ROCKINGHAM — The Vermont Natural Resources Council (VNRC) recently awarded a Small Grant for Smart Growth to the town to promote small-scale development in the village of Bellows Falls.
According to a news release, the $1,000 grant will “help fund targeted technical assistance toward the goal of preserving, revitalizing, or repurposing vacant or underutilized buildings.”
The Incremental Development Alliance (IDA) is a consultancy that helps residents strengthen their communities through small-scale real estate projects nationwide. The firm will engage 30 to 60 diverse stakeholders for three months in Rockingham in an intensive training and education program to develop a strategic plan for downtown revitalization.
Small-scale development, also called “incremental development,” prioritizes small projects, by small developers, over a long period of time.
Gary Fox, Rockingham's economic development director, said the town made the choice to explore this approach after a community visit by the Vermont Council on Rural Development (VCRD).
“Initially, 38 community members and stakeholders expressed interest in the Building Redevelopment Task Force, one of the three task forces that came out of the Community Visit process,” Fox said. “After one meeting, there was an assignment that required some level of technical work. Fewer than a handful of responses came back, with technical expertise expressed as a limiting factor.”
Fox said one goal of the IDA technical assistance is “an effort to provide community members and stakeholders with the knowledge and skill to accomplish this task force's projects.”
The VNRC said technical assistance will include “identifying gaps in the development ecosystem, evaluating the knowledge, tools, processes, and relationships that either help or hinder small-scale development in the community, determining tangible steps stakeholders can take to encourage small-scale development in the community, and more.
Fox said the town “is hopeful that the gains from this technical assistance will help us better formulate and streamline desirable redevelopment and revitalization in our Vermont Designated Downtown and that Bellows Falls will achieve more smart and sustainable growth goals.”
The introductory lecture by IDA faculty will be held on Thursday, Jan. 21, at 6 p.m. Those who are interested can register at bit.ly/594-rockbf.
VNRC says the grant provides a match to enable this program, which is partially funded and staffed through the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation's Southern Vermont Economy Project, made possible through the USDA Rural Community Development Initiative.