The Greater Bridgeport Regional Planning Agency (GBRPA) is the responsible regional planning body for a metropolitan region, which is composed of six (6) member municipalities: Bridgeport, Easton, Fairfield, Monroe, Stratford and Trumbull. Each member municipality joined by ordinance under the State Enabling Act (Chapter 127, Section 8-31a through 8-37b) of the Connecticut General Statutes by providing their proper share of the local costs and by appointing the proper number of representatives to serve as the governing body of the Agency.
The Agency was established in 1960 with the assistance of the Connecticut Development Commission. The planning jurisdiction includes 118 square miles with 300,000 populations and the largest city in Connecticut.
The six (6) municipalities designate a total of eighteen (18) representatives as Agency Members according to a formula utilizing the 1990 Census population. Each municipality has a slightly different approach as to how the members are appointed, but in all cases, the local planning and zoning commission must make one appointment. The eighteen (18) members serve as a board of directors and approve an annual budget, and are also responsible for Agency policy decisions. They select an Executive Director, who is the chief administrative officer of the Agency and in charge of day-to-day operations.
Pursuant State Legislation and Federal Programmatic requirements, this Agency is responsible for land use, transportation, housing, public facilities, open space, environment, energy and economic development for the Region.
Greater Bridgeport Regional Planning Agency is also a federally designated regional transportation planning agency for the Greater Bridgeport Planning Region.
In terms of funding, the Greater Bridgeport Regional Planning Agency receives approximately 69% from the federal government, 13% from the state government, and the remaining 18% comes from member local town governments.
The local share formula has been determined by the Agency Board by using population size, town land and grand list.
At present, other than the Executive Director, the Agency employs five (5) professional planners and engineers to provide the following functional planning areas:
The Agency also has four (4) support staff to cover the office services function: