More than 70 local officials and commission staff members gathered for the occasion.
In his remarks, Executive Director Jim Sullivan traced the history of the regional planning organization, which formed in 1967, and noted a few 50-year predictions about the county that were made at that time. He also offered a few of his own for 2067.
Sullivan said the organization was formed by the local municipal governments in 1967, during a period when many regional planning efforts began to take shape. For the occasion of the 50th anniversary, he said, he located a copy of the original Bennington County Regional Plan, which was completed in 1970, and compiled some facts about the BCRC then and now.
The early planners “definitely did their homework,” Sullivan said, while adding that it is “not entirely fair” but “also fun” to look back at some of their projections of what the future would hold for the county.
Prognostications from that era said the population of the region would double to more than 50,000 over the next 50 years (it is about 36,000 today); a major east-west expressway from Albany, New York, to the Atlantic Coast would be constructed, passing through Bennington; an interchange off the then-planned “new” Route 7 would be built to handle industrial development along the Manchester-Sunderland line; and school enrollments would rise rapidly, requiring construction or expansion of numerous schools.
Noting other early projections that proved accurate, Sullivan said the first plan saw a need for “land use planning and policies that direct development in a way that invigorates village centers and downtowns while protecting agricultural land, rural open spaces, and the scenic and ecological qualities of our mountains and forest lands.” It also called for a balanced approach to economic development, including manufacturing, agriculture, service sector and tourism businesses; careful planning of public infrastructure while limiting the future tax burden; a diversity of housing; inter-town services when applicable; and a need to protect streams, wetlands and other natural resources.
Over the years, the commission’s budget has grown from a few thousand dollars to more than $1 million, Sullivan said, and there are 10 employees today working in a wide range of planning areas to assist communities in the region.
Sullivan then went out on a limb in offering some 50-year projections he acknowledged could prove a source of amusement for commissioners at the 100th anniversary dinner.
Those include a regional population in 2067 of 48,000; the fastest economic growth in agriculture, small-scale manufacturing, and energy conservation and development; a shift in population toward villages, downtowns and in-town neighborhoods; continued expansion of the arts and recreation sectors and tourism; and transportation changes, such as new rail or electric vehicle options.
