This week, VNRC, Conservation Law Foundation (CLF), Lake Champlain Committee (LCC), Let’s Build Homes, and the Agency of Natural Resources announced a set of action steps the state could pursue to update our wetland regulations to support housing while maintaining healthy wetlands.

As a reminder of how we got here, last fall, Governor Scott proposed an Executive Order that would have allowed housing construction in unmapped wetlands, among other changes. At the time, we highlighted the importance of protecting wetlands to protect our homes, downtowns, and farms from flooding, and to help filter and clean our waters. As Vermont faces more frequent, more intense storms, wetlands are becoming more important than ever.

When the Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) proposed a rule to implement the Governor’s Executive Order related to wetlands earlier this year, VNRC and other groups raised concerns. We then spent months working with ANR and Let’s Build Homes to identify a suite of steps the state could take to improve wetland regulations so they are more timely and predictable for housing developers, while also maintaining critical protections for wetlands. We successfully advocated to narrow ANR’s proposed rule to remove the most concerning provisions that would have allowed development in unmapped wetlands. 

VNRC appreciates the collaborative work with CLF, LCC and other environmental partners, as well as Let’s Build Homes and the Agency of Natural Resources. Collectively, these groups announced a set of proposals to our wetland regulations. Read the details below. 

Short-term:

• Set a 25-foot buffer within defined designated growth areas for projects registered with ANR on or before January 1, 2030. The impacts of this change will be assessed by ANR.

Medium-term:

• Develop a general permit to allow fast-tracking for housing and mixed-use development that includes housing with minor wetland impacts statewide.
• Adopt a professional certification program to authorize private consultants to delineate and classify wetlands.      

Long-term:

• Continue to improve wetland maps, with the goal of improving mapping to the point where they will serve as the primary basis for regulatory review of wetlands in designated growth areas.
• Establish a streamlined wetland mitigation system for unavoidable buffer impacts resulting from housing and mixed-use development in designated growth areas.

Overall, these proposals aim to support more housing – particularly in our designated growth areas – while also ensuring we are protecting wetlands so they can continue to provide a range of benefits for our communities, including increased flood resilience, cleaner water, carbon storage, and wildlife habitat. VNRC is committed to working with stakeholders to help on these proposals in the coming months and years.

Read the full Joint Agreement here: