The answer is simple, the Connecticut Environmental Review
Team. The Environmental Review Team, also known as the ERT, has been in
existence since 1969, making this our 36th year of service.
The
ERT is a group of environmental professionals drawn together from a variety of
federal, state, regional and local agencies to form a multi-disciplinary
environmental study team to assist municipalities in the review of sites
proposed for development or to provide natural resource inventories for planning
purposes.
The
ERT works under the guidance of the Connecticut Resource Conservation an
Development Areas (RC&D's). The RC&D's are a federal and state sponsored program
that encourages the blending of natural resource use with local economic and
social values.
The
Eastern CT RC&D and ERT serves an 86 town area, and the King's Mark RC&D and ERT
serves an 83 town region in western Connecticut. Federal, state and local
agencies provide their professionals' time and expertise to the ERT as a public
service activity so that the ERT can serve all towns free of charge.
Meeting the challenge of development requires thorough knowledge of the land,
its resources, and the probable effects of development. The growing body of
knowledge regarding land and its finite resources has made it difficult for local commissioners and landowners alike to assess the factors that should be
considered in land use decisions.
The
ERT assists towns in meeting the challenge by performing environmental reviews
of sites proposed for major land use activities or to provide natural resource
inventories to be used for land acquisition, master planning, or anticipation of
future development pressures. The ERT has expertise and professional competence
in addressing a wide array of environmental, planning and development-related
issues. The program is very adaptable and flexible, and strives for excellence,
objectivity and accuracy.
The
information and analyses provided will assist both towns and developers in making environmentally sound decisions. The ERT reports are not meant to compete
with private consultants by supplying site designs or detailed solutions to
development problems, but they do provide information about the existing
resource base and evaluate its significance with regard to the proposed uses.
Recommendations are given, but the report is non regulatory. All final decisions
are left to the town and developer. |
