Environmental Planning

Recreation resources, watershed planning, and land/water/energy conservation are all considered in the Regional Plan of Conservation Development. An inventory of WestCOG efforts on these topical areas is provided below along with supporting resources.

Sustainable CT

Through a partnership with Sustainable CT, WestCOG hosts Sustainable CT Fellows each summer to support communities within the Sustainable CT Certification Program. The partnership began in 2018.

Sustainable CT 2019 Fellow Report
Sustainable CT 2018 Fellow Report

Stormwater Support (MS4)

WestCOG is working with municipalities and partner organizations to prepare communities to meet municipal separate storm sewer (MS4) permit requirements through collaborative solutions. Contact Mike Towle at WestCOG (mtowle@westcog.org) to discuss potential stormwater solutions.

MS4 Mapping Priorities: Muncipalities have the daunting task to map/inventory all of their stormwater infrastructure by July 2020. Most towns will not be able to reach this target with existing resources. To address this communities are encouraged to address priority areas (areas with highest levels of impervious cover). WestCOG has provided lists of Watersheds (Basins) in order of highest impervious cover to least for each community. A Basin Map with rank and Basin ID has also been provided for reference.
Priority Basin Lists: Bethel, Bridgewater, Brookfield, Danbury, Darien, Greenwich, New Canaan, New Fairfield, New Milford, Newtown, Norwalk, Redding, Ridgefield, Sherman, Stamford, Weston, Westport, Wilton

• MS4 support and resources are provided by UConn NEMO’s MS4 Guide
• Impervious Cover Statistics (by town, and watershed) [Not present but Nick can build this, currently do not include]
• Stormwater GIS Data
• Impervious Cover Webmap

Conservation Planning

• Regional Tree Census
• Norwalk Tree Census
• Open Space Inventory
• WestCOG is a Conservation Partner with Hudson to Housatonic (H2H)

Watershed Plans

• Saugatuck River Watershed Based Plan (2012)
• Mianus River Watershed Based Plan (2012)
• Five Mile River Watershed Based Plain (2012)
• Norwalk River Watershed Action Plan (2011)

Trails Planning

An initiative to expand the and connect the recreational trail systems within the WestCOG region. Activities performed on this project include inventorying existing trails datasets, identifying opportunities for connectivity, performing outreach with stakeholders to initiate trail development, provide training for sustainable trail maintenance and design, provide research and support for grant applications, and finally to support the development of trails.

Recreation

• Ives Trail Greenway
• Still River Greenway Report (2007)
• Norwalk Islands Canoe and Kayak Guide (2009)
• HV Greenway & River Trail Management Plan (2006)

Energy Conservation

The Electric Vehicle Study (2017) reports on the use and adoption of electric vehicles in our region, using data from the Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles for model years 2011-2015.