Municipal Land Use Planning
Staff members of NVDA provide extensive technical assistance to member communities. We often serve as a "hot line" for all municipal officials who have questions about land use, planning, zoning, permitting, and any number of other issues. NVDA makes professional planning and zoning capability available to even the smallest community for a reasonable cost.
We also provide training and educational assistance through regional workshops and forums designed to join the resources of the entire region.
We encourage you to give us a call.
We have many samples of Town Plans, Zoning Bylaws and Ordinances to assist you with any questions you may have. Here are some samples that are frequently requested:
- Town Plan: Guidance Document
- Zoning Bylaw: Samples & Definitions for Chapter 117 changes
- Adoption: Tools & Checklist for Town Plans and Zoning Bylaws
- Windmills: Sample Zoning Bylaw
- Cell Towers: Sample Town Plan, Model Ordinance, Model Zoning Bylaw
Planning and zoning at the local level is what enables communities to respond to change in ways that reflect their own goals, needs, priorities and values, and to make sound decisions about their own futures. Planning can allow communities to designate key growth and rural areas to attract new business or to preserve rural character. Perhaps the greatest advantage to planning is the long-range vision gained by the community.
A few of the advantages of writing a Town Plan include:
- Participation in creating a vision of the Town's future.
- Increased access to grants (mandatory with some State grants).
- Defines the Town's opinion about issues for Act 250 procedures.
- Necessary for writing Town Zoning Bylaws.
VT Statute Title 24 VSA, § 4350 enables towns to submit their town plans to NVDA with a request for regional planning commission approval of their town plans. While approval is optional, an approved town plan is one of the eligibility requirements that must be met prior to applying for some grant programs such as the Municipal Planning Grant Program.
Approval can be requested at anytime before or after adoption. However, the best time to request approval is after the Selectboard has held its public hearing and before it is adopted. This will allow the town to easily make changes to the plan that might be suggested by the committee.
The process involves a public hearing that is held by a committee of three from NVDA’s board. Following this public hearing, the committee will make a recommendation that will be acted upon at the next board meeting.
To make a recommendation for approval the committee must find that the town plan is 1) consistent with the goals in 24 VSA, § 4302, 2) compatible with the regional plan and other approved plans in the region, and 3) contains the required 10 elements found in 24 VSA, § 4382.
A municipality's vision is expressed through local regulations. Ordinances can address one issue, like a Dog Leash Law, or Zoning Bylaws can address complex land use issues. The more a municipality is proactive in developing effective land use regulations, the less likely it is that a municipality will have to rely on outside entities to solve local problems. The traditional development patterns in the Northeast Kingdom have consisted of compact village centers surrounded by open land. With changing economies and more development pressures, these patterns can change.
One form of land use that is inconsistent with the traditional settlement patterns is what has been called "Sprawl". According to the Vermont Forum on Sprawl, "Sprawl is dispersed, auto-dependent development outside of compact urban and village centers along highways and in rural countryside."
Among the causes of sprawl are:
- Public investments in roads, public buildings, water, sewer and other infrastructure in peripheral areas;
- Disinvestment in existing centers; and
- Land regulations that promote spread out, land consumptive development.
Vermont was the first state to identify the issue of sprawl, and it is in the forefront of identifying solutions such as "Smart Growth". This is growth that fosters economic vitality in community centers while maintaining the rural working landscape.
In response to the changing land use patterns associated with dispersed commercial development, the VT Downtown Program has focused attention back to development within the village centers and downtowns. Revitalizing these town centers helps to preserve the traditional settlement patterns, quality farmland, and natural and cultural landscapes that make Vermont unique. Towns that receive downtown designation are eligible for a number of benefits, including tax credits, loans and grants from various state agencies.
Vermont Planning Information Center
A website created by the Land Use Education and Training Collaborative working to coordinate and improve the delivery of land use education and training for local land use officials in Vermont. Featuring resources for all aspects of planning.
Vermont Forum on Sprawl
Provides online publications and handbooks to connect the link between planning and smart growth.
Save Our Land, Save Our Towns
A non-profit that facilitates change in public policy through education and advocacy with a goal to protect rural areas and encourage the redevelopment of cities and towns that house people of all ages, races and incomes.
Smart Growth Network
A collaboration with the U.S. EPA and several non-profit and governmental organizations. This network develops and shares information, innovative policies, tools and ideas for advancing opportunities for smart growth.
Sprawl Watch
Contains articles and other information available regarding sprawl. Sprawl Watch also has a listserve and available newsletter.
