Vermont Latest State to Preempt Single-Family Zoning

Vermont Governor Phil Scott this week signed S.100, legislation that will allow duplexes on all single-family residential zones and three- and four-plexes in all areas served by water and power. The bill positions Vermont among the first handful of states to implement state preemption of local control over zoning codes to roll back the effects of exclusionary zoning on housing costs and racial and economic segregation. Oregon was the first, followed by California, Washington, and Montana. Vermont’s approval of S.100 obviously shifts the state preemption movement farther east than it has yet reached so far (Connecticut’s 2021 zoning reform bill stopped short of state preemption).

An article by Lola Duffort for VTDigger provides details on the law the same day as Gov. Scott’s signing. Planetizen picked up news of the legislation as it worked its way through the Vermont Legislature in May. “The ‘Housing Opportunities Made for Everyone,’ or HOME, law will also make smaller, temporary reforms to Act 250, Vermont’s more than 50-year-old land-use law,” according to Duffort. “Several provisions, including new minimum density requirements, specifically apply to areas served by municipal water and sewer, and the bill’s proponents say they’re intentionally directing new housing into areas that are already developed to avoid sprawl.”

“The law also authorizes tens of millions in one-time spending on affordable housing construction,” adds Duffort. “But that money is tied up in the state budget, which Scott vetoed last week — over unrelated objections — and could be released once the Legislature either overrides the governor or writes a new spending plan to which he agrees.”