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RDCs emphasize workforce housing, water/wastewater and Act 181 implications
Summary
Andy Jewel told lawmakers that housing aligned to workforce needs, water and wastewater investments in rural areas, and continued refinement of Act 181 provisions are priorities for RDCs this session.
Andy Jewel told the House Commerce & Economic Development Committee that workforce housing should be targeted to the specific needs of regional employers and that water and wastewater investment is a key constraint in rural housing development.
“Housing that we develop meets the gaps that we have in our workforce,” Jewel said, describing employers that need specific roles such as forklift drivers or engineers and the importance of housing suitable for those workers. He said water and wastewater projects are “a really slow process” in rural areas because municipalities often lack capacity and projects need significant predevelopment work.
Jewel discussed Act 181, which created temporary exemptions from Act 250 in some villages and downtown districts and established a tiered long‑term approach. He said the tier structure and proximity rules (for example, a question about an 850‑foot threshold) will be important as the state finalizes long‑term rules and implementation (Jewel noted the Act’s long‑range build‑out timeline through about 2027).
Committee members raised current‑use penalties and the complexity of allowing limited development on lands enrolled in current use. Jewel said the penalties for removing land from current use can be significant and gave an example of a childcare facility that faced large costs to remove property from current use when donated by a farmer.
On brownfields and predevelopment, Jewel said contamination frequently halts otherwise funded projects and cited local examples where remediation needs stopped projects from proceeding. He urged more brownfields money at the state level to complement federal programs and to allow municipalities and RDCs to move projects to shovel‑ready status.
Jewel also said RDCs have been discussing creative housing approaches with municipalities, including master‑lease models where a building is constructed and a business operates a master lease and rents units to its employees at below‑market rates. He recommended support for measures that reduce barriers to housing development in rural regions.
