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Committee discusses S.328, quad‑flex water/sewer access and permit delays as housing barrier
Summary
Representative Holly reviewed S.328’s attempt to ensure water/sewer access for quadplexes and harmonize distance standards; members highlighted ANR staffing, wetlands delineation costs and the need for JFO and municipal testimony to address permitting delays.
Representative Holly briefed the committee on S.328 and related housing measures, framing them as efforts to expand small-scale multiunit housing (duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes) by ensuring equitable water and sewer hookups and harmonizing local standards with Act 181 exemptions.
She said Natural Resources did not take possession of S.328 but reviewed language concerning a 2,000‑foot buffer from roads to guarantee access to water and sewer hookups and to prevent municipalities from denying hookups based solely on unit counts. Members discussed alternatives (quarter-mile references from village‑center language in Act 181) and weighed whether leaving the metric unspecified would produce local litigation or allow flexibility to harmonize local rules.
Members emphasized the need for targeted outreach and testimony from town managers, small developers and regional planning commissions to identify permitting bottlenecks. They highlighted progress in ANR’s wastewater division — which staff said now issues some permits quickly and is exploring lower‑cost municipal technical permits — but raised concerns about wetland delineation costs (an example figure cited was ~$20,000) and inconsistent local buffers (South Burlington cited a 100‑foot buffer vs. 25–50 feet elsewhere).
The committee agreed to pursue follow-ups: convene developers and municipal officials to document projects that stalled, request ANR to report on staffing and bottlenecks, and continue cross‑committee coordination with Natural Resources and Appropriations to refine the bills' text and implementation pathways.
Representative Holly and members proposed focused off‑session sessions to measure project timelines by tier and to draft process improvements that could be brought forward with legislative language or administrative changes.
