“This isn’t the end,” Diane Snelling said this week as she prepared to step down as chair of Vermont’s Natural Resources Board. “I have a very active life ahead of me. I will not fade away.”
Gov. Phil Scott announced Thursday that the former state senator from Hinesburg would be leaving the land use regulatory board after five years on the job.
“Diane has devoted much of her career to service, and her experience and dedication will be missed in state government,” said Scott, a fellow Republican who served with Snelling in the Senate. “I wish her well as she begins the next chapter in her accomplished career.”
Snelling never intended to serve in state government, she said.
Her father, Richard Snelling, served two stints as governor before dying in office in 1991. After her mother, former lieutenant governor Barbara Snelling, had a stroke in 2001, Gov. Howard Dean appointed Diane Snelling to her seat in the state Senate. She remained there until 2016, when Gov. Peter Shumlin appointed her chair of the Natural Resources Board.
The board oversees the administration of Vermont’s land use and development under Act 250. Enacted in 1970, the law was intended to strike a balance between sustainable development and environmental protection. According to Snelling, 25-30% of development projects fall under Act 250 review.
Snelling said that one of her proudest accomplishments on the board was reducing the processing time for Act 250 permit applications.
“From the beginning, I tried to understand and demonstrate what the actual time of processing was, because everything I had heard, in contrast to my belief of the value of Act 250, was that it took too long,” she said.
Concerns about unpredictability in the process, she said, prompted her to examine the data and ask, “Well, what is it really?”
Under her leadership, she said, 72% of permit applications are processed in 60 days or less.
“I’m very proud of bringing that perspective to something that a lot of people toss off conceptually, as if it can never be fixed,” she said.
She said she hopes the Natural Resources Board can launch a new, online application process and a development tracking system, describing the latter as “one of the best things we could do.”
Snelling described Act 250 as “an incredible asset to Vermont,” arguing that it “has to continue to be valued for people to see how it can help us get where we want to go.”
After spending 20 years in public service, Snelling said the best part of her career was working to make Vermont better.
“We all care about Vermont, and we need to work together to make that happen. We have a lot of things, not just the environment, that we need to really pay attention to right now,” she said.
Now, though, she’s looking forward to a new chapter, including painting, gardening, spending time with her dog and venturing into the world of storytelling.
“I want to write things. I really do want to tell my story, my parents’ story. Somewhere in there is a story,” she said. “I want to reflect on what I think is a different perspective on government, which is, first and foremost, to be interested and support the efforts for good government, and a belief that you can make it better.”
She expects to be as involved in the community as she can.
“I’m not retiring,” she said. “I’m rewiring.”
