Witness urges requiring legal standing, planning tie-ins and rejects punitive attorney-fee penalty in zoning appeals

The House General and Housing Committee heard testimony Feb. 25 on appeals of local land-use and housing permits, with John Grobman, policy and water program director for the Vermont Natural Resources Council, urging changes to who may appeal and how appeals are reviewed.

Grobman told the committee that Vermont’s current appeals system often restarts fact-finding when cases reach the Environmental Division of the Vermont Superior Court, a procedure known as de novo review. “When there is an appeal to the court, it doesn't matter what happened before at ANR, it doesn't matter what happened before the district commission, it doesn't matter what happened before the zoning authorities. You start all over again in court,” he said.

That de novo process, Grobman said, increases cost and delay because parties can introduce new evidence, conduct discovery and litigate procedural fights. He said the change to put environmental appeals in the court took place in February 2004 and that Vermont now is unusual nationally for de novo review of some technical ANR permitting decisions.

Why it matters: the committee is weighing changes prompted by Act 181’s land-use reforms and an administration…