Developer says Middlebury master‑plan shows how regulation and QAP incentives drive Vermont affordable housing costs

Zeke Davison, chief executive officer of Summit Properties, told the Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs Committee on Feb. 5 that Summit’s recently broken‑ground 254‑unit master‑planned community in Middlebury assembled nearly every available funding source — ARPA infrastructure dollars, a Low Income Housing Tax Credit award, BHCB soft sources and other state supports — yet still faces very high development costs per unit.

Davison said the Middlebury project “is the true representation of every possible source of affordable housing,” and described how state and program rules — including how the Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP) awards tax credits and how Act 250 is applied — add time and cost. He told the committee the risk of appeals creates a chilling effect beyond calculable delay or dollars: “the risk of appeals is really what is the silencing, showing effects on those projects.”

Why it matters: Vermont’s deeply subsidized tax‑credit projects are expensive relative to neighboring states, and the state allocates a fixed, limited pool of tax credit equity. Davison argued that policy incentives inside the QAP and local land‑use processes together raise the total development cost (TDC) per unit and reduce the number of net new units built statewide.

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