Current and former members of the Mad River Valley Planning District steering committee and the public are invited to this week’s January 12, 2023, planning district partners meeting to talk about the 40-year-old organization’s purpose, successes and to plan for its future.
The event takes place at the Village Meeting House at Waitsfield United Church of Christ from 6:30 to 9 p.m. After introductions from Bob Ackland, chair of the steering committee and a member of the Warren Select Board, keynote speaker Ted Brady from the Vermont League of Cities and Towns will take the floor.
Planning district executive director Josh Schwartz will present an overview of the planning district’s mission, approach and deliverables followed by a brief Q and A session
Current members of the steering committee will have two facilitated discussions, one about the Mad River Valley’s current and anticipated challenges and the second around the planning district’s role in addressing and collaborating on The Valley’s issues and future needs.
PUBLIC DISCUSSION
A public discussion will follow talking about the vision, values and ideas for the future of the planning district.
The planning district was formed in the 1980s in response to significant ski area growth. In 1983 Warren, Fayston, Waitsfield, Sugarbush and the Central VT Regional Planning Commission, and the state of Vermont signed a memorandum of understanding to ensure coordination and collaboration for the purpose of monitoring major development in the Mad River Valley.
This relationship was formalized two years later with the creation of the Mad River Valley Planning District (MRVPD) as a Union Municipal District, the purpose of which "is to carry out a program of planning for the future of the Mad River Valley. A steering committee made up of a planning commissioner and select board member from each town, a Sugarbush representative, a Mad River Valley Chamber of Commerce rep and someone from the Central Vermont Regional Planning Commission governs the planning district.
The first executive director was planner Jeff Squires who served until 1986 when Brian Shupe was hired. He served until 1994 when Joanna Whitcomb was hired. She was followed by Juli Beth Hinds who served from 1997-2000. Dee Pierce followed Hinds from 2001-2006, then Linda Lloyd from 2006 to 2008 and finally Schwartz who has been at the helm since 2008.
This meeting will be live streamed by Mad River Valley Television, available at https://mrvtv.com/live-broadcasts/live-stream.
Questions and comments during the live stream may be submitted via email to
Full event details: https://mrvpd.org/event/mad-river-valley-planning-district-partners-meeting/.
