The administration is making good on the governor’s promise in his budget address to “modernize” Act 250 with a proposal to exempt downtowns and village centers from review under the state’s land use planning law.
Chris Cochran, director of community planning and revitalization for the Department of Housing and Community Development, said during testimony Wednesday before the House Natural Resources, Fish and Wildlife Committee that the administration and others would like a more “balanced approach” to Act 250 reviews.
“Location is a better determinant of impact than 10 units in 10 acres,” Cochran said, referring to the traditional trigger of Act 250 review.
Act 250 was passed in 1970 in response to the sudden population growth of the preceding decade, spurred by the opening of interstates 89 and 91 in Vermont. The aim of the comprehensive land use law is to promote economic development in a way that protects the state’s rural character and natural resources.
In 2017, the Legislature created a six-member commission to assess the effectiveness of Act 250 and propose 21st century updates. The commission unveiled a draft bill in January that proposed major changes to the law, including climate change criteria.
Vermont has existing state designations for downtowns and village centers that provide developers benefits like tax credits for historic building renovation and reduced permitting for certain housing projects, Cochran told committee members. Additionally, some municipalities have developed extensive local review processes since Act 250 was enacted, he said. But the state is required by the land use law to “review development in Berkshire the same as Burlington,” Cochran said.
The administration has been working with Rep. Charles Kimbell, D-Woodstock, on a bill that would allow municipalities to apply for an “enhanced designation” to receive Act 250 exemption for development that occurs in downtowns or village centers, he said. To qualify for Act 250 exemption, a municipality would have to update its bylaws to restrict development in flood-prone areas and to protect critical habitat areas.
Rep. Kari Dolan, D-Waitsfield, said that, historically, most of Vermont’s development has occurred in river corridors, leaving villages at risk of flooding.
“How do you balance the (desire) to concentrate development in the growth center to avoid the sprawl while at the same time recognize that these are in vulnerable areas?” she asked.
Cochran said that the state’s rivers program has been working to map safer and riskier areas in river corridors to guide future development. The state may also help villages flood-proof buildings in historic centers, he said.
“These centers are part of our culture and brand, and I just don’t see them moving,” said Cochran.
Meanwhile, Act 250 review would be heightened in key natural areas like river corridors and forests, he said.
“Act 250 doesn’t catch a lot of these projects,” Cochran said, pointing to a photo of small housing lots slicing into a tract of woods. “And so we’re getting a lot of this rural sprawl that does fragment forests and habitat areas.”
Kate McCarthy, sustainable communities director for the Vermont Natural Resources Council, referred to the idea of encouraging development in town centers as a “positive step” if coupled with adequate natural resource protection in outlying areas.
“Many times when it’s been proposed, people are only focusing on where to make it easier to develop,” she said in an interview. “The enhanced designation will only work if we get the balance right.”
Rep. Paul Lefebvre, R-Newark, vice chair of House Natural Resources and Energy, said after the committee hearing that he supports the idea of having greater “flexibility” on what locations Act 250 would apply to. He added that he would like further testimony on how farms and active forestry operations would be impacted by the proposed changes.
Lefebvre also questioned how the “enhanced designation” concept would apply to Vermont’s smaller villages.
“It doesn’t have a downtown,” he said of Newark. “It doesn’t have a post office, it doesn’t have a store. All I see is a ‘downtown’ marked by an intersection connecting two dirt roads with a main street, which goes by a school and the town clerk’s office — and that’s it.”
