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​Mount Ascutney Regional Commission (MARC) member towns include Andover, Baltimore, Cavendish, Chester, Ludlow, Reading, Springfield, Weathersfield, West Windsor, and Windsor.
Mount Ascutney Regional Commission advocates for the needs of our member towns and seeks collaborative strategies to address local, regional, and state opportunities and concerns.

One of our primary purposes is to provide technical services to town officials and to act as a resource for local governments. We help mediate inter-jurisdictional planning and development issues arising between member communities; facilitate discussion and understanding between local and state entities; and develop plans, policies, strategies, and procedures for addressing issues that are regional in scope.

Office Schedule

The office is usually open Monday through Friday 8:30 am - 4:30 PM
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The office will be closed on the following holidays:
  • New Years Day
  • Martin Luther King Day 
  • President's Day
  • Memorial Day
  • Independence Day
  • Labor Day
  • Indigenous People’s Day 
  • Veteran’s Day 
  • Thanksgiving Day
  • Day after Thanksgiving 
  • Christmas Day
  • Day before or after Christmas

Latest News

The Move Forward Together Vermont Public Survey is Now Open!
The mobile-friendly online survey takes approximately 15-20 minutes and asks general and specific questions related to how and where you spend time outside and your opinions about priorities for outdoor recreation in your community. The Public Survey is a critical component of Move Forward Together Vermont, a project of the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation (FPR) and the Vermont Outdoor Recreation Economic Collaborative (VOREC). The yearlong process will result in a vision and priorities for outdoor recreation in Vermont for the next five years including how we allocate funding for our outdoor recreation grants such as the Recreational Trails Program, the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and the VOREC Community Grant Program.

Please take the survey today!. Your input will help us make the outdoor recreation grant program work better for you.

Once you've taken the survey, please consider sharing it with your friends, family, and communities. The more input we have, the better able we will be to serve Vermonters.

Learn more at the Move Forward Together Vermont website.

MARC Awarded Section 604B Funding to Assist with Watershed Planning
In May, 2023 the Mount Ascutney Regional Commission (MARC) was awarded funds allocated through Section 604B of the Clean Water Act, passed through the Rutland Regional Planning Commission, to assist with outreach and project development to advance natural resource restoration projects through the Water Infrastructure Sponsorship Program (WISPr). The WISPr program is intended to address a limited and under-assisted category of water resource needs in Vermont known as natural resource projects. The goal of WISPr is to counter the loss of ecological function and biological diversity that jeopardize the health of Vermont’s water resources by providing financial resources. Natural resource projects and municipal clean water projects will seek each other through lists maintained by the WISPr program. The sponsored project will work within the timeline of the municipal project so both projects complete in a timely manner. The non-profit natural resource project will receive a loan to complete the project. Upon completion, the balance of that loan will be paid off by the sponsoring municipality’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) loan. When both projects are complete, the administrative rate of the municipality’s loan will be reduced to equal a reduction in annual payments equal to the sponsored project over the life of the loan, plus reduced by an additional 0.1% as an incentive to participate in WISPr. Section 604B funding allowed MARC staff to review the state fiscal year 2023 Priority List Intended Use Plan (IUP) to identify towns in the region that are potentially WISPr eligible through “sponsoring projects” and to review the Watershed Projects Database to identify eligible “sponsored natural resources projects.” Please contact Chris Yurek at [email protected] or 802-674-9201 with any questions or if you have a project that you think may be a good fit through the WISPr program.

Apply Now for the 2024 Climate Economy Resilient Communities Program
The Vermont Council on Rural Development (VCRD) is now accepting applications for the next round of Climate Economy Resilient Communities. Through the program, VCRD supports three to five communities each year working on local climate action solutions. More information can be found on our website.

Regional Priority Project Process Now Open!
Once again, Springfield Regional Development Corporation (SRDC) is partnering with Mount Ascutney Regional Commission (MARC) and our area towns to develop the list of Priority Projects for state and federal fund eligibility. The Priority Project process is going on in each region in the state and the final product is provided to the Agency of Commerce & Community Development (ACCD), who will share with other funders for consideration in making decisions on grant programs. Eligible projects must have an economic development nexus and should demonstrate the following:
  • Purpose & benefit to the region
  • Be prepared to get underway, if funded
  • Principals have demonstrated experience with similar projects
  • Supports identified community/regional economic/development goals
  • Project budget exists with identified sources/uses and a demonstrated funding gap
  • Job creation and/or retention

The Project Information Form is here – MARC-SRDC Priority Project Form. Submissions should be made to either SRDC or MARC by November 3, 2023.

The Project Information Forms will be evaluated according to the Scoring & Prioritization Matrix – Regional Priority Project Scoring Matrix – FY23. The top ten projects will be submitted by the region to ACCD. Here was the submitted list for 2022 – 2022 Regional Priority Projects.

The Priority Project Process occurs each year at this time. Projects that emerge in between cycles can complete the form and submit for consideration for an amended list, if appropriate.

For more information, please contact Bob Flint at [email protected] or 802-885-3061.

Past Events

Incident Period for Vermont Storms Amended
Incident Period for Vermont Storms Amended The incident period for the Vermont severe storms, flooding, landslides and mudslides has been amended. On September 19, 2023, FEMA announced that the incident period for the disaster declaration is now July 7, 2023, through and including July 21, 2023. This means that FEMA may provide assistance to survivors of the storms for damage caused during those dates (the “incident period”). For the latest information on Vermont’s recovery, visit FEMA VERMONT Disaster Recovery. Follow the account on Twitter at FEMARegion1, the FEMA Facebook Page, or Vermont Emergency Management Agency on Twitter, and on Facebook at facebook.com/VermontEmergencyManagement.

Single Family Housing Grant Program
To help more Vermonters whose homes were damaged by the July floods, the USDA Single Family Housing Repair Grant program has revised the required economic designation to include ‘low income’ households. Previously, only ‘very low income’ households could apply for this grant funding. It can help low-income households rebuild after the flood. Learn more at: Single Family Housing Repair Grants—Flood Disaster Relief.

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