This past Monday, June 6th, Governor Phil Scott officially signed the wide-ranging housing bill, S.100, better known as HOME. An acronym for “Housing Opportunities Made for Everyone”, the law had major bipartisan support with the final vote in the House of Representatives coming in at 135 in support versus only 11 who opposed.
Included in the bill are several modifications to Act 250. However, the majority of the more aggressive reform measures were left off the final bill in exchange for smaller, and temporary reforms instead. In one of most impactful changes that the bill creates, the long-standing “10-5-5” rule for Act 250 involvement in new residential development was modified to increase the maximum number of units to 25 in state-designated downtowns and growth areas. Nonetheless, this change to Act 250 is temporary with a scheduled sunsetting in 2026.
Among the biggest, and most attention-grabbing, components of the new law is the removal of single-family zoning statewide. Applying to anywhere year-round residential development is allowed, all property owners will be allowed to create an additional unit in their home without approval from the local municipal offices. Furthermore, all cities and towns would be required to allow 3 or 4 unit buildings if the area is served by municipal water and sewer.
As signed by the Governor, the bill will take effect on July 1st, 2023 with a couple of the more granular municipal reforms, such as parking requirements, delayed until the end of 2024.
Click the link to read the full article “Phil Scott signs ‘HOME’ bill, legalizing duplexes statewide and tweaking Act 250” on VTDigger.com. Since 1985, we’ve helped thousands of clients buy and sell real estate in Northwest Vermont. As the top-selling real estate Team in Burlington, our goal is to provide you with the local insight, information, and resources necessary to make your purchase and/or sale an informed and enjoyable experience.