Regional Performance Incentive Program

WestCOG has submitted grant applications to support regional projects via the Connecticut Office of Policy and Management’s Regional Performance Incentive Program (RPIP). These projects were approved at WestCOG’s December 19, 2019 regular meeting; applications were submitted December 31, 2019. According to OPM, notification on grant awards is expected in May 2020.

The projects summarized below. To review a grant application, please click the title of each project.

1. Regional economic development initiatives.
   This project completes three priorities in the region’s federally- and state-approved Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS). These are a: a) Coordination Plan for Industry Needs and Higher Education, to improve the “pipeline of employment”; b) Regional Tourism Development & Marketing Plan, to promote tourism and bring newcomers into the area; and c) Regional Agricultural Viability Study, to evaluate and advance agricultural models (e.g., biotech, conventional, organic) that may be economically viable in the region. The total cost is $300,000, with WestCOG providing a 5% cash match.
   
2. Regional planimetric dataset update.
   This project will update the planimetric dataset used by municipalities in the region to reflect recent development. This key dataset captures the location, dimensions, and area of manmade features (e.g., buildings, sheds, decks, and pools; roads, driveways, parking, and sidewalks; utility poles, catch basins, and manholes; street trees, walls, and fences. These data serve as inputs into municipal systems for the identification, inventory, depiction, planning for, and management of these assets. The cost is $234,682, with WestCOG providing a 5% cash match.
   
3. Regional animal control facilities/services.
   This application will evaluate the feasibility and potential savings of sharing or consolidation of animal control facilities and services in the region, with the aims to reduce costs and enhance capacity and capabilities. The cost is $112,349, with WestCOG providing a 5% cash match.
   
4. Regional transfer station facilities/services.
   This project will evaluate the feasibility and potential savings of sharing or consolidation of waste transfer station facilities and services in the region, with the aims to reduce costs and enhance capacity and capabilities. The cost is $88,667, with WestCOG providing a 5% cash match.
   
5. Statewide municipal boundary survey (class D) update.
   The project will create a statewide municipal boundary dataset that meets Connecticut survey standards (class D). This dataset will replace existing state datasets, which are inconsistent, substantially inaccurate, and fail to meet relevant standards, with a high-quality boundary line dataset that state and local agencies can opt to use in their information systems. This project will extend statewide a successful pilot from the Lower Connecticut River Valley Region and will be coordinated by WestCOG. The cost is $852,612, with no regional match (given the statewide benefits of the project).