How do they throw act 250 at them? I thought the property would already have to be subject to act 250 for it to take effect?

No Billboards, no McDonald’s or Walmart in our capitol (although they are just outside of it)

Happy cows come from VT not CA.

Poutine and sugar on snow are two dishes I think of when I think of Vermont.

Snowmobiling, hiking, skiing, hunting and fishing. Pretty much all outdoor activities are the things to do here.

I wouldn’t visit any of our “cities” for a vacation, but there’s plenty of awesome areas to visit on a vacation. I always recommend people bring or rent a car, I can’t imagine going on a vacation here without a vehicle.

Mud season (or early spring if you don’t know what mud season is) is my favorite season, but I would never recommend that for visiting. I like it because winters over, I’m calving in all my beef cows, saps running, everything’s waking up. But it’s also just a muddy mess everywhere, and if you’re not from here you’re going to bury your car trying to drive around.

Like ants in a row.

That sounds great. I am calling today.

But people would rather be divisive. It easier to blame a neighbor than a billionaire you can't put a face to. It's how capitalism works.

Channel is almost never safe to walk on. It's moving water.

Thank you everyone for the input. I will get additional quotes from the ones you folks recommended.

I'm not disputing the facts at all; they speak for themselves in being painfully obvious. I'm disputing the proposed fixes coming from a very unqualified source.

It's not so much your mysterious internet buyer, or capitalism specifically. You can blame capitalism for the '08 collapse, from which housing completions never recovered.... but there are also zoning restrictions, labor shortages, and more recently, materials shortages.

Other than the hedge fund and moving from NJ this all the native Vermonters I know up in the mad River valley

"a large developer" wanted to expand the runway... meaning VTrans proposed expanding it... something tells me you didn't get this news straight from the horses mouth:

https://vtrans.vermont.gov/sites/aot/files/aviation/documents/VASP_Draft_020421.pdf

and also:

> The runway was totally unnecessary for the planes he was bringing in.

bullshit. it's a 3,300 foot runway. that's too short for 99% of jets and many turboprops to safely land and takeoff from. those airplanes bring in far, far more money than the tiny little bugsmashers that can currently land there. for example, you could fly a little cessna 172 for ten hours a day and you'd maybe burn 80 gallons of fuel. most jets burn hundreds of gallons an HOUR, plus there's generally other services they'd need that small piston singles wouldn't. literally one single jet landing there one time per week will be the majority of your business lol.

I don't think you're very well educated on this subject, and that casts doubt on the rest of your claims as well.

Aw, no need to be mean here; we are all just having a discussion. :)

I am a HUGE critic of Act 250, but I still think it is necessary- exactly for reasons like o08's example: We do have a duty to protect our natural habitats /resources in Vermont to the absolute best of our ability. If we all work together, we can often have the best of both- preservation and development.

I believe all of our boats can and should rise with the tide of progress: It just takes more of us willing to work together instead of always trying to chop each other down.

Vermont is not special in these ways and actually a lot of what people cry about on this reddit statistics show we aren't even the worse by far. Doesn't mean it's not bad tho...

I think housing is a problem everywhere. I also think the author focuses on the Burlington area appears to hope you won’t bother following the links in their story.

For instance: “That’s why Vermont now was the most expensive in-state college tuition of all 50 states, at more than $30,000 per year.” has a link in the middle of the sentence. Follow the link and the top of the page says: “Vermont has the highest average yearly in-state tuition of $17,083 at public institutions.” Scroll to Vermont section of that page and you get “The total cost of attendance at an average public 4-year institution is $29,665 for in-state students.”

I followed the one link chosen at random and it showed the author was in error about the numbers. That says the rest of the data in the article is suspect which means their conclusions are, at best, based in bad data. I also think they drifted all over the place rather than making a case about housing.

What a loss! That sounds like exactly the kind of development to benefit everyone. Super curious why the developer backed out.

I have a LONG history of working with the CSJ property, going back to the 80s. It has always been an Act 250 nightmare there due to the proximity to the creek and there are also significant wetlands about the property. There is also a lot of ledge and bedrock on the property that makes it very costly to bring in utilities (water/sewer) for expansion / development. Unfortunately, the same problems are presenting themselves for the old Rutland Plywood property across the creek, which has put off developers from looking into utilizing that property as well. :(

That was a real shame when the senior housing project fell through. However, I see that Casella has been looking at investing in the property, so we are all keeping our fingers crossed!! :)

So they function as tax shelters while the investors wait to sell at a profit?

Why would there be intentional underdevelopment?

That's definitely going a bit too far haha, but it's not totally off the mark and a little tiny bit more spent on maintenance and some greenery could have really pushed it over the edge.

I am not sure, but I think mrgrey's point was maybe that what once only cost a few hundred thousand to build now costs in the millions... Certainly still not talking about a middle-income single family home perhaps, but the cost to build a comparable home to what already exists on Spear Street is far-and-away above what it used to cost even as recently as a decade ago.

I think it's way too easy to be scared by the prospect of new housing units. As was explained really well in the article, it would take WAY more new housing units than is needed in order to reach just a fraction of the population density of overcrowdedness in areas like NJ or CA. It's a gross miscalculation in perception to think that a few thousand more units across the state will have any significant impact on the amount of nature to enjoy in VT.

To a communist

It sounds delightful! Almost like an oasis within the "desert" of the city. :)

Hey man I’m pulling for you! Keep posting on Reddit about your enslavement - the revolution is coming! 🤡

His suggestion is to change act 250 so that it starts applying to residential projects of 50 or more units. This is an increase from the current of 10 units or more.

Recently, a senior living facility was going to open up here in Rutland, at the old college of saint Joseph campus. Right next to the new rec center, and the organization was even going to strongly subsidize the library moving to the old college library - a beautiful and modern facility, especially compared to the current building which is falling apart and crowded. Unfortunately the developer backed out. I'm not sure if they cited Act 250 specifically as a reason, but I'm sure that concerns about the development process dragging out contributed to their decision to back out. this wouldn't have even been entirely new development, as most of it would have just been repurposing the college campus, which is tucked away in the woods anyway. Again, idk how much of it is act 250 specifically, but I was excited about the new library, and I'm sure the senior living facility would have been an economic boost. It's a bummer.