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Franklin and Grand Isle Counties
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The Northwest Regional Planning Commission (NRPC) worked with five towns in their region that border Chittenden County or the I-89 corridor – Fairfax, Georgia, Swanton, Highgate and South Hero. These towns have high growth rates and significant numbers of commuters traveling into Chittenden County. Consequently, they are or are becoming bedroom communities. Changes to the transportation system that would shorten commuting times or extend acceptable commuting distances could result in these towns experiencing even higher rates of growth. |
Each participating community organized a Northwest Project workgroup. For Phase I, NRPC and each workgroup examined current and future land use patterns and development potential in relation to the intent of local land use goals and regulations by completing growth projections, development constraint analyses and build-out analyses. During Phase II of the project, each working group evaluated their community’s capacity to manage growth and identified future growth management needs in consideration of the growth projections and potential land use patterns developed in Phase I. |
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Residential Growth Projections NRPC developed housing unit projections for 2010 and 2020. According to the projections, Fairfax stands out as having more than twice the projected housing unit growth rate of the other participating communities. |
Development Constraints Analysis Northwest Regional Planning Commission analyzed the constraints to residential development in the study area. The resulting development constraints analysis provides a general picture of the suitability of land for residential development, which is useful for planning purposes. NRPC staff researched and discussed what factors should be considered in identifying land use constraints. Twenty-four criteria were chosen and weighted according to their degree of constraint relative to the others. |
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An overlay analysis using a GIS was completed, which involved placing data layers representing each weighted development constraint over each other to create a single composite map showing the land’s constraints. The weight of all the data layers were summed, grouped and color coded resulting in a map showing five constraint levels. The constraints analysis showed that approximately 30% of the land within the study area had absolute constraints that would preclude development. Only 13% was categorized as having no to moderate constraints (a combined score of 12 or less). NRPC staff noted after completing the development constraints analysis that dropping the zoning criteria from consideration might result in a more accurate representation since zoning limitations may be changed at any time. Additionally, if the development constraints analysis is to be used in conjunction with a build-out analysis, zoning criteria will be used by the build-out model. Build-Out Analysis Northwest Regional Planning Commission utilized the Community Build-Out Analysis to identify and illustrate potential growth in participating communities based on current regulations. To better represent build-out potential in areas that have relatively severe development constraints, NRPC factored the results of its Development Constraints Analysis into the build-out software. |
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