MIDDLEBURY — At its Tuesday evening meeting the Middlebury selectboard set Oct. 24 as the first of two public hearings on proposed updates to the Middlebury Town Plan.
The document — last updated in 2012 — serves as a municipal blueprint for how Middlebury residents would like to see their community grow in the future. Town plans must be updated every five years, though new legislation will soon extend that period to eight years, according to Middlebury Town Planner Jennifer Murray.
Murray has outlined a tentative timeline the town plan that would culminate in the selectboard’s adoption of the document on Nov. 28. Residents will be able to share their views at the public hearings on Oct. 24 and Nov. 26 and through written comments to Murray.
The planning commission’s draft of the updated town plan can be found at tinyurl.com/y72wxsgq.
In other action on Tuesday, the Middlebury selectboard unanimously authorized the purchase of new radio equipment and two mobile repeaters for the Middlebury Volunteer Fire Department, at a combined cost of $227,193.69. The purchases will be made from Radio North Group Inc. and Motorola.
The vast majority of the cost will be covered by a Federal Emergency Management Act (FEMA) grant, with a 5-percent local share ($10,961).