Planning Commission

Meets 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month at 7 PM.

The Planning Commission serves as leaders of the community on planning matters. Based on the input the public provides, the Planning Commission conducts its primary responsibilities of preparing and amending the Town Plan and the town’s land-use regulations (zoning and subdivision). The commission holds discussion sessions and public hearings to determine whether our current regulations are meeting our present and future needs, and whether they align with new state regulations concerning land use.  

We meet 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month at 7 to 9 PM. Meetings may be fully remote on Zoom or may be hybrid, with an in-person presence in the Town Center Meeting Room as well as on Zoom.  Please check the meeting date and the agenda to see what type of meeting will be held and what is to be discussed. This information will be posted 5 days prior to the meeting, and often there will be additional materials for you to look at before the meeting. The public is invited to attend any of our meetings and provide comments at any stage of our deliberations. You may also view the video recordings of our meetings (at MMCTV) and email us your comments. 

Update for July - September 2025

The Planning Commission’s subcommittee, called the “Town Plan 2026 Steering Committee,” (TPSC)  has been meeting regularly every two weeks since the spring, to gather feedback on our 2018 Town Plan,  which will help inform our new plan updating process. Several members of the Planning Commission are also members of the Steering Committee, and they, as well as our diligent public members, have been working hard.   This subcommittee staffed a table several times at the Farmer’s Market (June 13^th and 27^th), had a booth at the 4^th of July celebration (July 4^th), and held a 2-day “Town Plan Workshop” at the library (July 10^th and 12^th) at which we spent 10 hours discussing,  in more depth, some of the current and future issues that our Town Plan 2026 will be dealing with. We have also been posting regularly on the Front Porch Forum. As much of the information and many of the goals in our 2018 Plan remain valid, we will be leaving some of the Plan as it is, while updating other portions. The TPSC produced a survey, still found on our Steering Committee webpage, that seeks input from residents on their priorities in each of the areas the Plan considers. 

The subcommittee is currently working to integrate the feedback received, along with incorporating new state mandates into our first draft. This draft should be available for review in September, at which time we will hold further listening sessions. The state, by way of the regional planning commission (CCRPC)  has adopted an entirely new framework for Future Land Use mapping, with which our map will need to align.  Other significant changes that will be discussed in the new Plan are the worsening hazards posed by climate change with accompanying heavy rainfall and flooding; a scarcity of available and affordable housing, and the potential withdrawal of significant federal funding under the current national government.  Watch for future Town Plan updates, and visit the Steering Committee webpage to review the minutes and materials from their ongoing meetings. 

In other Planning Commission news, the Selectboard approved the packet of Jolina Court amendments on August 4^th.  These will take effect on August 25^th, and will allow the Buttermilk developers to add some additional apartments to the first floor of the existing Creamery building, and to start the permitting process for their 2^nd building, in which they will be allowed at least approximately 50 units. If they elect to utilize the newly-created “Residential Density Bonus Program”,  they may be allowed even more units if some of those units are either “affordable” or “accessible/adaptable.”  Hopefully, they will be able to arrange financing in a difficult construction market, and provide some additional housing in our “walkable” downtown.

Virginia Clarke

Chair, Richmond Planning Commission

7 members – 4-year term