Proposed Bill Strengthens Regional Planning Groups

Lawmakers are currently considering a bill that would strengthen the state’s 15 regional planning organizations (RPOs).

The General Assembly’s legislative program review and investigation committee studied the state’s 15 RPOs last year to look for ways to encourage towns to grow and develop regionally.

The study’s recommendations were released in December and are now under consideration by the state House of Representatives.

The aim of the proposed legislation is to clarify and improve how RPOs operate, as well as create more funding opportunities.

The recommendations also would strengthen notification requirements about projects that may have a significant regional impact.

Currently, only abutting towns need to be notified about a significant development.

Lawmakers in favor of the bill also want to create an ongoing funding mechanism to support regional projects by adding an additional $5 million to the Regional Performance Incentive Program.

The program, in which RPOs apply for funding for regional projects jointly administered by member towns, was created in 2007 with a one-time allocation of $8.6 million.

Judy Gott, chairperson of the Connecticut Association of Regional Planning Organizations and also executive director of a RPO, the South Central Regional Council of Governments, said the program has funded two grants for her RPO, which includes 15 towns in the New Haven area.

One grant funded a study on trash disposal for the region and the other for the development of a regional Web site devoted to economic development.

Economic development based on regional needs, as opposed to those of individual towns, could be the future of Connecticut’s smaller towns, according to Windham Region Council of Governments executive director Mark Paquette.

“Especially in eastern Connecticut, regional development is where we’re headed,” he said. “We’re more of a group, and a regional vision is needed.”

Paquette described the need for his member towns, such as Columbia, Coventry and Scotland, to work cohesively because of the scale of their economies compared with a city like Hartford.

Opposition Continues

The proposed legislation is based on the 2007 study, which found that RPOs are a vital component of the state’s development but have areas that need improvement, Gott said.

“We had to educate legislators on how important it is for the towns to work together regionally,” Gott explained.

Though the proposed legislation has passed through three committees, there is some opposition.

The state Office of Policy and Management is concerned it would not have enough time to re-evaluate the boundaries of RPOs by 2011, as proposed in the bill.

Another opponent is the Connecticut Partnership for Balanced Growth, a nonprofit organization dedicated to land use issues. The organization disagrees with a component of the bill that would require municipalities to notify RPOs of developments with potential regional implications.

The group, already concerned about Connecticut’s lengthy planning process that frustrates and dissuades possible investors, argues that the bill would “create a longer development approval process.”

The notion of regionalism and how it affects the state’s economy has long been debated in light of the independent governance of Connecticut’s 169 municipalities.