vermont Walk Bike Summit
The 2018 Vermont Walk Bike Summit is coming up on May 4th, 2018 at the Barrette Center in White River Junction. Register by Friday, April 27 to take advantage of the Early Bird Rate of $35, which includes a delicious boxed lunch from one of three local food venues. Registration for the event can be found here.
For more information about the summit visit this site.
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