House committee reviews bill to create statewide Housing Board of Appeals

Legislative counsel Elle Jankowski told the House Committee on General & Housing on Feb. 12 that H.42 would create a new, independent Housing Board of Appeals to hear municipal zoning appeals for housing projects.

The bill would establish a three-member, full-time board appointed by the Vermont Supreme Court, require at least one attorney and one professional engineer or land surveyor among members, and give the board authority to hear appeals of municipal zoning decisions, subdivisions, variances and other municipal permits and fees applicable to housing. Jankowski said the bill is modeled on New Hampshire law but would require edits to conform to Vermont practice: "If anything, there were some typos in last year's that I fixed, but I don't think I made any perfect substantive changes... This is actually modeled almost identically from the New Hampshire statute."

Committee members pressed Jankowski on key scope and procedural matters. She said the board would cover zoning decisions for towns that have municipal zoning—roughly "slightly more than half" of Vermont towns, a figure she estimated in the 110–130 range—so H.42 would not apply in towns lacking municipal…