MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) – Experts overseeing Vermont’s landmark land use law are digging in.
This week, Governor Phil Scott announced the appointment of a new Land Use Review Board, a professional panel that will review Act 250 permits. The new board will soon begin mapping which parts of Vermont should be exempt from Act 250 and which ones require stricter environmental protections.
Changes made last year to Act 250 intend to incentivize housing development in downtown centers and provide protections for natural resources and forest blocks. The Vermont Natural Resources Council expects a robust debate over what’s considered a natural resource and what isn’t.
“There’s going to be a lot of debate of what are these resources, how do you identify them for protection, because that will mean going through Act 250, probably, or another protection mechanism,” Jon Groveman of the Vermont Natural Resources Council said. He says the new maps that the board creates will complement another law that seeks to conserve half of Vermont’s land mass by 2050.