Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that expands affordable housing access within Vermont.

Highlights:

• Requires the Municipal and Regional Planning Fund to be composed of 17% of the revenue from the property transfer tax and any monies from time to time appropriated to the Fund by the General Assembly or received from any other source, private or public. All balances at the end of any fiscal year will be carried forward and remain in the Fund. Interest earned by the Fund will be deposited in the Fund (Sec. 1-2).

• Specifies new funds allocated to municipalities may take the form of special-purpose grants (Sec. 1-3.d).

• Establishes Municipal Bylaw Modernization Grants to assist municipalities in updating their land use and development bylaws. Bylaws updated under this section will increase housing choice and opportunity in smart growth areas (Sec. 2.a).

• Requires a municipality to do the following to receive a municipal bylaw modernization grant (Sec. 2.f):

• Identify water and sewer infrastructure, constrained water and sewer service areas, and the constraints on that infrastructure;

• Allow duplexes within smart growth areas to the same extent that single-family dwellings are allowed;

• Require parking waiver provisions in appropriate smart growth areas and situations;

• Review and modify street standards that implement the complete streets principles and that are oriented to pedestrians; and

• Adopt dimensional, use, parking, and other standards that allow compact neighborhood form and support a walkable lot and unit density, which may be achieved with a standard allowing at least four units per acre with site and building design standards or minimum lot sizes of at least one-quarter of an acre or by other means established in guidelines issued by the Department of Housing and Community Development.

• Establishes once a municipality has a designated neighborhood development area or has a Vermont neighborhood designation, any proposed development within that area will be eligible for each of the benefits. These benefits shall accrue upon approval by the district coordinator, who will review the density requirements to determine benefit eligibility and issue a jurisdictional opinion on whether the density requirements are met. These benefits are (Sec. 5.f):

• The application fee limit for wastewater applications;

• The application fee reduction for residential development;

• The exclusion from the land gains tax; and

• Eligibility for the Downtown and Village Center Tax Credit Program.

• Establishes a downtown development district and projects in a downtown development district are eligible for the following (Sec. 6.):

• Priority consideration by any agency of the State administering any State or federal assistance program providing funding or other aid to a municipal downtown area with consideration given to such factors as the costs and benefits provided and the immediacy of those benefits, provided the project is eligible for the assistance program; and

• The Downtown and Village Center Tax Credit Program.

• Authorizes a municipality to issue an authorization for a connection or an existing connection with a change in use to the municipal sanitary sewer collection line via a sanitary sewer service line or a connection to a water main via a new water service line instead of permits issued under this chapter, provided that the municipality documents the following in a form prescribed by the Secretary (Sec. 8):

• The municipality owns or has legal control over connections to a public community water system and connections to a wastewater treatment facility;

• The municipality will only issue authorizations for:

• A sanitary sewer service line that connects to the sanitary sewer collection line; and

• A water service line that connects to the water main;

• The building or structure authorized under this section connects to both the sanitary sewer collection line and the public community water system.

• The authorizations from the municipality comply with the technical standards for sanitary sewer service lines and water service lines in the Wastewater System and Potable Water Supply Rules.

• The municipality requires documentation issued by a professional engineer or licensed designer that is filed in the land records that the connection authorized by the municipality was installed following the technical standards.

Full Bill Text