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07/01/2015 08:00 AMPlans for the future? Most people have them, but Sam Gold’s got them in volumes.
He’s got volumes on plans to mitigate natural hazards, for roads and transit corridor improvements, and for emergency preparedness. All are among the work products he now is responsible for as the new executive director of the River Council of Governments (River COG).
As executive director, Sam oversees the work and staff of the 17-town Lower Connecticut River Valley Regional Planning Agency organization and its umbrella oversight group, the River COG, a board comprised of the chief elected officials of 17 towns of the Lower Connecticut River Valley.
River COG, just two years old, was the outcome of a state legislative push to reduce the number of regional planning agencies in the state from 15 to just 9. River COG was formed by merging two regional planning agencies (RPA), one based in Middletown and one based in Old Saybrook, to make one new larger RPA. Also consistent with state priorities, a 17-town COG was created oversee the new entity’s work to ensure its priorities for spending and for planning projects matched the needs of the towns that were its members.
“The state has now gone from 15 planning regions to just 9 now. The state also pushed for COGs to oversee each region’s work because the chief elected officials of each town are the representatives to the COG,” explained Sam.
Before COGs were the regional planning agency’s supervising body, “Representatives appointed to regional planning agency boards generally were not the chief executives.”
Sam says that COG oversight helps to ensure that the regional planning initiatives and transportation project funding choices will better match the needs of the member towns as represented by the towns’ chief executives.
Every year, the River COG Board sets priorities for the allocation of available federal and state transportation funding. These allocations support regional planning initiatives as well as specific transportation infrastructure improvements. Once the COG make the allocations, the projects move to the Connecticut Department of Transportation which assumes the lead for the design and construction phases.
“One of our largest funding sources is U.S. Department of Transportation gas tax [revenue] that comes back to Connecticut,” says Sam.
One infrastructure project funded from the regional federal and state transportation funding allocation is the approved project to rebuild North Main Street in Old Saybrook. That project, currently in the design phase, will go out to bid in late fall or early spring 2016. Another project that will start in fiscal year 2017 is the rehabilitation of the Haddam swing bridge over the Connecticut River.
Currently River COG and its regional planning agency entity is directing several planning projects that are in various stages of completion. One project with a near-final report is an engineering-level study of recommended improvements to upgrade the Route One Corridor through Old Saybrook, Westbrook, and Clinton. Another is an economic strategy plan for the 17-town region.
Other regional planning studies are examining options and costs for use of the Valley Railroad corridor, estimating the economic value of the region’s trails and parks, and reporting on the conditions of bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure in the 17-Town region.
“As a new, larger region, this fall we are starting work on a new Regional Plan of Conservation and Development. We recently just finished our first regional transportation plan and plan to finish a regional economic plan in September,” says Sam.
Sam says there that River COG plans a series of fall public workshops to inform the public about the process and to collect comments and information for the Plan.
River COG is also preparing for this fall project by developing a new more accurate regional mapping tool: River COG is digitizing the parcel maps of all 17 towns into one system.
Starting this summer, Sam, who recently moved to New Haven from the Naugutuck area, plans to use the Shore Line East trains and his bicycle to commute to work in Essex.
“I’ve always been interested in the effect of the built environment on activity and public health,” says Sam, who now will get to test his commitment personally. “I also like being involved with projects where you work directly with stakeholders to improve something. It’s exciting.”
Sam recently received an honorary degree from Naugutuck Community College for his work for 10 years at the Naugutuck COG, where he served as executive director. In this role, he worked with stakeholders to add evening public bus service that would allow students to access evening college classes and organized a project—with funding from the college, the City of Waterbury, and the state—to build sidewalk links to connect the college with the rest of the city.
Sam is eager to apply his energy to tackle the issues of his new region of the lower Connecticut River. And with his love of hiking, don’t be surprised if you see him exploring the areas many hiking trails.