Approximately 100 individuals from the 17 towns that comprise the Lower Connecticut River Valley Council of Governments (RiverCOG) attended a virtual meeting on June 29 meant to inform participants of a Regional Plan of Conservation and Development (RPOCD) project that is currently underway.

The RPOCD is being spearheaded by RiverCOG, the Regional Planning Committee (RPC) and Hartford-based planning and land use consultant Fitzgerald and Halliday, Inc. The RPC is made up of an appointed member of each local municipality’s land use and planning commissions.

RPC Chair Frank DeFelice, who is a member of Durham’s Planning & Zoning Commission, kicked off the meeting, citing the importance of balancing conservation with development in the plan while considering regional affects.

“This plan must consider the challenges and impacts of the rapidly changing world we live in,” said DeFelice. “To this end, RPC hopes to incorporate options in the plan that will assist our member municipalities in navigating these challenges and in addressing the issues that we have in common.”

The 10-year regional planning document is the first of its kind for the region and is meant to work in concert with a municipality’s own plan of conservation and development. State statute mandates creation of the RPOCD.

“This is a visionary document that’s meant to help coordinate towns working together; conformity with the regional plan is not required,” said RiverCOG Executive Director Samuel Gold.

Gold indicated that the regional plan will help RiverCOG analyze the impact of land use decisions across municipal boundaries.

“The idea here is to build collaboration,” said Gold. “That is why we are going to go to each one of your towns’ planning commissions because we want you [municipalities] to have ownership of this plan and have you be involved from the very beginning of it, so when this plan is completed in early 2021 you will see this as a valuable tool and useful for your work in your town.”

At the meeting, RiverCOG Senior Planner Megan Jouflas highlighted some of the shared services that already exist among the 17 towns such as public health districts, 9-1-1 services, and a regional transit district.

In her remarks, Jouflas provided issues and opportunities already identified for the region, which include use of new technologies and ways to attract younger residents while supporting aging populations. They also include identifying locations for growth and development while protecting natural resources.

Gold elaborated on the issue of economic vitality and supporting small businesses in the context of COVID-19 during the question and answer portion of the presentation.

He indicated that discussion among national planners regarding the impact of COVID-19 could mean changes to “brick and mortar retail” and “other land uses like commercial office space.”

“I was cautioned that it might be too early to really know what the impacts of these things could be as COVID-19, as it’s still very much happening to us, but this plan will have a section that discusses the context in which the plan is written,” adds Gold.

The significance of access to high speed Internet will also be addressed in the plan.

“In order to conduct business, for people to be able to work from home and for kids to go to school from home, broadband needs to be available, even in the most rural parts of the region,” said Gold.

An existing conditions report, which will be attached to the regional plan as an appendix, acts as the foundation for the plan’s recommendations. It will include a breakdown of demographic data including income, poverty, race, and ethnicity, with a focus on current trends and key issues.

“The issue of recommendations regarding social equity, I think those issues have become increasingly to the forefront of public discussion and I think the RPOCD will probably take those questions up, but the basic data which I think will be useful for all of our towns as they work on their own projects will be there for them to use,” said Gold.

Other key components of the plan will include goals and objectives for addressing issues of significance to the region and a future land use map.

The next step of the project is a series of interactive meetings in each of the 17 municipalities served by the ROPCD. The municipal meeting for Chester, Deep River, and Essex will take place on Thursday, Aug. 13 at 7:30 p.m.

More information on the RPOCD project can be found on RiverCOG’s website RiverCOGRegionalPlan.org.