Purpose
Act 181 of 2024 required significant changes to the Act 250 program which charged the Land Use Review Board (hereafter LURB, or Board) with the development and implementation of tiered, location-based Act 250 jurisdiction rules starting in 2025. This data standard thus does the following:
- Defines a data framework for using GIS to review municipal and regional applications for Tier 1A and Tier 1B area status, respectively, according to Act 181 of 2024.
- Supports easy identification entity or organization to which a data set pertains
- Enables mapping of Act 250 Tier 1A, Tier 1B, Tier 2, and Tier 3 jurisdictional areas. See applicability section for details about tiers.
- Serves as a resource that can be extended to meet local, state, and regional planning needs.
Scope
Standard computer field names, codes, categories, and formats for spatial records of tier areas in Vermont, in accordance with Act 181 of 2024, and as mapped by Vermont's Municipalities, Regional Planning Commissions, the Land Use Review Board, reviewed and aggregated by the State of Vermont.
Applicability
This standard pertains to Tier 1A, Tier 1B, Tier 2, and Tier 3 area maps as created by Municipalities, Regional Planning Commissions, and the Land Use Review Board, reviewed and aggregated by the State of Vermont. Compliance with this standard is recommended for any municipal, regional, state, federal, or nongovernmental data manager who creates or updates geospatial data delineating Act 250 tier areas in Vermont.
Tier 1A and Tier 1B areas are comprised of one or more of the following Future Land Use (FLU) categories: Downtown Centers, Village Centers, Planned Growth Areas, and Village Areas (See Vermont Future Land Use Data Standard). Tier 3 areas are delineated by the LURB and approved through the rulemaking process.
Tiers
- Tier 1A: Areas of Act 250 exemption. As requested by a municipality and approved by the LURB.
- Tier 1B: Areas of Act 250 exemption for housing development of up to 50 units on a lot of 10 acres or less. As requested by a Regional Planning Commission and approved by the LURB.
- Tier 2: Areas subject to Act 250. By default, areas not Tier 1A/1B or Tier 3.
- Tier 3: Areas of critical natural resources subject to enhanced Act 250 jurisdiction. Delineated by the LURB. Approved via the rulemaking process.
NOTE: There may be cases in which Tier 1A or Tier 1B status is proposed for only a subset of one of the four eligible FLU map areas. Therefore, Tier 1A and Tier 1B data layer submissions may include boundaries that are not entirely coincident with the underlying Downtown Centers, Village Centers, Planned Growth Areas, and Village Areas boundaries.
Specifications
Data Format
The tier map data set must be stored and maintained within ArcGIS Online Hosted Feature Layer(s)/View(s). It can be served via any suitable format protocol e.g., ArcGIS Online feature layer, REST, etc.