This commentary is by Ben Doyle, president of the Preservation Trust of Vermont, based in Burlington.
Whether it’s Burlington or Bellows Falls, Vermont’s downtowns are central to who we are. Downtowns are where we gather and engage. It is where we make real connections in our local coffee shops and co-ops or our hardware stores and cafes.
They are where unique community identities are forged and grown. In an age of corporate and cultural homogenization, it’s the authenticity of our downtowns that keeps Vermont from becoming “Everywhere Else.”
Unfortunately, the impact of recent flooding has posed seemingly existential threats to some of our most cherished downtowns. This summer, places like Johnson, Montpelier, or Barre, each with distinctive built environments that tell a story of industry and culture, were inundated, and left with staggering damage and uncertainty about their future.
Rather than pull up roots and head for the hills, Vermonters would do well to remember the fortitude of those who built these downtowns for future generations. Now is not the time to abandon our downtowns — it’s time to realize their full potential as walkable, affordable, distinctive centers of culture and commerce.
We know that building resilience in our historic downtowns pays off, and for this reason we should increase public investment. In Vermont’s last comparable flooding — during Tropical Storm Irene in 2011 — we saw devastation in places like Waterbury and Brandon. If you visit those communities today, you may see signs of disruption of this summer’s floods, but not devastation. That is thanks, in part, to the resilience projects the communities committed to after Irene.
In Waterbury, that meant reclaiming floodplains and filling in state complex basement tunnels. In Brandon, it meant installing an “oversized” spillway under an intersection on Main Street. Dozens of buildings in downtown Montpelier were damaged in July’s floods, but the new transit center, with 30 perpetually affordable housing units above, was left high and dry because it was built with these things in mind.
Tools for increasing downtown resiliency exist. For decades, the state’s Downtown and Village Tax Credit program has helped incentivize private investment in Vermont’s downtowns by subsidizing health and safety code improvements or façade restoration. Between 2019 and 2023, the program supported 156 revitalization projects, awarding a total of $15.3 million in tax credits that leveraged an additional $295 million in private investment. This fall, the program is offering an additional round of credits aimed at increasing flood resiliency.
This is an excellent strategy that protects previous investments and helps downtown businesses face the future with confidence. The program should be significantly expanded.
It’s tempting to suggest that downtown resilience and redevelopment is too expensive, too difficult — that it is better to expand new areas designated for development and start fresh. Ironically, that perspective contributes to the very challenges we face. Development requiring new dispersed infrastructure strains municipal capacity and the taxable value of that development pales in comparison to that of multiuse buildings in compact downtowns.
Additionally, new construction accounts for 13% of global greenhouse gas emissions. 36% of Vermont’s own emissions are related to transportation. Development-induced sprawl doesn’t help.
The challenges of climate-change-induced flooding, or the systemic inequities that it exacerbates, can appear intractable. But Vermonters don’t walk away from challenges. Our downtowns are the public square where these issues can be discussed and solved. Let’s walk there together, roll up our sleeves, and revitalize the downtowns that reflect our values and secure Vermont’s future.
