Act 250 reform also a target
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By Peter Hirschfeld Vermont Press Bureau - Published: January 9, 2009
MONTPELIER – Governor James Douglas ensured yet another session-long debate over permit reform Thursday when he blamed Act 250 for impeding economic growth in the state.
Job creation and economic development were keystones last summer and fall in Douglas' re-election campaign. Delivering on promises to reduce unemployment, increase stagnant wages and bolster corporate revenues, Douglas said Thursday, will require wholesale changes to the state's sweeping land-use and development law.
"The current system remains a labyrinth, fraught with unpredictability, which threatens job creation for years ahead – unless we are prepared to make substantive changes that will modernize the system," Douglas said of Act 250 in his inaugural address.
Douglas' proposal seeks not only to expedite Act 250 proceedings but to fundamentally alter the criteria on which applications are judged. Rather than considering development proposals on their environmental impacts alone, Douglas wants the system to take into account their potential economic and social benefits as well.
"It's easy to characterize applications in the negative…" Douglas said. "But to me, a permit application actually says something very positive. It says, 'I'm hiring.'"
Douglas additionally said he wants to eliminate the "chilling and costly effect" of the appeals process by implementing an "on the record review" in which appeals are conducted in one formal hearing. The plan also calls for more "self-certification" and general permits, a process whereby some permits are issued with virtually no up-front vetting.
The trust-but-verify approach, Douglas said, would impose severe financial sanctions on businesses or individuals later found not to have complied with Act 250 standards.
"Instead of complex front-end regulation, we can provide clear guidance to businesses and trust them to design appropriate systems … and move towards better and faster construction," he said.
The concept is already being assailed by Democratic lawmakers and environmental advocates, who called the proposal a misguided effort that scapegoats Act 250 for broader economic problems.
"I am both troubled by his proposals and perplexed by his proposals," said Rep. Tony Klein, an East Montpelier Democrat and chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources. "Because Act 250 is not the cause of our recession or economic slowdown, nor is getting rid of Act 250, which is what it sounded like to me he was saying, going to get us out of this recession."
Klein said Vermont's natural assets – the very resources Act 250 seeks to protect – offer the most compelling solution for the state's economic woes. Watering down a landmark statute designed to protect natural beauty, Klein said, is antithetical to sound economic planning.
"This is all about the underlying fundamental belief that making it easier for businesses to do what they want to do will always be the right thing to do, because the right thing is always to be profitable," Klein said. "And we have seen in this global meltdown that this belief is absolutely not true. It is a lack of regulatory oversight that has put the world into a deep recession."
Kevin Dorn, secretary of the agency of commerce and Community Development, said it's impossible to quantify the downward pressure Act 250 imposes on new development. He said though that a "mountain of anecdotal evidence" suggests would-be entrepreneurs are forgoing business plans for fear of getting entangled in Act 250 red tape.
"The labyrinth is there, and it's daunting to get through," Dorn said. "… We have story after story of businesses or individuals saying it's just not worth it."
Joe Sinagra, head of the Homebuilders and Remodelers Association of Northern Vermont, said many developers would move ahead immediately with major projects if they had more confidence in the Act 250 process.
"We're very optimistic that he's making permit reform the centerpiece of a new term," Sinagra said.
Environmental advocates, including Jake Brown with the Vermont Natural Resources Council, called Douglas' permit reform proposal a "solution looking for a problem." Brown pointed to state data indicating that less than 1 percent of Act 250 applications are denied, less than 2 percent are appealed, and the vast majority of applications are approved within 120 days of the initial filing.
Sinagra, though, said that the statistics do not take into account the number of home builders who opt not to build for fear of costly appeals, or the builders who scale back projects in order to improve their prospects with regional environmental commissions that review projects around the state.
Laura Pelosi, commissioner of Environmental Conservation, said the governor's proposal could enhance resource protection in the state. By streamlining the permit process, Pelosi said, her staff would be freed up to focus on compliance.
"From a general perspective, the proposals set forth in no way undermine the very stringent standards the state of Vermont has in place," Pelosi said. "We're simply looking at ways we can shift the focus for how we're administering programs to make sure more staff are in the field to look at projects."
Klein said it's difficult to believe that catering to business interests would benefit the natural landscape. And he said the proposed reforms rob Vermonters of the only mechanism by which they can express their concerns over proposed developments.
"This process is the only avenue individual Vermonters have to get seat at the table to get their voice heard," Klein said.