by the Lake Champlain Chamber
The House passed H.687 this week on a vote of 89-51. The Act 250 bill, as the sponsor describes it, “while not a housing bill per se,” had been held up by House leadership under criticism for not doing enough about Vermonters’ number one issue leading into this session, housing. The bill now heads to the Senate.
As described by the bill’s architect, H.687 does four main things;
- Changes in Governance and Appeals: The bill creates a professional board, the Environmental Review Board, to oversee the administration and operation of Act 250, which was defended as “the heart of the bill.”
- The ERB would hear appeals of jurisdictional opinions and district commission decisions instead of the environmental court, which, notably, is just a return to the Board structure of 20 years ago.
- Changes in Jurisdiction: Jurisdiction would no longer be determined by the size of a project and instead by location.
- This is done by establishing tiers of jurisdiction, with Tier 1 areas possessing the most relaxed regulation, tier 2 areas representing the new Act 250 changes, and Tier 3 areas designed to protect critical natural resources.
- Future Land Use Mapping: the bill establishes categories with common definitions for Regional Commission future land use maps. These maps will underpin the tier system outlined above.
- This mapping isn’t expected to be created for some time, and the implementation of the tiers is not expected until mid-2026.
- Designated Areas Program: the bill condenses the Designation Area program into only two categories: Centers and Neighborhoods.
- Notably, the House Ways and Means Committee amendment took aim to undercut the benefits of tax increment financing as a benefit of the designation program.
There are a number of other issues related to housing circulating the Legislature this year;
- S.311 is consistently framed in juxtaposition with H.687 for its starting paradigm as a housing bill, not just a biodiversity protection bill, which aims to make changes to Act 250 to promote housing.
- S.213 is a bill aimed at development in river corridors. It has been the subject of some concern as it further limits where development can happen. While there is an understanding of its need, the overlapping context of legislation saying where not to develop is adding up fast.
- H.829 passed the House and includes various appropriations to housing programs in fiscal year 2025 and in fiscal year 2026 as part of a stated General Assembly intent for more housing investments between fiscal year 2026 and 2034.
- H.639 is a bill that is focused on flood protection, however, it incorporates accountability
- Then there is the budget, where debate has been fierce as the House cut funding for the state’s most efficient housing rehabilitation program, VHIP, to $1 million from $6 million which would render the program inoperable halfway through the fiscal year.
- Additionally, multiple pieces of legislation look to increase the property transfer tax, which, from an economic perspective, taxing the sale of housing in a tight housing market is a bad idea when you want to incentivize market activity.