Vermont Smart Growth Collaborative Citizen Education and Outreach Program

The Vermont Smart Growth Collaborative is pleased to offer workshops and technical assistance on smart growth planning tools and strategies for communities and citizens. The Collaborative’s members have a wide range of experience in community and regional planning, legal assistance, environmental science, housing, community development, landscape architecture, historic preservation and other fields.

Higher Standards for Big Box Campaign

In the summer of 2005, VNRC joined forces with the Vermont Livable Wage Campaign and the Vermont Workers’ Center in a partnership aimed at holding Wal-Mart and other big boxes accountable to the people and places where they locate. The “Higher Standards for Big Box Campaign” is a focused effort to merge the social justice, labor and environmental interests of each organization.

Mercantiles: A Promising Alternative to Big Boxes

Community-owned retail stores, like this 'mercantile' in Powell, Wyoming, are a promising solution communities are embracing to provide consumers access to quality, affordable products without sacrificing their local economy or character.

Keeping the Vermont We Love

In a recent commentary published in several of Vermont's statewide newspapers, VNRC's Executive Director Elizabeth Courtney asks Vermonters: What would your “last straw” be before you’d take serious action to avoid losing the Vermont you love? To avoid such a fate, Elizabeth asks concerned citizens to join VNRC in encouraging state legislators to pass legislation this year to protect the Vermont we love.

VNRC Succeeds in Securing Protections for Farmland

At VNRC’s urging, a key legislative committee recently blocked a state agency proposal that would have weakened protections for some of Vermont’s best farm soils.

On August 29 the Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (LCAR) told the Natural Resources Board (NRB) to rethink its proposed rule change to Act 250 — Vermont’s important land use and development control law -- and work with groups like VNRC to bring a better proposal before the committee.

New Report Indicates State Dollars are Driving Sprawl

Last month, the Vermont Smart Growth Collaborative, on which VNRC serves as a member, released a report highlighting the fact that the State of Vermont is spending tax dollars on projects that are driving sprawl and contributing to global warming. The State of Vermont Smart Growth Progress Report concluded that the state has done little to strengthen existing communities, safeguard Vermont’s working landscapes, and protect our natural resources. To address this problem, the report makes many recommendations that would redirect Vermont dollars toward smart growth initiatives.

VNRC Questions Process in State’s First Growth Center Designation

The Vermont Natural Resources Council (VNRC) has appealed a recent state agency decision creating the state’s first “growth center.”

VNRC contends the process to determine the Williston growth center boundaries was flawed because it violated the intent of the law. VNRC filed its notice of appeal with the Vermont Supreme Court on December 14.

Smart Growth Technical Assistance Project

Committee to Study Act 250 and Rural Sprawl

VNRC will be participating in a study that will hopefully result in recommended changes to key Act 250 criteria to better manage rural sprawl and protect the economic vitality of Vermont’s downtowns. The charge of the committee, as set forth in the so-called “housing bill” (H.863) that went into effect this year, includes the following:

Getting There: Transporting the Public in Vermont

VNRC's Elizabeth Courtney explores the challenging issue of moving people around the rural Green Mountain State. In this editorial, Elizabeth ponders: If you had to go from your home in, let’s say, Williamstown, 20 miles to Randolph for a dentist appointment — without your car — how would you get there?