Rutland RPC committee recommends submitting draft regional plan to state Land Use Review Board

The Rutland Regional Planning Commission’s Executive Finance Committee voted Sept. 8 to recommend that the full board authorize staff to submit the RPC’s final-draft 2026 regional plan to the Vermont Land Use Review Board (LURB/LERB) for the statutorily required 60-day review.

Devin, the RPC’s executive director, told the committee the final draft is posted on the RPC website and that the commission is expected to be the first regional planning commission in Vermont to submit its plan under the current statutory review process. “We are the first regional planning commission in the state of Vermont to submit our plan. So we are the guinea pigs,” he said.

Staff outlined the pre-application and submission requirements they must satisfy for the land use review board, including an application form, a statutory checklist pointing to where each statutory requirement is addressed in the plan, municipal confirmations, and a draft tier 1b map and memorandum. Devin said those materials will require additional staff work in the two weeks before the board meeting and that the LURB will hold an in-person public hearing in the region as part of its review.

The RPC also described the multiagency review process: five state agencies — natural resources, agriculture (Farms and Markets), transportation, public service, and emergency management — will comment on the plan; the land use review board will synthesize those comments and advise the RPC on required changes. Devin said the commission expects most substantive comments to focus on the new future land-use map, not the narrative plan itself.

Committee members asked about options for responding to LURB comments. Devin said the RPC can appeal or respond if it disagrees with a comment, but staff preferred to address likely map concerns cooperatively: “The map is the key here because that’s where everyone’s gonna weigh in,” he said. Staff also reported meetings with the Vermont Natural Resources Council and other stakeholders to review and refine the map methodology.

The staff-proposed schedule calls for LURB comments returned in mid-November, a 60-day period for the commission to respond and revise the plan, public hearings in late January and early February, and final adoption by the RPC board targeted for April 26, 2026.

At the Sept. 8 committee meeting, the committee voted to recommend authorization for submission; the recommendation will be forwarded to the full board for final action.