Find out more here: Small Grants for Smart Growth
Smart Growth
Smart growth is a pattern of land development that creates compact, walkable, transit-accessible communities with a range of affordable housing opportunities and choices. In Vermont, it builds on and maintains the state’s historic settlement pattern of higher-density downtown and village centers surrounded by farm, forest, and natural areas.
Using smart growth principles as a guide, VNRC promotes land use planning that creates communities that are environmentally sustainable, economically viable, and resilient. To do this, we ensure the continued strength and effectiveness of Act 250, Vermont’s landmark development review law, as well as complementary state policies that promote smart growth and reduce sprawl. And we support the state’s farming and forest economies to ensure long-term land availability and economic health.
Kate McCarthy, Sustainable Communities Program Director
802-223-2328 x114

Initiatives

Transportation for Vermonters (T4VT)
Collaborating across sectors to build a sustainable, accessible transportation system in a rural state
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Smart Growth Report Card
Evaluating whether state investments advance smart growth in housing, transportation, economic development, and capital construction
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Promoting compact development through Act 250
Ensuring that Act 250 reduces sprawl and discourages scattered, incremental development
Read MoreSmart Growth News

Welcoming Jaime Lee, new representative to the Downtown Development Board
VNRC is pleased to share that Jaime Lee has been appointed by the Governor as VNRC and Preservation Trust of Vermont’s representative on the Downtown Development Board, which supports the…

VNRC & VCV applaud proposals in Governor’s 2021 budget address
The Vermont Natural Resources Council (VNRC) and Vermont Conservation Voters (VCV) applaud a number of Governor Scott’s proposals in his 2021 budget address, particularly a suite of proposals to significantly…

Town of Rockingham will use VNRC grant toward revitalizing buildings in Bellows Falls
The Vermont Natural Resources Council (VNRC) awarded a Small Grant for Smart Growth to the Town of Rockingham to promote small-scale development in the village of Bellows Falls. The $1,000…
