State’s 14 Regional Planning Organizations to See Demographic Changes Ahead

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Most people are familiar with the leading numbers that characterize Connecticut… 169 towns, 8 counties, 5 Congressional Districts, and so on.  Fewer people – especially in the Land of Steady Habits – are aware of the 14 Regional Planning Organizations that divvy up the state’s geography. The Office of Policy and Management (OPM) is responsible for the designation and re-designation of planning regions within the state. Through local ordinance, the municipalities within each of these planning regions have voluntarily created one of the three types of Regional Planning Organization allowed under Connecticut statute –

  • a Regional Council of Elected Officials,
  • a Regional Council of Governments,
  • or a Regional Planning Agency.

The mission of the organizations is to carry out a variety of regional planning and other activities on their behalf.  Under state law, each RPO is entitled to a grant-in-aid to support its various planning activities.

The University of Connecticut’s State Data Center has developed population projections for each of the RPO’s through 2030, including a range of demographic breakdowns.  In the Capitol Region, for example, the breakdown by race, between 2000 and 2030, is projected as follows:  white, from 513,283 down to 380,545; Hispanic, from 71,149 more than doubling to 150,321; African-American, increasing from 86,739 to 130,835; and “other” increasing 25,231 to 66,135 – all of which reveals a very different racial and ethnic make-up of the region anticipated in the coming decades.

OPM provides a map showing these regions and a list of municipalities within each region, including town populations based on the 2010 census.

Regional Planning Organizations

  1. Capitol Region Council of Governments Website: http://www.crcog.org Executive Director: Lyle Wray
  2. Central Connecticut Regional Planning Agency Website: www.ccrpa.org Executive Director: Carl J. Stephani
  3. Council of Governments of the Central Naugatuck Valley Website: www.cogcnv.org Executive Director: Peter Dorpalen
  4. Greater Bridgeport Regional Council Website: www.gbrpa.org Acting Executive Director: Brian Bidolli
  5.  Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials Website: http://www.hvceo.org Executive Director: Jonathan Chew
  6. Litchfield Hills Council of Elected Officials Planning Director: Richard Lynn
  7. Lower Connecticut River Valley Regional Planning Agency Website: http://www.midstaterpa.org Executive Director: Geoffrey L. Colegrove
  8. Northeastern Connecticut Council of Governments Executive Director: John Filchak
  9. Northwestern Connecticut Council of Governments Executive Director: Dan McGuinness
  10. South Central Regional Council of Governments Website: www.scrcog.org Executive Director: Carl Amento
  11. Southeastern Connecticut Council of Governments Website: www.seccog.org Executive Director: James S. Butler
  12.  South Western Regional Planning Agency Website: www.swrpa.org Executive Director: Dr. Floyd Lapp, FAICP
  13. Valley Council of Governments Website: www.valleycog.org Executive Director: Richard T. Dunne
  14. Windham Region Council of Governments Website: http://www.wincog.org Executive Director: Mark N. Paquette