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Planning advisory committee recommends Option 3 for regional housing targets
Summary
After staff described map-driven changes to future land use and corrected spreadsheet errors, the Planning Advisory Committee voted unanimously to recommend Option 3 of the regional municipal housing targets to the CCRPC Board; members raised questions about wastewater capacity and how map edits affected specific towns.
The Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission’s Planning Advisory Committee on April 8 voted to recommend Option 3 of the regional municipal housing targets to the CCRPC Board, after staff described map-driven acreage and target adjustments.
Taylor Newton, the CCRPC planning program director, summarized a memo showing that edits required by the Land Use Review Board reduced Downtown Center and Planned Growth Area acreage in Essex and removed PGA acreage in Shelburne and Williston, producing target changes for several municipalities. Newton said two spreadsheet errors identified in earlier materials had been corrected and that updated maps would be publicly released on April 16.
Newton reviewed updated target tables showing that Essex, Jericho and Milton saw decreases in their housing targets while Colchester and Williston saw increases. He also presented a proposal to temper target shifts — including applying a floor for Jericho and Richmond and adjusting weightings by future land use category — to avoid overly large swings and to ensure no mixed urban-rural community falls below rural community targets.
Committee members generally supported Option 3. Paul Conner said the approach aligned with prior iterations and reflected practical land use planning; Aaron DeNamur and others described Option 3 as more balanced than the alternatives. Several members pressed staff on infrastructure implications: Cathyann LaRose asked whether areas identified as "served by water and wastewater" for the purposes of targets match the HOME Act’s definition of service, noting statutory exemptions tied to system capacity. Darren Schibler said CCRPC did not perform a capacity-by-system evaluation when generating targets and relied on the best available data; Newton characterized the targets as a roadmap for future capacity and implementation work.
Chris Shaheen requested clearer documentation for Richmond’s and Jericho’s numbers so members can explain the changes to their communities; he specifically questioned whether the Ethan Allen Firing Range area had been counted toward Jericho’s available acreage and noted that substantial land in Jericho is intended to remain rural. Newton and Schibler replied that Jericho’s larger Village, Neighborhood and Transition areas and Richmond’s existing wastewater availability contributed to the differences.
Aaron DeNamur moved to recommend Option 3 of the regional housing targets to the CCRPC Board; Chris Yuen seconded. There was no further discussion and the motion passed unanimously. The transcript does not provide a roll-call tally. Newton said he intends not to change the adopted targets during the eight-year term of the plan even if maps change.
Next steps: the committee’s recommendation will be transmitted to the CCRPC Board for consideration and the updated FLU map is scheduled for public release on April 16.
