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Vermont Chamber presses for Act 250 and permitting reforms to speed housing construction
Summary
The Vermont Chamber of Commerce told the Senate Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs Committee it will press for reforms to reduce housing costs by cutting permitting delays, changing appeals practice and supporting local infrastructure funding.
The Vermont Chamber of Commerce told the Senate Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs Committee on Jan. 15 that it will press for reforms to reduce housing costs and accelerate construction by streamlining permitting and appeals processes.
The Chamber’s lobby team framed housing as a top priority because high development costs and permitting delays are driving the price of new units upward. "If we're gonna invest, we've gotta be looking at how do we also reduce the costs," Megan, a policy lead with the Chamber, said during the committee meeting. She listed permitting and Act 250 reform among the changes the Chamber plans to pursue.
The Chamber said it remains engaged in the Act 250 reform stakeholder work and will participate in the tier 3 appeals group and in appeals-related redesign. "We're gonna stay really engaged in those conversations to ensure that that process is getting improved and getting out of the way for housing development," Megan said. Committee members and Chamber presenters discussed the role of appeals in delaying projects and compared other states’ approaches. One committee member urged looking at Massachusetts law, noting that in Massachusetts projects may continue while appeals proceed, which reduces the incentive to delay construction through appeals.
Chamber presenters argued that partially removing the last permit bottleneck can incentivize more housing construction: they said interim exemptions are increasing the number of units being built because developers can avoid the longer process. The Chamber also raised concerns about redundancies between municipal and regional permitting and stressed predictable, timely land-use review so applicants know the process outcome in advance.
On building supply, the Chamber cited an internal or partner analysis saying Vermont’s permitted new-construction units remain well below needs: "we need 7,000 per year and we're at 24," Megan said; the transcript provides that figure as stated. Presenters also raised municipal infrastructure constraints—towns reluctant to approve bonds for wastewater and other improvements—which can block the siting of new housing.
The Chamber recommended pairing regulatory reforms with targeted infrastructure support and described employer-led relocation housing and project-based tax incentives as tools they expect to promote.
What happened: discussion and commitments to continued stakeholder work. No formal committee action or vote was recorded in the transcript.
Why it matters: Committee members and the Chamber linked permitting and appeal timelines to housing unit costs and supply; the Chamber pledged to continue participating in the Act 250 reform and appeals work and to advocate for regulatory predictability to support housing development.
