There are lies, damn lies and statistics – or so the old adage goes. Rhetorically speaking, what are statistics other than data?
To answer that question, take a look at the very real, very relevant and very useful data (and stats!) found in this year’s Mad River Valley Planning District’s Annual Data Report.
It’s full of interesting and timely information that select boards, planning commissions and other municipal and community organizations are citing, parsing and using for reference.
Yup, data can be dry but this report taken as a whole provides a deep contextual look at our community, emerging and emergent issues and historical trends.
For example, check out the section five on community infrastructure that charts changes in usage of local volunteer fire departments. The report notes that from 2010 to 2019, fire calls increased by 10% during that same time period. Then from 2019 to 2022 fire calls, were up by 42%. That’s a pretty big increase and it’s something that local governments and planners, insurance agents and others can use to highlight and educate people about fire safety.
Interested in how well we’re doing in reducing our collective carbon footprints? Flip to section six dealing with the environment and turn to pages 75 -76 to see how Sugarbush has been managing its monthly peak demand for energy (Page 75) and how the resort has reduced its annual energy usages from 2002 to 2022 by 40% -- not insubstantial!
The data report is prepared by the Mad River Valley Planning District. It and the planning district are funded by Warren, Waitsfield, Fayston and Sugarbush in equal parts. The planning district was initially founded to help its member towns manage ski area growth and development, but over the decades, the work of the planning district has grown to include this data report and many other critical aspects of how our communities are doing in real time. That information is important to our towns as leaders look to improve and change Town Plans and land use regulations to address issues such as housing, development density, schools, aging populations, open land, forest fragmentation and much, much more.
Don’t take our word for it -read it yourself here: https://mrvpd.org/annual-data-reports/
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