PAC hears state legislative update: S.100 timelines, studies, and other bills affecting municipal planning

Darren Schibler, Senior Planner, gave members a legislative preview focused on several bills affecting municipal land-use and planning.

Schibler summarized S.100: duplex provisions become effective July 1, 2023; the emergency-shelter definition and bylaw limitations take effect Sept. 1, 2023; remaining provisions affecting local zoning are not scheduled to take effect until December 2024. He also reviewed S.100 studies that CCRPC will lead or help coordinate and that are due by Dec. 31, 2023, including: creating consistency and coordination in regional land-use maps and plans; municipal delegation of Act 250 authority (of particular interest to Burlington, South Burlington and Winooski); and an energy-code study (RBES and CBES) with transition of code administration to the Department of Public Safety.

Schibler listed other passed or pending bills of planning interest discussed at the meeting: S.115 (removes municipal authority to charge stormwater fees for agricultural properties); S.5 (creates a clean heat standard and a cap-and-trade program for greenhouse gas emissions from the thermal sector); H.42 (extends pandemic-era meeting procedures until July 1, 2024); H.110 (extends the Public Utility Commission’s review authority for telecommunications facilities for three years); H.222 (adds a definition of recovery residences to Chapter 117 and requires they be treated equivalently to single-family dwellings); H.479 (transportation bill items, including electric-bike incentives and fare-free bus service through 2023); and H.494 (the FY24 budget bill, which was vetoed and may be modified, with nearly $900,000 in Municipal Planning Grants and about $1 million statewide for brownfields assessment and planning, roughly $100,000 of which CCRPC may receive).