Administrative Divisions of Connecticut - Regions

Regions

The dissolution of county governments in 1960 created a vacuum of power at the regional level, which created problems when it came to land use and infrastructure planning. Because the power once reserved for county governments was now in the hands of municipal administrations, major land use, environmental, and infrastructure issues often pitted one town against another, resulting in little or no progress. Complicating this, the state constitution delegates a large portion of the state's authority to the towns. That means a major multi-town project could be completely derailed if only one of the affected towns opposes the project, since the project would require each affected town to issue its own permits for the portions within its territory. This has often led to long and costly lawsuits between towns that support a regional-scale project and those opposed.

In an effort to resolve these conflicts, the State of Connecticut passed legislation in the 1980s establishing 15 regional councils, which cluster towns with similar demographics into an administrative planning region, instead of adhering to the old county structure. These regions are:

• Capitol Region (Hartford area)
• Central Connecticut Region (Bristol-New Britain area)
• Central Naugatuck Valley Region (Waterbury area)
• Connecticut River Estuary Region (Old Saybrook area)
• Greater Bridgeport Region (Bridgeport area)
• Housatonic Valley Region (Danbury area)
• Litchfield Hills Region (Torrington area)
• Lower Naugatuck Valley Region (Derby/Shelton area)
• Midstate Connecticut Region (Middletown area)
• Northeastern Connecticut Region (Danielson area)
• Northwestern Connecticut Region (Sharon area)
• South Central Connecticut Region (New Haven area)
• Southeastern Connecticut Region (Norwich-New London area)
• Southwestern Connecticut Region (Stamford-Norwalk area)
• Windham Region (Willimantic area)

Unlike county governments, the authority of regional councils is limited to land use policymaking, infrastructure development, emergency preparedness, and long-term planning for population and economic changes for the communities within their respective jurisdiction. The regional councils have no taxing authority; they are financed by funds from the state and member towns.

Regional councils also have some limited law enforcement authority. If approved by the regional council, member towns can put forth a portion of their law enforcement resources to create regional task forces to combat organized crime and drug trafficking. With assistance from the Connecticut State Police and FBI, several regions have established such task forces. The Northern Connecticut Gang Task Force, Bridgeport Violent Crimes Task Force, and New Haven Safe Streets Gang Task Force are such examples.