Stop strong-arming towns into signing off on regional plans

This commentary is by Colleen Geddis, founder of the Rural Vermont Rising Facebook group. Imagine being handed a 408-page document that will shape how land in your town can be used for decades. You get about 30 days’ notice before the first hearing. Your town’s map was redrawn only this summer, after the law changed again in June. And if your region misses the Dec. 31 deadline, your town could lose state grants, housing exemptions and the help it counts on after a disaster. That is exactly where Cabot found itself this fall. So did many other towns. Act 181 requires nearly every regional planning commission to adopt a new plan, with a land use map and housing targets for each town, by the end of the year. In theory, towns do not have to agree. In practice, the Legislature enforces the mandate with money. If the state Land Use Review Board does not approve a region’s plan, its towns can lose Act 250 housing exemptions, designation benefits and eligibility for state grants.

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