Pioneer Valley
Planning Commission

Eric Carle Museum, Amherst, MA

Media Release

CONTACT: Tim Brennan, Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, (413) 781-6045
Chris Curtis, Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, (413) 781-6045


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 20, 2010

Pioneer Valley Planning Commission Lands $4.2 Million HUD Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant

The Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, in partnership with the Capitol Regional Council of Governments of Hartford, has been awarded a $4,200,000 Regional Sustainable Communities Grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. This unique, cross-border grant award, one of only 45 selected for funding from hundreds of applications filed across the U.S., marks yet another success story in a ten-year-long effort to connect and collaborate across state lines.

This award will go toward developing and implementing a bi-state Knowledge Corridor Regional Plan for Sustainable Development in the Springfield and Hartford regions. The bi-state Knowledge Corridor Consortium includes three planning regions: the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, the Capital Regional Council of Governments, and the Central Connecticut Regional Planning Agency, and many cooperating organizations. The three regional organizations will work together to use this grant to create a new opportunities for sustainability in housing, land use, environment, water infrastructure, transportation, employment, climate action, leadership development and food security. The consortium will update and integrate existing regional plans for land use, transportation, economic development, and clean energy, and add new plan elements to form a Knowledge Corridor Regional Plan for Sustainable Development. The Regional Plan for Sustainable Development will include several innovative new elements: a green infrastructure plan for clean water, a regional climate action plan, a workforce development plan, an affordable and equitable housing element, a sustainable environment plan, and a food security plan. The plan will: (1) build off of major federal investments in the region, including the new Springfield-New Haven high speed rail line; (2) seek to create energy-efficient, affordable housing opportunities near transit and job centers in well-designed, mixed-use settings; (3) enhance opportunities for MA/CT cross-border communication and decision-making; and (4) establish imaginative new efforts such as a regional leadership training program for new generation of regional leaders, monitoring stations to measure and track improvements in the region’s greenhouse gas emissions, and a web-based Virtual Sustainability Concourse to share information on successful land use strategies and progress toward a more sustainable Knowledge Corridor. 

The grant will also help fund engineering and design for several “catalytic projects” to support sustainable urban core redevelopment projects in Springfield, Chicopee, Holyoke, and several urban locations in Connecticut. In Springfield, the Court Square Center project will focus on renovation and substantial rehabilitation of the 120,000-square-foot historic Court Square building for mixed use. In Holyoke, the Depot Square Redevelopment project will create a master plan for redevelopment of Depot Square, the new train station, and the rehabilitation of the Silvio Conte Building. In Chicopee, design plans will be advanced for construction of the Connecticut Riverwalk and Bikeway, a pedestrian and bicycle path strategically positioned along the Connecticut River.

Timothy Brennan, Executive Director of PVPC, states, “This is an exciting and important moment for the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission and all of its Knowledge Corridor partners. PVPC has a long history of creating plans, policies, and programs that support smart, sustainable, livable communities, and this grant will help put those plans into action. We look forward to working in concert with Capitol Region Council of Governments and the Central Connecticut Regional Planning Agency on this bi-state project to create a Sustainable Knowledge Corridor.” Christopher Curtis, Chief Planner for PVPC, shares this excitement, stating, “We are thrilled that the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission and our partner regions have been selected for one of the largest planning grants ever awarded in the region at $4.2 million, through a highly competitive, national competition that awarded 45 regions out of 225 eligible applicants. Implementing the vision for a Sustainable Knowledge Corridor with the help of our bi-state consortium partners will no doubt make the Hartford and Springfield region a national leader in sustainable community development, creating a more vibrant, livable regional community for all of the Knowledge Corridor’s over 1.5 million residents.”

Congressman John Olver, who has long championed sustainable development projects in the region and who was a strong proponent of the Pioneer Valley’s grant application, points out, "For over ten years, these partners have focused attention on the interrelatedness of the regions as a single economic unit tied together by a wide range of regional assets. This funding will allow the Consortium to expand their goals to include cooperative efforts around housing and community development, environmental protection, and social equity concerns across state borders.”

Other consortium partners in this project include the cities of Springfield, Chicopee, Holyoke, Hartford, and  New Britain; University of Massachusetts; Regional Employment Board of Hampden County; United Way of Pioneer Valley; United Way of Hampshire County; Valley Development Council; Massachusetts Department of Transportation; Pioneer Valley Sustainability Network; Mass Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development; Central Connecticut State University; Town of Manchester; Town of Windsor; United Way of Connecticut; Partnership for Strong Communities; University of Hartford; University of Connecticut; 1000 Friends of Connecticut; Connecticut Fair Housing Center; Connecticut Housing Coalition; MetroHartford Alliance; Connecticut Economic Resource Center;  Greater Hartford Transit District; Goodwin College; Northeast Utilities; Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development; Connecticut Department of Transportation; Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection; Connecticut Housing Finance Authority; CT Main Street, Inc.; Local Initiative Support Corporation; Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness; and Transit for Connecticut Coalition.

For more information about the HUD grant award and related details, please contact Tim Brennan or Chris Curtis at the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission at (413)-781-6045.

For more information about New England’s Knowledge Corridor and the Hartford Springfield Economic Partnership, go to www.hartfordspringfield.com.