Totally agree. Without Act 250 the natural beauty of VT would be ruined. Act 250 is the only thing keeping large development from going crazy. Around me a big developer wanted to expand a airport runway which would have destroyed over 12 vernal pools and wetlands. The runway was totally unnecessary for the planes he was bringing in. Luckily Act 250 stopped that expansion.

My other neighbor wanted to build 146 short term rentals with one parking spot per 3-4 bedroom rental. That didn’t fly either because of Act250.

That same developer has to fix 2 streams that can’t support aquatic life due to their prior construction work. No remediation would be happening without Act 250. Thank god it is the law of the land.

If towns don’t want Act250 determining smaller development then they only need to adopt local zoning regulations. That makes the thresholds to trigger Act250 jurisdiction way higher, ie 10 house/lot subdivisions or more.

saw that in windsor county last night

state animal is the black fly, you can see these marvelous creatures in May, memorial day is their holiday

[deleted]

We have great nature, some say the best nature

That's why I labeled this as "opinion". Having lived and worked in dozens of out of state areas, and traveled to hundreds of others, I'd call it an informed opinion. There are plenty of crowded, noisy, dirty communities in the U.S. One Vermont.

After a lifetime of seeing Act 250's implementation, I whole-heartedly disagree with you. There are PLENTY of areas where housing could be developed that would be beneficial. Like anything else, with proper planning and implementation, you can easily preserve aesthetic and environmental protection. Making a blanket-statement that adding housing "would ruin this place" is disingenuous and uninformed.

It’s amazing how many of the comments here just prove the points in the piece.

Act 250

I agree with a lot of what you have said here. I also think that this article did a very good job in describing the problems for anyone trying to build an affordable single family home in Vermont. The article's depiction of issues created by Act 250 are spot on. So far, us "Vermonter's who have been here for decades" have not done anything in all that time to address those problems. As I stated elsewhere in this post, too many times I have witnessed the wealthy buy up a portion of a farm to build their McMansion, only to then turn around and use Act 250 and/or sue the same farmer to keep that farmer from building a smaller home nearby for a family member working that same farm. People need places to live, and reasonable housing development CAN be achieved without turning our state into a "toxic waste dump".

I'd say it's working as designed, to slow growth and preserve the state environment. Unpopular opinion but adding thousands of units of housing would ruin the place.

It's all backed by Chinese money.

RIP I had to stop going to certain family gatherings because I was tired of getting lectures about it that don't take reality into account

Nope they’ve got a Dunkin. They’re the only state capitol without a McDonalds - but there’s one right on the other side of city lines.

Seconded. (5th generation Vermonter here who has spent his life in land development.) Act 250 / Land Use described as Statewide HOA: 100% correct!

And a lot if those same people who move here will use Act 250 any any other permitting roadblocks at their disposal to keep anyone else from building a new home around them as well. I cannot tell you how many times I have witnessed a wealthy person buy up a portion of a farm to build their McMansion and then turn around and sue the same farmer for trying build another smaller house nearby for a family member working that same farm.

I believe Montpellier is the only state capital with no fast food place

That is certainly a significant portion of the problem. There is also a lot to be said for Act 250 and other permitting/politics that have killed all reasonable housing development in this state. This article did a good job discussing those things as well, and how all of these things are combining to put us in the crisis we are in.

Rama is a shitstirring troll....ignore this toolbag

Gotta admit man, I laughed.

5th generation Vermonter. My father worked in land development all his life (45+ years), and so have l (35+ years- land surveying/civil engineering; permitting and now that I have become too old to get my hands dirty, title examination).

I can confidently say that Act 250 had been the BIGGEST obstacle to reasonable housing development in this state we have encountered throughout the entirety of our careers. I have personally witnessed HUNDREDS of reasonable development projects that were killed because of Act 250 since the early 2000s alone. That number is likely in the thousands of you include not only my time but also my father's time in land development back to Act 250's inception in 1970. It had effectively killed off all single-family-home development in our industry (except for the very wealthy) by the 90s.

This article is probably the best and most accurate description I have seen to describe how Act 250 continuously allows development to be stopped in it's tracks by folks who are uninformed and unqualified in making ANY decisions about proper land development, and who use Act 250 as either a NIMBY, political, and/or social weapon instead of how it was originally intended (to keep the ski-towns from over- developing UP the mountains). Now Act 250 stops development EVERYWHERE, because ass-hats (like the JP Morgan retiree running for S.Burlington council in this article) have figured out how to manipulate it for their own ends and, in it's present form, Act 250 doesn't allow any developers or municipalities to push back against someone's bullshit NIMBY claims in any amount of reasonable time enough for a developer not to lose significant amounts of $$. In short, Act 250 is a perfect tool for those that have already built their homes to keep others from doing the same... Only the very wealthy have the means to build new anymore. Act 250 is in MAJOR need of reform, period.

Also, as far as suburbs being "grotesque" goes: If developers didn't have to spend such an extraordinary amount of their budgets on permitting and nefarious lawsuits brought against them, then they would be able to invest more in aesthetic construction that would eliminate those repetitive, "cookie-cutter" neighborhood/housing designs in favor of more variety of construction within the same development. For example, if you could see what the original designs for all those condos/ apts that were built along Dorset and Spear Streets in the last 25 years instead of what was actually built, it would break your heart... The original designs were absolutely beautiful, involving a variety of multiple architects designs, green spaces, etc., but permitting costs forced the budget to kill aesthetic development, and now it looks like repetitive "sprawl" there instead of some beautiful neighborhoods, and those developers were lucky to be able to afford to even build that after all the permitting was all said and done.

For starters Vermont puts a lot of effort into creating/preserving the idyllic idea of Vermont. The marketing works. Vermont has a lot of the same problems/issues as most states. It’s exceptionally beautiful if you’re into the agricultural/pastoral type landscape but don’t expect every farm to look like the ones on the “post cards”, there’s real farming being done in places. That being said it’s my favorite place in the whole world.

Take it from someone who spent their entire 36 years in VT. This essay is spot on. Act 250 is no longer needed the same way it was in the 70s. Regulators have created a strong framework for responsible development that exists apart from Act 250. When someone asks me to describe land use in VT I tell them to imagine it as a statewide HOA.

Zoning minimums are making it harder to build SFH. My house on 3.5 acres that is part of a neighborhood in rural VT subdivided in the 90s was rezoned to a 5 acre minimum several years ago. This means my neighborhood, if built today, would have significantly fewer lots than it does.

[deleted]

Yep the cops won't come to island pond. We called one time and were told they couldn't afford it 🤣🤣