Vermont's Land Use and Development Act

Yeah, that's right.

So we can look at household size, and we see that in 1970 when Act 250 was put in place, we had about 3.21 people per household.

Right now we're down to 2.18, which is the lowest in the country.

And if our population had stayed the same from 1970 to today and the only thing that changed was household size, we would have still needed 65,000 new homes to accommodate that changing household size.

You're live on the morning drive.

Yes, good morning.

One thing that kind of drives me nuts really is every time there's a conversation about housing costs and the problems with building in Vermont, The discussion is always around permitting and Act 250.

I know that might be the case for some mega development somewhere, but I'll use my example.

They're doing stuff.

The big thing here from where I sit is the Act 181 slash Act 250 rule.

You can't buy a lot of land and say, hey, we're going to build a house here.

You know, if you're an individual, you have to be a developer to live through 10 years of Act 250.

What can we do to it? to slay this Act 250 beast? Because I think it's really the thing behind all the problems we have.

Yeah, that's a great question.

I think it's two-part.

Exactly.

And then you add on the complexities of Vermont permitting, you know, the Act 250 process.

There's a long period of time that it takes to actually get a lift installed.

And, you know, nowadays you're looking at least two years, maybe three in advance, you know, especially again with Act 250 and that's getting on the timetable for the manufacturers and that's maybe you're searching out a lift you know, from somewhere else or whatever it may, whatever approach you may take, it takes time.

And I think that's where I'm really going to be digging in this next year is there's some prior thoughts and ideas and some master plans out there that show lifts in certain locations, but, you know, really going out there and looking, feeling it and seeing like what makes sense and what makes sense for the direction of where we want to go in the future to balance again, the importance of family first, as well as like, you know, harnessing the coveted terrain that we have.

And even just

Well, I told you the Royal Vermonters and Farmers.

Act 250, housing, okay? Housing is a big, big deal.

I've said this for years before I even became a politician because I came from builders.

I'm a Turner.

The late, great Don Turner?

Oh, he was amazing, but...

Anyways, so I've said this for years that Act 250 has been a large driving force for the cost of housing.

They have to go through hoops.

Can you give us a couple of examples of regulation that you think is really causing the hindrance? Sure.

Act 250.

We've got problems in the...

the appeals process as it gets abused.

And I've been talking about this for years.

And if we could simply file that down to where you could only appeal based on your original application, so you couldn't just mix that up every time you wanted to try again, I think that would make a big deal of difference.

Do you think that there's a big way to make an adjustment with Act 250? And I say this because over the last few years, they've made some slight adjustments.

They have eased some of those regulations over the last few years.

Like some of the regulatory reform needs to be fixed so we can build more housing.

All stem from, you know, Act 250, Republican Dean Davis is the one that came up with that concept and for good reason.

There was rampant development happening without any oversight.

And I think that that was important.

I was wondering about that because we know, we've been talking on this program for so long now about th- these ideas of getting more housing built, and we keep hearing that i- it is coming.

Uh, everybody seems to be on the side of that, you know, what- whatever you feel about Act 250, et cetera.

But it sounds like you're saying it's not really happening fast enough at this point.

Yeah, that's right.

I mean, [laughs] so you've got this, you've got this...

But more important, 'cause I, I think about Bernie and I think about Act 250 and I think about Act 60.

And I think about the state that, if you wanted a state that seemed more like Sweden or Norway, it would be the state of Vermont.

If you want a state that really sort of tells you, "You're on your own, Jack," and provides nothing in the way of benefits, it's the state of New Hampshire.