CDRPC Mission & Work Program

Mission Statement
The Capital District Regional Planning Commission (CDRPC) is a regional planning and resource center serving Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga, and Schenectady counties. CDRPC provides objective analysis of data, trends, opportunities, and challenges relevant to the Region's economic development and planning communities. CDRPC serves the best interests of the public and private sectors by promoting intergovernmental cooperation; communicating, collaborating, and facilitating regional initiatives; and sharing information and fostering dialogues on solutions to regional problems.

Mission Statement

The Capital District Regional Planning Commission (CDRPC) is a regional planning and resource center serving Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga, and Schenectady counties. CDRPC provides objective analysis of data, trends, opportunities, and challenges relevant to the Region's economic development and planning communities. CDRPC serves the best interests of the public and private sectors by promoting intergovernmental cooperation; communicating, collaborating, and facilitating regional initiatives; and sharing information and fostering dialogues on solutions to regional problems.

CDRPC was established as a regional planning board in 1967 by a cooperative agreement among the counties of Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga, and Schenectady. Its original purpose was to perform and support comprehensive planning work, including surveys, planning services, technical services, and the formulation of plans and policies to promote sound and coordinated development of the entire Region. Over time, the mission of the Planning Commission evolved in response to changes in the Region's needs, funding sources, organizational structures, and information technology. While continuing to provide a wide variety of comprehensive planning services, CDRPC has also assumed the functions of aviation system planner, crime control coordinator, data and information center, Economic Development District, and Foreign-Trade Zone administrator.

Recent CDRPC activities include:

Preparing Regional Planning Studies such as the Regional Indicator Study, Overall Economic Development Program, and groundwater, wellhead, and watershed protection studies. A number of technical reports have also been prepared in conjunction with the Quality Region Initiative in partnership with the Capital District Transportation Committee.
Providing Local Technical Assistance, including comprehensive plans, economic impact analysis, municipal population and household projections, school enrollment projections, grant writing assistance, local strategic plans, Geographic Information System products and training, and land use planning workshops.
Serving as the Regional Data Bank and Information Center for geographic, demographic, and economic information including the preparation of community fact sheets, demographic profiles, special data analyses, forecasting, and projection studies. The data sets received from other sources are tailored to the Capital Region in an easy-to-use format. Staff also make presentations on a range of issues of interest to stakeholders throughout the Capital Region.
Functioning as the Regional Clearinghouse for applications to federally funded programs subject to intergovernmental review under State Executive Order.
Serving as a forum for Regional Coordination including transportation and water quality planning, economic development, juvenile delinquent prevention, and inter-municipal and inter-county networking.
Implementing and administering Cooperative Projects such as the Capital District Foreign Trade Zone, the Regional Juvenile Secure Detention Center, the Capital District Youth Courts Program, and the Combined Sewer Overflow Project.

Water Quality

With funding support from the Section 604(b) Water Quality Program of the Clean Water Act, administered by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC), CDRPC is continuing to participate in efforts to protect the Region’s water resources.

The major focus of CDRPC’s water quality recent efforts has been to coordinate with the N.Y.S. Dept. of Environmental Conservation in providing assistance to municipalities to implement the new “Phase II” water quality regulations, part of the Federal Clean Water Drinking Act, that took effect in March 2003.

CDRPC is also coordinating the effort to address problems associated with combined sewer overflows into the Hudson River.

Water Quality Details

Land Use/Transportation Planning

Surface Transportation

CDRPC is a member of the Capital District Transportation Committee, the federally designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) responsible for surface transportation planning for the four-county area.

As part of the Planning Commission’s continued partnership with the Regional MPO, CDRPC staff actively participates in the Quality Region Initiative, which is part of CDTC’s New Visions 2030 Plan update.

The initiative, New Visions for a Quality Region, is being undertaken through a special taskforce. The Task Force report, Pursuing Quality in the Capital Region, identifies the Region’s characteristics, weaknesses, challenges, and opportunities. Based on the report, five working groups have been created to articulate specific transportation and development-related policy choices and opportunities facing the Region. The taskforce and working groups will be constructing and participating in a broad outreach program to engage a wide range of parties throughout the Region in discussions on major land use and transportation issues. CDRPC is providing research and technical assistance to the taskforce and workgroups.

