The COMMUNITY PLANNING TOOLS PROJECT (formerly the Community Planning Demonstration Project) is a multi-faceted effort to coordinate the provision of basic planning tools to regional and local planners as well the public. The project's primary objective is to develop data tools that will support community planning activities in Vermont. This project has focused on the development and enhancement of tools to assist municipal land use officials in the data collection and analysis aspects of their duties.
This project work is funded by a series of USDA CSREES Extension grants, with thanks to U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy's office and has produced the following resources:
- Vermont Planning Information Center
- Build Out Analysis Tool
- Wildlife Habitat Datalayers
- Historic Built-up Land
VERMONT PLANNING INFORMATION CENTER
As a member organization of the Vermont Land Use Education and Training Collaborative, the Center for Rural Studies played a
crucial part in the development of the Vermont Planning Information Center.
This website provides a clearinghouse of information for planning commissions, zoning boards, development review boards, and
their staff and all others involved in land use planning and regulation in Vermont. It includes details on online and
hard-copy sources for education, where to go for funding and grants, organizations to contact for assistance with various
topics, and a database of upcoming training events in Vermont.
Project Contact: Will Sawyer, Center for Rural Studies
BUILD-OUT ANALYSIS TOOL version 2.0 The Build Out program was developed by the Addison County Regional Planning Commission as a tool to allow towns to integrate GIS data
with current or proposed land use polices to provide both graphic and quantitative
analysis. The Build Out software was built in the Arcview 3.x series to be run on computer desktops.
Using E-911, Parcel data, and Zoning area and regulations, the software estimates the
number of housing units that could be built on a given parcel or town.
The process entails: 1. Construction of a table of each parcel’s acreage
by zoning district, 2. Determination of existing parcels that are fully developed,
3. and Calculation of potential new development allowed in each zone. Natural
resource and geographic data layers may provide additional considerations. The newest version of the program also incorporates
overlay districts, road frontage and a simple analysis of commercial/industrial areas.
The software is distributed freely, and can be used with data from other Vermont
communities. See the software download site.
Project Contact: Kevin Behm,
Addison County Regional Planning Commission
WILDLIFE HABITAT DATA LAYERS
Working with town partners within the Lewis Creek watershed (Bristol, Charlotte,
Ferrisburgh, Hinesburg, Huntington, Monkton, and Starksboro) and the UVM, School of
Natural Resources, the Lewis Creek Association
has developed a high-quality biodiversity spatial database on wildlife habitat and
water quality. It is the intention to disseminate this information to produce a
riparian corridor map, showing how development coincides with some of the most
important natural resource lands.
This updated natural resource information will be used with the build-out analysis
software program (see above). Now, watershed town planners can analyze local zoning
accurately against local and inter-town natural resources.
Project Contact: Andrea Morgante,
Lewis Creek Association
HISTORIC BUILT-UP LAND
Change of built-up land, utilizing the USDA-NRCS National Resources Inventory (NRI)
method of land categorization, was mapped for several time periods. The base maps used
for this project included; Recent editions of digital orthophotos, Color infared photos
from 1992, 1985, 1977, Vintage black and white aerial-photos dating back to 1942, 1962,
1974, and from actual surveys under the Direction of F. W. Beers, published by
the F. W. Beers & Co. in 1871. The map depicts the location and names of businesses and
residences that existed in 1869. Based on field work, the Beers map appeared
to be quite accurate in terms of the site placement of structures of the day,
providing sufficient data to determine the extent of 1869 urban and built-up land
as we define it today.
Project Contact: Ray Godfrey,
USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service
Lewis Creek Association
USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service
Last Updated 08.11.06