State Awards Planning Grants

(Host) Vermont has awarded nearly $410,000 dollars in municipal planning grants to 42 communities around the state.

The grants are meant to boost town objectives in areas such as economic development, village revitalization and future housing needs.

Noelle Mackay is Commissioner of the Department of Economics, Housing and Community Development.

Mackay says that many communities rely on volunteers to steer development, and these grants are one way to support their ongoing work.

(Mackay) We talk about the need to have compact villages surrounded by working landscape, and in order to do that, it takes time and energy on our community's parts, and that's really what we want these municipal planning grants to do, to be able to help communities.

(Host) The Municipal and Regional Planning Fund was first established in 1988, and offers grants of up to $15,000 through a competitive process.