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The Opera House
67 Merchants Row
P.O. Box 965
Rutland, VT 05702

Tel: 802.775.0871

Fax: 802.775.1766

In our highly mobile society it's likely that a person may live in one community, shop in a different one and work in still another. This mobility and the nature of our lifestyles today creates issues that do not restrict themselves to a single village, town or city.

New roads - or the lack of them - in one locality may cause severe problems in an adjoining community. Solid waste can no longer be economically handled by a single community acting alone. Our economic system does not respect political boundaries; the marketplace, too, covers an entire market area and one community can affect another.

Many options are available to local areas for dealing with regional problems. The option preferred by local governments in Rutland County in 1968 was the formation of a cooperative organization for collecting data, providing technical assistance, planning and coordinating local actions. 

We share many characteristics with the other eleven regional planning commissions in Vermont. 

• Membership is voluntary; local financial contributions are voluntary; and local implementation of Commission recommendations is voluntary. We have no traditional local government powers such as taxation, ordinance making or eminent domain.

• We deal with a variety of public issues, such as land use, transportation, housing, economic development, and environmental quality.

• Our legal status exists through the agreement of member local governments and by virtue of specific state law - Title 24 Chapter 117 of the Vermont Statutes Annotated.

Like other commissions, the Rutland Regional Planning Commission differs from local governments in a number of ways:

• Regional policy officials are not directly elected but are appointed by the selectmen or aldermen of each community.

• We depend on contracts with our member governments as well as assistance from the state and federal governments since we have no taxing powers and no stable base of funding.

• We plan for services and the solutions to problems which cross the boundaries of our member governments; rarely do we deliver the services for which we plan. Rather, we depend on local government ­ often acting through other regional organizations such as the Marble Valley Regional Transit District, the Rutland County Solid Waste District, Rutland West Neighborhood Housing Services, the Rutland County Community Land Trust, the Rutland Economic Development Corporation or the Southwest Vermont Area Office on Aging - to do so.

In sum, the Rutland Regional Planning Commission promotes cooperation of local planning commissions and local legislative bodies and officials; encourages the coordinated development of the region; prepares and adopts comprehensive regional plans - including policies and strategies for the future of  the Rutland Region; and performs other functions appropriate to fulfill the duties and obligations it has undertaken.