Surface Transportation Details

Aviation

In 1978, CDRPC was designated by the Federal Aviation Administration as the agency responsible for aviation system planning and technical assistance in the nine-county Upper Hudson Region, which includes the four Capital District counties and Columbia, Fulton, Greene, Montgomery, and Schoharie counties.

The Upper Hudson Region contains 26 public use airports. Due to their strategic locations and airside facilities, thirteen of these airports have been designated as system airports.

System Airport Details

Human Services Planning

Since 1970, the State Division of Criminal Justice Services has utilized CDRPC as the Region's coordinator for federally funded human resource and criminal justice services.

The Regional Planning Commission is acting as technical advisor for the CARES, Inc. Regional project to establish a coordinated reporting system for homeless assistance (the Homeless Management Information System—HMIS). When fully operational, the system will allow the consistent reporting of summary data on the Region's homeless population so that better systems may be devised to serve them.

As part of its technical assistance to CARES, Inc., CDRPC participated in the creation of an Albany County Plan to End Homelessness.

CDRPC is the administrator for the Capital District Juvenile Secure Detention Facility, the first multi-county detention center for youth in the nation. Owned by the Capital District Youth Center, Inc. and operated by the Berkshire Farm Center for Youth, the detention facility has provided very significant savings for the member counties since it opened in 1997.

Capital District Juvenile Secure Detention Facility Fact Sheet

Economic Planning

Certified by the U.S. Dept. of Commerce as an Economic Development District (EDD) in 1987, CDRPC receives annual grants from the Economic Development Administration (EDA) for Regional economic planning. Inclusion of the four counties in the EDD also allows them to be eligible for EDA technical assistance and public works grants.

EDA financial support materially assists the Planning Commission in the collection and publication of demographic and economic data and information for the Region. In addition to its web site, CDRPC's main data publication vehicle is its bi-monthly newsletter, Capital District Data.

The Capital Region Economy

State Data Center Affiliate & Regional Business Information Data Center

CDRPC was named State Data Center Affiliate for Regional demographic information by the N.Y.S. Dept. of Economic Development in 1986 and Regional Business Information Data Center in 1991. CDRPC is the primary source in the Region for all data, estimates, and projections disseminated by the U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, and other federal and State agencies.

CDRPC also prepares population and household projections for each of the 79 minor civil divisions within the Capital Region. The most recent projections have been prepared to the Year 2040, and are an integral part of the Quality Region Initiative described earlier.

Index of Data and Maps

Foreign-Trade Zone

Foreign-Trade Zone #121

In 1985, CDRPC was granted the authority to establish a General-Purpose Foreign-Trade Zone (FTZ #121) in the Region by the Foreign-Trade Zones Board of the U.S. Dept. of Commerce. State enabling legislation extended CDRPC's FTZ program to Fulton and Montgomery counties in 1991, to Columbia and Greene counties in 1992, and to Warren and Washington counties in 2004.

Zone Administrator. The Zone Administrator is Capital District Trade Strategies, Inc. All potential Zone Operators and Users should contact CDTS for assistance in determining their individual costs and benefits from Zone operations at 212-651-8500 or info@seaboardtrade.us

Foreign-Trade Zone Benefits

Foreign-Trade Zone operations allow companies to:

Defer payment of Customs duty on imports,
Reduce the duty rate on finished products made in the Zone with imported components, and
Eliminate the duty on products which are re-exported, usually with substantial cost savings.

Foreign-Trade Subzones may be established which extend FTZ benefits to individual manufacturing firms at their current plant locations.

Foreign-Trade Zone #121 Details

Special Projects

School Enrollment Projections

Under contract with various school districts, CDRPC produces five-year school enrollment projections by grade level. Development of the projections requires consideration of Census information on the number of persons and housing units located within the school district, historical school enrollment data, annual live birth data, building permit data, and anticipated residential building activity in the School District.

Census 2010 Project

The Planning Commission is currently assisting the N.Y.S. Dept. of Economic Development to identify the most accurate sources of address data within the Capital District to ensure an accurate Census count in 2010. An accurate Census count is critical to New York State and our local communities, since Census data are used as a determining factor for a range of federally funded programs, the allocation of U.S. congressional seats, and the redistricting of New York State legislative districts. A 2010 Census Demonstration Project report has been prepared in connection with this project.

CDRPC Affiliations