WestCOG's Monthly Newsletter

Western Connecticut
Council of Governments

Welcome to the WestCOG monthly newsletter. It's a great place to find updates and opportunities in the region. You can also get information in real time by following us on Twitter or liking our Facebook page.

WestCOG is Moving!

As of September 1, WestCOG will no longer have two offices, but will be moving to one, consolidated office in Sandy Hook. Our new address will be: 1 Riverside Rd. Sandy Hook, CT 06482. Phone numbers will be changing but email addresses will remain the same. We will be announcing open houses when the move is complete.

Staff

WestCOG welcomes two new staff members, James Dawson and Kristin Hadjstylianos. James's profile is featured below. For more details on their responsibilities, please see our staff directory.

Recently, WestCOG said goodbye to four staff members, Sue Prosi, Alex Karman, George Blake, and Soumya Sudhakar. WestCOG thanks them for their service and wishes them the best of luck in the future.

Upcoming Events

Community Discussion on CT’s Opioid Addiction Crisis
August 31, 6:30pm
Weston Town Hall

Labor Day
September 5
WestCOG Closed

WestCOG Board & MPO Meetings
September 15, 11:30am
Ridgefield Library

Economic Advisory Group Meeting
September 30, 12:30 pm
TBA

For more, visit the WestCOG Calendar

Project Updates

MS4 Pilot: WestCOG kicked off its MS4 Pilot Project on August 3. This pilot project will review the mapping challenges associated with new MS4 requirements, the results of which will be shared with all of the WestCOG municipalities. Please contact Mike Towle (mtowle@westcog.org) or Carl Zimmerman if you have questions

Regional CRS: Staff is scheduling a Kick Off Meeting this September for the Regional Community Rating System (CRS) Program. The CRS Program is a credit-based incentive program that provides flood insurance savings for policy holders based on municiapl participation in flood mitigation activities. The initial effort will target four municipalities as the pilot area; Greenwich, Darien, Danbury, and Norwalk, which are best positioned to receive the largest financial benefit from the program. WestCOG intends to broaden the program to other member municipalities sometime in the spring of 2017.

Imagery: High-resolution imagery for the 10 northern municipalities is now ready for distribution from a 2015 flight. WestCOG has geotiff tiles and town-wide data in a commonly utilized compression format. Imagery for the southern municipalities has already been distributed. Please contact Carl Zimmerman (czimmerman@westcog.org) for more information.

Community Discussion on CT’s Opioid Addiction Crisis: On August 31st, WestCOG staff and several Drug Task Force members will participate in a panel discussion organized by Representative Shaban at Weston Town Hall.

GC3: WestCOG assisted with hosting the Governor’s Council on Climate Change (GC3) stakeholder meeting at a satellite location in Norwalk Community College. There were 18 members of the public who attended to discuss scenarios and considerations for the climate models being used to determine the GC3 strategies. Don Strait, GC3 member, served as the facilitator for the event.

Staff Profile: James Dawson

WestCOG welcomes Jamie Dawson as a GIS Analyst. Jamie will be assisting the GIS Team and WestCOG's municipalities in a variety of GIS tasks. Jamie is currently pursuing a M.S. in Geographic Information Systems from Pennsylvania State University. He graduated with a B.S. in Geology with a double minor in Economics and Mechanical Engineering from Union College.

Prior to joining WestCOG, he worked as a whitewater rafting guide on Class IV rivers located in West Virginia, and also built Aerial Adventures parks throughout the country, including the one located in San Diego Zoo.

Regional News & Events

The NWCT Food Hub Feasibility Study was completed by WestCOG's northern neighbor, Northwest Hills COG, in April. The study determined that interest from small and midscale food producers and retail customers (i.e., grocers, restaurants) will yield sufficient supply and demand in northwest CT to justify investment in creating a regional food hub. The food hub is anticipated to be launched in 2017. This food hub could also incorporate producers and retailers from the WestCOG region. For more information, visit NHCOG's website.

The 60th Annual NEDA Conference in New Haven, CT is fast approaching. Around two hundred economic development practitioners will convene at the Omni Hotel from September 11-13 for "Transportation at the Crossroads: The Economic Developer's Road Map." Register today! Conference sponsorships are still available.

A hearing on proposed transit fare hikes is planned for 4 - 6pm and 7 - 9pm on September 15 at the UConn Stamford Campus Auditorium.

UConn CLEAR has decided to take the NEMO workshops and Land Use Academy Training on the road to make it easier for land use commissioners to attend. WestCOG will be helping towns organize these free joint classes. Please contact Liz at eesposito@westcog.org for more information.

Do you have news or events you would like to share with the rest of the region? Send your updates to Liz at eesposito@westcog.org.

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