Communities

Town Center Master Plan

Town of Essex, Vermont
An aerial view of a town in winter

In 2016 SE Group started working with the Town of Essex on an updated version of its Town Center Master Plan. SE Group led a community-based Steering Committee and sought focus from the public on what the vision for this area should be. In a location dominated by large retailers and relatively poor mobility, the public’s concerns were varied, but architectural character and connectivity were the two most pressing. As this project has evolved, SE Group began exploring how form-based code might provide guidance to the evolution of the ETC as it is known. 

SE Group prepared buildout analyses and conceptual design plans that explored a vision and provided recommendations on specific form-based code elements (public realm, open space types, building types, street typology) that the Planning Commission is just beginning to digest into a workable regulatory model.