Pioneer Valley Progress Report: April 2023

APRIL 2023

Welcome back to the Pioneer Valley Progress Report, as well as another glorious baseball season in America!

I had the privilege of joining local officials from across the four western counties earlier this month for the Western & Rural Municipal Conference - sponsored by the Massachusetts Municipal Association, the PVPC, and its regional planning counterparts in Franklin and Berkshire Counties.

It is always inspiring to be with such dedicated local public servants as we heard remarks from Senator Jo Comerford and Representative Natalie Blais, Lt. Governor Kim Driscoll, and State Auditor Diana DiZoglio. With so many great minds working on Massachusetts's biggest challenges, I am confident the future of our region and Commonwealth is bright.

Of course, there has been plenty more progress made on behalf of our member municiaplities in the last month, including two great passenger rail hearings and a whole bunch of local planning support.

Below, please find just a sampling of the work we are proudly contributing to as your state-designated regional planning agency!

-Kimberly H. Robinson, Executive Director

Following on last year’s successful grants workshop series, the PVPC, in partnership with the Franklin Regional Council of Governments, Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, Senator Jo Comerford, Representative Natalie Blais, with support from their legislative partners, is pleased to announce a new series of virtual workshops on state, federal, and nonprofit grant opportunities during the Spring of 2023.

We know the spring is a busy time as you prepare budgets and get ready for annual town meetings. We hope you can find the time to join us, but in case you can’t, all sessions will be recorded.

The first workshop is in less than two weeks! We will focus the first session on the One Stop for Growth suite of grants.

In future sessions, state and federal officials will join us to talk about municipal cybersecurity grants, water and wastewater infrastructure funding, firefighter training and equipment grants, transportation infrastructure improvement funding, and more.

We will be in touch again with a full speaker line up for future workshops. If there are any specific topics you would like addressed, please let us know.

We will share upcoming dates and topics as they are finalized.

Community One Stop for Growth Workshop

Friday, April 21

2-3:30 PM

with presentations from:

Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development;

Department of Housing and Community Development;

MassDevelopment

RSVP

Valley Turns Out for Expanded Passenger Rail

On March 21st, Valley residents had two opportunities to share their perspectives on passenger rail in our region during a doubleheader Western Mass Passenger Rail Commission hearing day.

With full houses in Northampton and Springfield, commission members heard our message loud and clear - we are ready for expanded rail service!

Springfield Neighborhood Planning Proceeds

As we have previously shared, PVPC has the privelege of working with the City of Springfield to update 11 different neighborhood plans over the next several years.

Currently, we are seeking input from residents of Mason Square and Maple High-Six Corners on how to make their communities stronger and more vibrant.

PVPC Planning Quick Hits

PVPC planners met with Amherst's Planning Board to discuss our work updating the town's historical preservation plan.

Hadley takes final step towards securing Green Communities designation as they accept energy reduction plan developed with support from PVPC.

Chesterfield prepares to present its cannabis bylaw to the community's voters after two years of careful consideration to which PVPC was proud to contibute.

Welcome Monique!

The PVPC recently welcomed Monique Shaw to our team as the new Senior Administrative Assistant, where she’ll support our agency’s operations and projects across our various sections.

Prior to joining PVPC, Monique worked in a similar role for Barings for over a decade. She has a bachelor’s degree in liberal studies from Bay Path University and currently resides in her hometown of Springfield.