WestCOG is selected for UConn’s CBI program. This year WestCOG hopes to begin developing an inventory of brownfield properties within its region.

https://cbi.engr.uconn.edu/2021/01/18/spring-2021-cbi-municipal-assistance-program-recipients-announced/

January 2021 Newsletter 🎊

Happy 2021, WestCOG has some fresh new year goals, from sharing insights on the federal COVID Stimulus Funds to Winter Maintenance Training. See more in the newsletter today! https://mailchi.mp/8f1db70442c4/westcog-news-january-2021

Congressman Himes met with Western Connecticut Council of Governments on 12/23/2020 to provide an update on the anticipated COVID Relief Funds coming through US Congress. The meeting has been recorded and shared on WestCOG’s youtube channel.

A run down on environmentally-friendly and cost-effective winter maintenance techniques. The training session includes the following topics:

• Training on the environmental impacts of chlorides
• Effects of weather
• Anti-icing materials (chemicals & science)
• De-icing/plowing (chemicals)
• Pavement temperature and application rates
• Record keeping
• equipment calibration demonstration

This training session is recommended for public works directors, as well as plow drivers.

Step Up Connecticut is looking for healthy and able residents, 18+ years old to step up and assist in the fight against COVID-19. From substitute teachers to testing site volunteers, nursing home and hospital workers, to food distribution and outreach — you can help make a difference. We aren’t just looking for medical volunteers and staff. We need everyone who can help — now more than ever!

Learn More At ct.gov/stepupct

⛄ Happy Holidays! the 2020 December Newsletter is out, and it’s more stuffed than last week’s turkey 🦃 Inside the month’s publication WestCOG includes Landuse Planning Guidance for Wireless and 5G, resources for hiring consultants, COVID-19 Volunteer/employment opportunities, and even a festive data present! That’s right, but you’d have to click in to find out.

The Western Connecticut Council of Governments authorized the creation of a task force to develop a coordinated telecommunications strategy to address the emergence of fifth generation broadband, a key recommendation in its recently adopted Regional Plan of Conservation and Development.  This is the first study conducted of its kind in the state of Connecticut that comprehensively addresses the municipal challenges and opportunities offered by fifth generation broadband services. 

Because of the range of complex issues associated with siting, public safety, land use and regulations at both the state and federal level for the telecommunications industry, the report provides an in-depth analysis of the scope of municipal authority to regulate telecommunications systems in the state of Connecticut- including small cell wireless facilities associated with fifth generation broadband.  The task force met with numerous subject matter experts and reviewed hundreds of regulations and alternate strategies across the country and state to identify six major strategies that will enable municipalities to develop customized regulatory and business approaches to develop 21^st century wireless services in their communities. The final recommendations report summarizes the benefits and elements of each strategy and provides a model right of way ordinance, a model municipal ordinance, identified resources and recommended improvements to land use controls based on a comprehensive review of all the state’s municipal zoning regulations.  To complement the regulatory strategies mentioned above, the group also identified best practices for the development of licensing strategies aimed at ensuring that public safety, environmental protection and siting decisions are balanced with the region’s desperate need for improved high-speed telecommunications services to meet the need of the businesses, residents and local governments. 

The importance of this work has been heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic, making our dependence high-speed telecommunications for remote learning, work, and social life even more critical than when the task force first convened in March of this year.  It is a blueprint for municipal action consistent with the Federal Communications Commissions’ small cell wireless facilities mandate and should be of statewide value to all 169 municipalities concerned with the deployment of fifth generation broadband.

Learn more on the Wireless Telecommunication Webpage.

Final Recommendations Report

The October 2020 Newsletter is action packed. WestCOG has won a huge grant for Transit Planning, developed a service of preselected engineering consultants, and has summarized a year’s worth of work in the 2020 Annual Report. All this and more in the October 2020 Newsletter.