Housing and Conservation Board asks Senate Institutions for $2.8M in capital funds for water-quality grants, conservation

At a Senate Institutions Committee hearing Thursday, April 10, the director of the Housing and Conservation Board told senators the agency is requesting $2,800,000 in the state capital bill to fund water-quality grants, farm retirements and conservation work that yields water-quality benefits.

The request, the director said, includes $800,000 specifically for water-quality grants and farm retirements; the balance would fund conservation projects that carry water-quality benefits. "The administration shows that the funders are housing programs pretty fully out of the transfer tax this year," the director told the committee and noted the board’s capital request is smaller this year than in prior years.

The Housing and Conservation Board (HCB) presented examples showing how water and conservation investments have supported housing and downtown revitalization across the state. The director highlighted a South Hero village project where an extension of a water line made a senior housing development feasible and said that project created a village center with a nearby fire station, health center and local store. The director also cited a historic-preservation project that preserved the Latchis Theatre and an adjoining hotel in Brattleboro and said conservation projects have protected riparian buffers, wetlands and flood plains ‘‘that are really important to buffer here and to protect the wetlands.’'

On working with farms, the director said the board has shifted toward acquiring wider buffers—about 50 feet rather than 25 feet—and noted its farmland-access work often reduces acquisition costs for farmers by roughly 60 percent. The board also described a farm-liability and business-support program it said served clients that collectively did more than $40,000,000 in business and supported 319 jobs. The director cited individual grants and awards given in recent years, including a $35,000 grant to upgrade a livestock stacking pad and a $114,000 value-added grant won through the board’s rural economic development assistance.

The presentation linked water-quality and conservation work to housing outcomes. The director told the committee a water-line extension in Guilford enabled a 17-unit affordable housing complex and provided a hydrant system the town had lacked. The board also highlighted its work preserving permanently affordable housing and said past investments have stretched state dollars: an earlier $2.9 million conservation investment to preserve a 336-unit development in Burlington remains, the director said, far less costly than replacing those homes at today's market prices.

Flood resilience work was another topic. The director described buying a parcel to reconnect a river channel and remove berm and fill material to reduce future flood damage, and showed a before-and-after example of a public housing development replaced after Tropical Storm Irene flooding.

The director closed by offering to answer questions and reiterated the $2.8 million request in the capital bill. No formal vote or committee action was recorded in the transcript of this meeting.

The Housing and Conservation Board presentation emphasized water-quality goals alongside housing, economic-vitality and flood-resilience objectives and asked the Senate Institutions Committee to include the $2.8 million request in the capital budget.