►Broadband

With other regional planning agencies in central and western Massachusetts, CMRPC is working to expand broadband access in at least 123 unserved and underserved communities including nearly a dozen towns in our CMRPC region. More than $45 million in federal stimulus funding has been received to fuel this effort.

Expanded broadband connectivity will enable residents and businesses to better compete in the 21st century global economy. Businesses in the regions will be more adequately equipped with the tools necessary to grow and to improve their services and educational institutions will be able to provide the enhanced curriculums necessary to cultivate a highly-skilled workforce. The objective is to bring affordable, quality broadband access that will improve the lives of residents and put an end to the digital divide in Massachusetts.

The project will result in the construction of approximately 1,100 miles of new fiber-optic cable to connect homes and businesses, as well as community anchor institutions, including community colleges, public safety institutions, hospitals and libraries. The proposed service area covers over one-third of Massachusetts and includes a number of towns in the CMRPC region: Barre, Brookfield, East Brookfield, Hardwick, New Braintree, Princeton, Sturbridge, Warren and West Brookfield. The initiative will result in a publicly owned, open access, middle-mile backbone that will allow last-mile service providers to connect and deliver broadband services to households and businesses. The backbone will place fiber as close to population and business centers as possible and will allow last-mile providers to connect at virtually any point of the network.

►Brownfields Program

The Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission (CMRPC) is reaching out to property owners, local business people, and municipal representatives because we have grant funding available to conduct environmental assessment activities in support of more productive and profitable property use. This program is made possible by a federal grant to facilitate property reuse and redevelopment of properties that may have real or perceived environmental issues.

These grant funds may be used to provide owners of potential Brownfield properties with the following services:

►Environmental assessments required by banks and financial institutions for property refinancing - sometimes referred to as a “21E” or “Phase 1”

►Environmental services to facilitate property sales

►Environmental services to facilitate property clean-up and redevelopment

►Redevelopment planning

►Select other activities which can increase property values and utilization

When property values and utilization increase, there are benefits for your entire community, and our entire Region. Fuss & O'Neill, a redevelopment-focused engineering firm, is working with the CMRPC and our member communities to implement the Brownfield program, and is available to help determine whether a site could benefit from these grant-funded activities.

There is no cost for you to participate. Our goal is to develop interest in this new program. If you wish to nomintate a site as part of this program please click on the link below to complete a site nomination form.

►CMRPC Brownfields Program - Site Nomination Form

►CMRPC Brownfields Program - Site Selection Criteria

Please submit completed forms to the attention of:

Ryan Lundergan
Central MA Regional Planning Commission
Two Washington Square -- Union Station
Worcester, MA 01604-4016

If you have questions or to discuss your interest in this program, please contact Mr. Lundergan at 508-459-3336 or rlundergan@cmrpc.org.

►Economic Development

CMRPC’s economic development program focuses on providing technical assistance to communities seeking to:

► Streamline and improve their local permitting processes;

► Promote economic development by creating an environment conducive to balanced economic development through planning and zoning;

► Work with neighboring communities to plan for regionally-significant projects that span or impact multiple communities;

► Promote community and/or regional sustainability and smart growth;

► Assess and redevelop potential Brownfields sites.

►Develop the annual Regional Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS)

►Energy

The Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission (CMRPC) has identified the need to assess the region's ability to produce and utilize renewable energy. The factors driving the urgency and importance of this need include:

Recent studies have shown alarming rises in asthma and other lung diseases along high volume traffic corridors. In order to reduce the pollution created by mobile and stationary sources, the Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA) of 1990 call for cleaner fuels, cleaner vehicles and reductions in vehicle miles of travel (VMT). The entire Commonwealth of Massachusetts is currently designated in the “serious” non-attainment category for ozone producing pollutants, while the City of Worcester has been classified in the “maintenance” category for carbon monoxide (CO) pollution levels, having been reclassified from “non-attainment” in 2002.

The 40 communities within the CMRPC region are all faced with rising municipal budgets, and many look to economic development as a means to increase their tax revenues, thereby stabilizing or even reducing the burden on residents of the rising costs of municipal services. A locally produced, predictable energy supply can encourage businesses to located and maintain employment opportunities within this region.

Energy prices have risen drastically as energy use and standard of living continues to rise throughout the world. This situation is exacerbated by the unstable and constantly changing political situation in the Middle East, a major oil-producing region.

As a result, the need is greater than ever to promote the local production and use of renewable energy sources. Our national energy policy calls for reducing reliance on fossil fuels and increasing the development of renewable energy sources. Action at the state and local levels will have a major impact in bringing this vision to fruition.

CMRPC intends to assess the extent of renewable energy use in Central Massachusetts, undertake educational efforts to promote greater use in the Region, and develop a specific strategy for expanding use and development of renewable energy sources in Central Massachusetts.

Municipal Energy Challenges Solutions Forum, October 4, 2011 Presentations

►Housing

The Commonwealth encourages communities to develop a Housing Production Plan to demonstrate its plan to produce affordable housing. A community with an accepted housing production plan and demonstrated production of Subsidized Housing Inventory Units (SHI) of 0.5% per year qualifies for “Certified status” and gains more control over proposed housing development (ability to deny comprehensive permit applications filed under Chapter 40B).

►Open Space and Natural Resources

Each municipality in the Commonwealth is asked to submit its Open Space and Recreation Plan (OSRP) to the Massachusetts Division of Conservation Services in order to be eligible for a variety of related grants and resources. Among other requirements of the OSRP is a letter from the Regional Planning Agency that indicates satisfactory review and consistency with regional planning efforts.

CMRPC Planners are well versed in open space, recreation and natural resource planning. Staff are available to assist municipalities with the development of the Open Space and Recreation Plans including project planning, plan research, GIS and data assistance, plan updates, and of course plan review. In the past two years we have assisted the Town’s of Webster, Brookfield, Barre, Northborough, and others with OSRP plan acceptance.

►Pre Disaster Mitigation 

New England weather is renowned for its mercurial and dramatic nature. Late summer hurricanes, major winter blizzards, and summer droughts are all part of life in the central Massachusetts region. These events are frequent enough to be familiar. The intersection of these natural hazards with the man-made environment can transform these routine events into natural disasters. The historical development pattern of central Massachusetts makes such an outcome more likely. Drawn to the waterways as transportation corridors and sources of power, many of the regions’ villages and cities are located and evolved in riverine floodplains.

This plan identifies the natural hazards facing this region, assesses the vulnerabilities of the area’s residents and businesses, and makes recommendations on ways to mitigate the negative effects of typical natural hazards.

The effort has drawn from the local knowledge of local municipal and officials and residents, and the recommendations presented are intended to be realistic and effective steps for mitigating natural hazards. Implementation of these actions will translate into savings – fewer lives lost, less property destroyed, and less disruption to essential services. For the Full Plan… -