River valley region eyes conservation plan

Towns represented include Lyme,Old Lyme,Old Saybrook

A new plan under development will look at how the Lower Connecticut River Valley region can better address challenges, both now and over the next decade.

The Lower Connecticut River Valley Council of Governments, which represents 17 towns, including Old Lyme, Lyme and Old Saybrook, is beginning the process of creating its first Regional Plan of Conservation and Development.

“We're looking at what is the vision for the region and what are the major issues facing our 17 communities and what are our strengths, and how can we best address and take advantage of both?” said Sam Gold, the executive director of the council of governments. “And how can we strive to be resilient in the future based on all the changes that are taking place and what we foresee in the next decade?”

The plan will consider the natural environment and resources, transportation, economic development, housing, utilities and other infrastructure, including high-speed internet, and demographics, he said. It will identify issues and then make recommendations for how the towns and region can work together to address them.

One of the demographic challenges the council has been hearing of is that the region's population is older than the average for both the state and country, which can create significant challenges for the real estate market and economy, Gold said. Other issues may include providing adequate transportation for workers to reach their jobs and affordable housing for employees who work at essential services jobs.

Another issue recently facing Old Lyme and Old Saybrook was a proposed Old Saybrook to Kenyon, R.I., rail bypass, which the Federal Railroad Administration dropped from a long-term plan for the Northeast Corridor. The FRA instead recommended a future study, to be led by Connecticut and Rhode Island, along with the federal agency, to address rail capacity issues between New Haven and Providence.

Regional resilience

Jon Curtis, regional planner for the council of governments, said the central idea of the plan is resilience, defined by the council as “the capacity to successfully adjust, adapt, and flourish in response to current and future challenges.”

Resilience “entails not only the ability to bounce back after a crisis but also to ‘bounce forward' to a more successful condition,” according to the COG. A resilient region is one that “proactively recognizes and works to address the external threats and internal stressors that it currently faces, as well as those it is likely to experience in the future.”

Curtis said the region has seen a lot of changes over the past few years, including damage from Superstorm Sandy, stresses from an aging population, shifts in industry, and the impact of state budget uncertainty on municipalities.

“We want to figure out how to meet the current challenges and how to meet the future challenges,” he said.

Regional councils are required to update their plans every 10 years, but this will be the first plan for the Lower Connecticut River Valley Council of Governments, which was created in 2013 from the merging of two councils, said Gold.

Gold said that the COG has held some focus group meetings, including with planners in the region, and is sharing information at community events and attractions, for example the beach.

Two kickoff meetings will be held this month and next month. The first meeting will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 17, at Westbrook Town Hall, 866 Boston Post Road, Westbrook.

The second meeting will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 16, at Wesleyan University's Usdan University Center, Daniel Family Commons, 45 Wyllys Ave., Middletown.

“We want people to tell us what they see as the major challenges in our region and to share with us any ideas how we might address those challenges,” Gold said.

At least one midpoint meeting will be held in the winter to share with the public the comments so far, with a draft regional plan then expected to be released for public comment in June 2018. The council would then likely adopt a plan in September or October 2018.

More information is available at rivercogregionalplan.org.