The BCRC has organized a workshop focusing on integration of form-based design standards with municipal land use policies and regulations. The workshop is free and open to the public and will be particularly beneficial to anyone involved in planning and zoning at the municipal level.

Mr. Arendt is the country’s most sought-after speaker on the topic of creative development design. He has presented lectures in 47 states and five Canadian provinces. In recent years he has been featured as a key speaker at
national conferences of the American Planning Association, the Urban Land Institute, the American Society of Landscape Architects, the National Association of Home Builders, the US EPA, and others. He is the author of numerous books and articles dealing with design in land use planning, including “Rural by Design: Planning for Town and Country,” with the following topics from that work forming the basis for much of this workshop:

• Simplify that Code! Less complicated form-based codes that are well suited to smaller municipalities, including alternatives such as basic (and easily implemented) form-based design standards that have produced excellent results and the role of performance standards to ensure compatibility when different uses are mixed or located close together.
• Creative Design Ideas for DowntownsIllustrations of design approaches that support strengthening downtowns, with examples from communities of various sizes from across the country.
• Transforming Highway CorridorsWays that communities can overcome inertia and seize the initiative to implement medium- to long-term physical planning principles to gradually rebuild aging commercial strips as efficient, attractive, and economically vibrant mixed-use districts.

Please RSVP to: jsullivan@bcrcvt.org so that we can plan for seating and food and beverages.

Sponsored by the Bennington County Regional Commission, the Town of Bennington, MSK Engineering and Design, Woolmington, Campbell, Bent, and Stasny, P.C., Southern Vermont Economy Project, and Bennington College.