Housing Needs Assessment

The NVCOG creates Housing Needs Assessments (HNA) to assist its member municipalities in better understanding their housing stock by estimating housing gaps and surpluses and household cost burden.

2025-2028 TIP/STIP

The Transportation Improvement Program is the most important way that local elected officials set the direction of federal transportation spending. The next TIP, which covers federal fiscal years 2025-2028 will begin on October 1st, 2024, and is currently available for the public to review and comment before the MPO boards act to endorse them.

Regional Housing Profile

The NVCOG completed the organization’s first Regional Housing Profile (RHP) in 2022. The Regional Housing Profile compiles data from all 19 communities in the region to create a regional overview of housing trends and provide strategies for improving housing stock and housing affordability. 

Statutory Land Use Referrals

The State of Connecticut mandates that municipalities refer specific proposals to amend and/or establish zoning maps and regulations, subdivision plans, and Plans of Conservation and Development to the regional council of governments for advisory review.

Regional Open Space Inventory

The U.S. Forest Service awarded NVCOG a grant to research and catalog priority Open Space parcels across the region. The major deliverable of this project will be a GIS map layer of OS with detailed attributes including ownership, acreage, level of legal protection, public access status, and more.

Tree Canopy Assessment

The U.S. Forest Service awarded NVCOG a grant to assess, map, and characterize tree cover across the region. A robust tree cover mitigates high temperatures, filters air pollution, and can improve property values and quality of life in urban areas.

VMT Reduction Strategy

A common measure of transportation system performance is vehicle miles traveled (VMT), which looks at the total number of miles driven by personal cars across a given area. A reduction in VMT typically yields benefits for congestion, air quality, and can help reduce costs for drivers.

Active Transportation Plan

The Naugatuck Valley Active Transportation Plan (NVATP) will aim to coordinate efforts across our 19 municipal members. By compiling best practices and standards, NVCOG aims to encourage increased access to safe, convenient walking/rolling and biking facilities.

SGA Complete Streets Academy

Connecticut was selected to participate in Smart Growth America’s Complete Streets Academy with the cities of Bristol, Middletown, and Waterbury. 

The NVCOG and its partner communities, Waterbury and Bristol, participated in the 2023 Complete Streets Academy, enabling implementation of impactful traffic calming projects in the jurisdictions. The Complete Streets Leadership Academies are a National Complete Streets Coalition and Smart Growth America initiative training public employees and officials in Complete Street best practices, intergovernmental and regional coordination, and “quick-build” temporary infrastructure projects on state roads. 

Each city installed a temporary project to collect data and feedback about complete streets installations on key state owned routes near their respective Downtowns. This data will be used to inform future designs and improvements to these and similar streets to enhance safety, comfort, and pedestrian/bicycle access.

Bristol

Bristol implemented temporary pedestrian safety improvements on West Street, including narrowing the roadway and adding visual elements and improved crosswalks near the Boys & Girls Club of Bristol. The NVCOG staff joined Mayor Jeff Caggiano of Bristol and the Connecticut Department of Transportation’s Safe Routes to School office to engage Bristol youth and promote pedestrian safety.  

Waterbury

Waterbury’s project made Grand Street a more vibrant, pedestrian-friendly location leveraging low-cost materials like tape, cones, and tubular markers to daylight crosswalks and shorten their crossing distance. The project was in place through late September. Data showed an 11% reduction in traffic speeds within the first two weeks, a crucial step towards enhancing community safety as lowering speeds at the 85th percentile can significantly reduce traffic-related accidents.