by Austin Davis, Lake Champlain Chamber
Appeals reform looms large in a draft housing bill under review this week by the House Committee on General and Housing. The bill:
- Prioritizes housing appeals at the Environmental Division of the Superior Court, requiring cases to be heard within 60 days and resolved within 90 days.
- Raises the municipal zoning threshold for who can appeal housing projects
- Instead of allowing 20 individuals to file an appeal, the new standard would require 20% of a municipality’s residents to participate.
- Appeals must demonstrate a clear and substantial departure from land use laws that directly affect the appellant’s property.
- Introduces financial penalties for unsuccessful appeals:
- If the court rules in favor of a developer, the appellant could be required to pay up to $50,000 in legal fees and costs, though the court could waive penalties if the appellant proves undue hardship.
Infrastructure is a focus of the bill. It envisions a Vermont Infrastructure Sustainability Fund, a revolving loan fund administered by the Vermont Bond Bank, to help municipalities finance water, sewer, and public infrastructure projects that support housing with low-interest loans (not grants), with repayment replenishing the fund over time.
Conspicuously absent is any form of infrastructure financing, such as the SPARC and HIT programs that have been proposed. Members seem assured that the House Committee on Commerce and Economic Development will proceed with one of those proposals.
It also includes over $45 million in proposed appropriations for rental housing rehabilitation, homeownership assistance, and infrastructure projects to support new housing development, though it is unclear what revenue would support that.
In a potentially controversial move, the bill includes a rental housing registry, which received bipartisan condemnations and failed multiple times in previous bienniums and might be a veto target.
The author is the Director of Government Affairs for the Lake Champlain Chamber.