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Ways & Means agrees to remove change to voluntary buyout language; Natural Resources to review redevelopment provision
Summary
The Ways & Means Committee agreed by straw poll to remove a proposed change to 20 V.S.A. §51 that would have allowed redevelopment of acquired floodplain properties. Committee members said the Natural Resources Committee should review any redevelopment authority for buyout properties.
The Ways & Means Committee agreed by straw poll to remove a proposed change to the committee's report that would alter the statutory rules for voluntary buyouts under 20 V.S.A. ' 51.
The proposed amendment, described by Tucker Anderson, legislative counsel, would delete the first instance of amendment in the Ways & Means report related to the voluntary buyout program. Anderson said the deleted language had struck the statute's existing requirement that properties acquired through the program be held in perpetuity as open space and would have given discretionary authority to redevelop those properties "for purposes of building flood resilient housing." Anderson said Representative Borenheiser's amendment removes that change and renumbers subsequent references.
The committee chair said consultation with the chair of the Natural Resources Committee showed that the technical and policy details about permitting redevelopment in floodplains need more detailed review by Natural Resources. Because of that, the chair proposed removing the provision from the Ways & Means report so Natural Resources can consider what, if any, redevelopment authority should look like.
Members did not debate the substance at length. The committee took a straw poll on the amendment; the chair announced the count as "11 zeros," and the committee agreed to notify the Appropriations Committee of the change. No formal roll-call vote was recorded in the transcript.
Why it matters: 20 V.S.A. ' 51 governs voluntary buyouts of flood-prone properties. The removed language would have shifted the default requirement that acquired parcels remain open space toward allowing discretionary redevelopment aimed at flood-resilient housing. Committee members said the Natural Resources Committee is the appropriate venue to address technical requirements for building in flood-prone areas.
The chair instructed staff to inform Appropriations of the committee's action. The meeting then returned to discussion of the yield bill, which the committee plans to vote on the following day.
