Rutland RPC revises regional land-use map after LERB review; two public info sessions set
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Summary
The Rutland Regional Planning Commission’s Executive Finance Committee reported map changes required by the Land Use Review Board, including parcel-level ‘snap to parcels’ edits and a reduction in village-area exemptions; two hybrid public sessions are scheduled and a public hearing will be warned in February.
Devin, executive director of the Rutland Regional Planning Commission, told the Executive Finance Committee on Jan. 12 that the RPC has completed the Land Use Review Board (LERB) pre-application review and submitted revised regional plan maps in response to the board’s feedback. The LERB asked for parcelized edits that require the RPC to “snap to parcels,” remove village-area designations and eliminate small rural buffers around buildings, changes Devin said were necessary to meet the LERB’s interpretation of the statute.
Those edits produced measurable shifts in the draft map. Devin said planned growth areas grew by about 0.1 percentage points, village areas declined by about 0.6 points, and the RPC’s mapping now classifies roughly 57% of the region as conservation. He noted the state planning goal for conservation is higher (about 75%), and that the LERB’s approach has resulted in significant revisions across several RPCs.
Devin emphasized that the mapping itself does not change landowner rights under Act 250. “No one’s land rights are being taken away by anything that’s happening on this map,” he said, adding that the map only indicates regional priorities and that local zoning and Act 250 rules still govern development eligibility. He urged commissioners to work with town select boards and planning commissions to review individual parcels and to collect change requests during the public process.
To collect public feedback, the RPC scheduled two hybrid informational sessions (an in-person/online office-hours format) — one tomorrow at noon and a second Thursday at 6:00 p.m. Devin said staff will be at both sessions to answer questions and record requested edits. The commission plans to warn a first public hearing in February and hold the hearing in March; the first hearing will be used to gather comments and then the RPC will make any warranted changes before a final hearing.
Devin also said he asked the LERB chair for a corrected response letter to clarify which edits are required and which are advisory; the RPC believes the corrected letter will help towns distinguish between mandatory changes and suggested improvements. He added that some towns have already raised parcel-specific concerns (for example, Proctor and Pittsford) and that staff will accept parcel-level corrections where they pass a reasonableness check.
The committee discussed the practical effects of the edits: parcel snapping makes the map more surveyable but may reduce the area eligible for exemptions under Act 250; removal of village-area designations reduced the overall exemption-eligible percentage of the region. Devin urged patience and outreach: the staff will use the public sessions and the first public hearing to catalog changes and provide clearer explanations about what the map means for individual property owners.
Next steps announced at the meeting were circulation of the corrected LERB response when available, outreach to towns through the scheduled informational sessions, and bringing the updated map to the full RPC board next week before warning the public hearing in February.
