ROCKINGHAM-The Planning Commission has released a draft of the latest Town Plan, an update that has been in the works since 2016, and the public will weigh in on the document at a public hearing on Thursday, Sept. 3.
The Selectboard will hold the public hearing at the Town Hall at 6 p.m. as well as via Zoom.
"This event is a key opportunity for community members to share their input and perspectives on the future development of our town," the board said in the announcement of the meeting.
The purpose of the Town Plan "is to strategically navigate recent shifts in work patterns, economic conditions, and housing demands, ensuring that Rockingham's development is sustainable, inclusive, and reflective of our community's values and vision," the notice said.
A copy of the 129-page plan is available to view or download from the town website. Paper copies are available at the Town Clerk's office.
The chapters of the document cover present and future land use, transportation, housing, the local economy, economic resources, municipal facilities, water and sewer, energy and the environment, historic resources, natural resources, public lands, health care, public safety, and more.
Citizens with concerns regarding any of these areas are encouraged to read the plan and attend the public hearing.
"This hearing is your chance to contribute to shaping a future that enhances our quality of life through thoughtful, community-backed planning," the Selectboard stated in the notice.
The Town Plan will serve as the guiding document for the Town Manager's Office and the Development Office over the next eight years.
Communities change
The reason for reviewing and revising the Town Plan every eight years is that local communities and the overall culture can change dramatically over that time.
The proposed document acknowledges that "changes such as remote work, inflation, and the housing crisis [...] have reshaped lifestyles and priorities."
For example, the last plan was created before the pandemic.
The new Town Plan notes that the pandemic "significantly amplified urban outmigration." In plain language, people living in cities and urban areas recognized, with the advent of Covid, that it would be safer to live in less-populated rural regions and small towns.
Technology made remote work not only possible, but often preferable. Vermont, with its high quality of life, excellent response to the pandemic, and competitive property costs relative to metropolitan price points became a prime destination for people wanting to leave city life.
From 2019 to 2021, there was a significant increase in people, young and old, moving to the Rockingham region.
"Pandemic trends for the downtown, villages, and hamlets instigated land-use change at unprecedented scales," the new plan states. "Many local businesses had their 'best years' during the pandemic when demand for local goods and services increased sharply.
"Discretionary income, formerly sent to the regional big box stores and restaurant franchises, was instead spent locally. People concerned with making Keene-Claremont-Brattleboro trips were more comfortable staying home and shopping in town."
Businesses in town responded by moving seating outside or to takeout only, and to online ordering and home delivery. Those trends have persisted long past the initial peaks of the pandemic.
The new town plan tries to respond to those changes.
"We went through the 2016–2024 town plan and basically rewrote and revised it," said John Dunbar, a member of both the Selectboard and the Planning Commission.
"The plan is not law, it's guidance," he said. "The zoning bylaws will be studied to help support the town plan. It's been a good process."
Guy Payne, a former member of the Planning Commission who participated in writing the new plan, focused mainly on energy use, his field of expertise.
"What is interesting with this plan is that the writing is different," said Payne, the executive director of the Sustainable Energy Outreach Network, a Brattleboro-based nonprofit.
"We put the juicy parts up front in each chapter, and in plain language," he said. "The technical stuff is added to each chapter as more of an appendix at the end."
Dunbar agreed that the commission "did a better job of explaining the desired path and the outcomes. We wanted it to be a document the people would read and participate in discussing."
Looking at housing, renewable energy
The theme of the plan was laid out by the state of Vermont. In planning ahead, whether for housing, economic development or energy conservation, the commission's charge was to maintain, evolve, and transform.
"Our goals were preserving what we have that's great," Dunbar explained, "and at the same time adapting in ways that will continue to make us thrive."
Payne said that with energy, "the main emphasis of our recommendations are conservation and efficiency."
He said that the report shows that "with electric generation, we are already close to our 2035 goals and well on our way to our 2050 goals."
Dunbar agreed that Rockingham is "kind of a leader in the state as far as energy efficiency. We can be a leader in other areas as well."
He noted that in Rockingham, three large solar installations produce power, with two more projects on the books. "One is on the Stickney property on Pleasant Valley Road," Payne said, "and the other is on the Allen property by Barber Park."
With a lot of old housing stock, the emphasis in Rockingham echos priorities elsewhere in Vermont - weatherization of existing buildings. More important than developing new forms of energy, Payne said, is conserving energy from whatever current source it might be by making buildings more energy-efficient.
"There is a huge emphasis statewide on weatherization," Payne said. "Vermont has something like 80,000 units that need to be weatherized by 2030,"
He called that an unrealistic goal, though several state programs incentivize weatherization and training programs for technical workers in the field.
Housing is a huge problem nationwide, including Bellows Falls. One goal has been to develop the housing stock downtown by creating commercial spaces on the street level and housing on the floors above.
The newly opened Bellows Falls Garage building is a model for this approach, as are the Brown and Exner Block projects.
"There's a feeling about this town right now," Dunbar said. "There's good stuff going on. We want to build on that. We want to make sure that we're still a vibrant community. That's been a big part of the town plan."
Dunbar said that by the time the final plan is adopted, it will be a collaborative effort involving the state, other towns and communities, social service groups who gave input, and others.
"I really feel like it was a larger group that was helping craft this plan," he said. "It was not just the planning commission members."
This News item by Robert F. Smith was written for The Commons.