Act 250, energy and housing bills do nothing to help poor and young Vermonters
By Guy Page
A former representative and state senator returned to the State House Thursday to say the current Legislature is hurting poor and young Vermonters and only helping developers and special interests.
John Rodgers of Glover is a co-organizer of the ‘Tap Trees, Not Vermonters’ rally Thursday, May 9 at the Vermont State House. In this one-minute video (above), he sought to capture the frustration of working and young Vermonters seeking housing and affordable living in Vermont but feeling left out by the Legislature.
The Legislature this week passed H.687, a revised version of Act 250, the state’s landuse and development law. It enhances construction of small, multi-family housing buildings in urban areas, but makes building a home on a small lot in the country subject to severe restrictions. Rodgers:
“The Legislature wasted time on an Act 250 bill which makes it easier for wealthy developers to develop in downtowns that are dumping raw sewage into our waterways, while making it harder to develop and subdivide in rural communities, where most young Vermonters want to live.”
The Legislature this week also passed H.289, the Renewable Energy Standards bill that would add $1 billion in rate hikes over the next decade to further the build-out of mostly instate renewable power and infrastructure. Gov. Scott’s far less expensive plan to get to zero power emissions statewide by accessing available out-of-state hydro and nuclear power was dismissed. Rodgers:
“The Legislature wasted time on an energy bill that was written by energy developers and will profit energy developers and utilities, at the cost of hundreds of millions of dollars a year on working Vermonters. This energy bill does nothing to address climate change, it only rewards energy developers who contribute to the legislators who are forwarding the bill.
“This is a regressive bill. It will punish working class and poor Vermonters to make millionaires even richer.”
Rodgers then returned to his criticism of H.687:
“The Legislature wasted time on a housing bill that makes it easier for developers to build large buildings filled with tiny apartments that would be called affordable. The people who live in these apartments would be able to afford rent, but will never be able to save up money to buy their own homes.
“True progress on housing will only happen when we make Vermont a more affordable place to live, so that young people can have a house on a small piece of land connected to nature, so that they can grow a garden and raise a few animals. This will allow people to create equity and create intergenerational wealth that renters will never have.”
A large, diverse group of Vermonters attended the rally, which was characterized by VTDigger as Republican, even though Rodgers is a Democrat; the other lead co-organizer, James Ehlers, is a Democrat/Progressive; and only one GOP lawmaker was seen in the crowd – Rep. Mark Higley of Lowell, the sponsor of the bill to repeal the Global Warming Solutions Act – a fact pointed out by speaker Alison Despathy.
The other lawmaker seen there by VDC was Rep. Dennis LaBounty, a Caledonia County Democrat. Many GOP legislators were advised of the gathering in the Cedar Creek Room, but opted to not attend.
If anything, the tenor of the comments by Rodgers and others was less politically partisan, and more ‘class-oriented’ – specifically, rural, lower-income Vermonters feeling underrepresented by a supermajority they say takes its cue from the wealthy renewable power industry and other powerful lobby groups in the State House.