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State of Vermont

Vermont Future Land Use Data Standard

Version 2.0 | October 8, 2025

Table of Contents

Purpose

Act 181 of 2024 directs regional planning commissions (RPCs) to identify areas in each Vermont municipality according to a consistent land use categorization. This data standard thus does the following:

  • Defines a data framework for using GIS to map regional future land use, according to Act 181 of 2024 and 24 V.S.A. § 4348a.
  • Supports easy identification of the RPC to which a data set pertains
  • The Land Use Review Board’s (LURB) approval and RPCs adoption date of a regional plan future land use map that the future land use data set models
  • Enables delineation of Act 181 of 2024 future land use areas including:
    • Downtown Center
    • Village Center
    • Planned Growth Area
    • Special Use
    • Village Area
    • Transition or Infill
    • Enterprise
    • Resource Based Recreation
    • Hamlet
    • Rural General
    • Rural Ag/Forestry
    • Rural Conservation
  • 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 future land use areas in Vermont, in accordance with Act 181 of 2024, and as mapped by Vermont's Regional Planning Commissions (RPC's) and aggregated by the State of Vermont.

Applicability

Compliance with this standard is recommended for any municipal, regional, state, federal, or nongovernmental data manager who creates or updates geospatial data describing future land use areas in Vermont. This standard, however, primarily pertains to future land use maps as created by Regional Planning Commissions (RPC's), reviewed and aggregated by the State of Vermont.

Specifications

Data Format

The future land use map data set must be stored and maintained within a version 10.x or higher geodatabase, a geopackage, or a set of 1 or more shapefiles. It can be served via any suitable format/protocol–e.g., ArcGIS Online feature layer, REST, etc.

Schema

A future land use data set is modeled with one polygon layer for all future land use areas. Full contents of the public, open data layer are in the table below. Earlier stages and versions of the final, approved layer contain only parts of the schema below, as noted in the Versions field and further described in the naming and submittals sections.

Domains

Future Land Use Areas (FLU_AREA)

Regional Planning Commissions (RPC)

2-character codes representing Regional Planning Commissions from the most current Vermont Geographic Area Names and Codes Standard are to be used. As of October 2025, these are:

Version From RPC (VERS_RPC)

Designation Center Step (DESIG_CS)

Designation Type (DESIG_TYP)

Land Use Review Board Status (LURBSTATUS)

GEOID (GEOID)

Data will be assigned unique identifiers per the Vermont Geographic Area Names and Codes Standard by ANR/ACCD GIS support staff upon submittal to the State. A concurrent update to the Names and Codes standard is expected and will add a new code type to reflect a concatenation of TOWNGEOID and VILLGEOID fields, likely to be called TVGEOID. This new field will likely be the code to use for FLU area geometries that intersect administrative jurisdictions, enabling stable identification of applicable jurisdictions.

Combined Town/Village Codes

Spatial Reference

The future land use map data set, in its master-copy form, must be in the current version of Vermont State Plane Coordinate System. When the data set is exported or copied for provision to external entities, its spatial reference properties must be set (e.g., shapefiles must have .prj files).

Submittals

There are several stages of data submittals given the future land use review and approval process. These stages are summarized as follows:

  • Pre-application
  • Application
  • Amendment
  • Re-submission

ADS ACCD GIS will set up an ArcGIS Online Group that will be used by RPCs as the sharing platform for the Future Land Use Area maps by stage. Data submitted there will then be compiled by ADS ACCD GIS into a statewide dataset and incorporated into a map viewer application.

VT Act 181 Mapping Stakeholders Group

Naming

Layers that compose a future land use map data set must meet the following naming convention specifications.

Feature Class Naming for RPC's

[RPCCODE]_FLUMAP_[VERSION]_poly_SP_[YYYY]

Statewide Version Layers (State)

VT_FLUMAP_poly_SP_[YYYY]

Statewide Approved FLU Map (Open Data, State)

FS_VCGI_OPENDATA_Landuse_FLUMAP_poly_SP_[YYYY]

Metadata

When the future land use map data set is exported or copied for provision to external entities in file form (e.g., file geodatabase), it must be accompanied by metadata that conforms to the Vermont GIS Metadata Standard.

The metadata abstract or the ArcGIS Online hosted feature layer’s item summary and description must have conspicuous content that indicates the adoption date of the regional plan if applicable, approval date by the LURB, and the status that the data set models. See information in the data fields section for more information on status.

Cartographic Presentation

When cartographically presenting FLU areas on a map, symbolization by FLU_AREA should be done according to the color codes for each category listed below. The color scheme is a colorblind friendly palette and should be followed.

FLU_Area HEX # Color
Downtown Center Dark Purple #462954
Village Center Bright Pink #ae017e
Planned Growth Area Pink #CC79A7
Village Area Light Pink #fbb4b9
Transition or Infill Orange #E69F00
Resource-based Recreation Light Green #C6DCB4
Enterprise Purple #D4BAEE
Hamlet Brown #8E705D
Rural General Light Yellow #DCCD7D
Rural Agricultural and Forestry Medium Green Blue #5DA899
Rural Conservation Dark Green #228B22
Special Use Light Gray #e3e3e6

In addition, FEMA Flood Hazard Areas and DEC River Corridors should be shown as a single overlay symbolized by black hatch marks on any map showing the FLU map dataset.

Data Template

VCGI provides data templates that can be used as starting points for utilizing this standard. A data template will be available here shortly after the final standard is approved by the EGC.

Updates and History

Date Notes
October 8, 2025 Version 2.0 approved by the VT Enterprise GIS Consortium
August 13, 2025 Version 2.0 open for review by EGC and open to public comment
December 12, 2018 Version 1.1 adopted by EGC (Enterprise GIS Consortium)
December 2, 2018 Version 1.1, second draft. Added specification for retaining prior-edition plans. Added specification for adjunct point-layers (e.g., hamlets, habitat connections, etc.).
October 25, 2018 Version 1.0, first draft

Statutory Authority

The Vermont Center for Geographic Information (VCGI) has the statutory authority to craft and adopt Vermont GIS standards and guidelines. The State’s Enterprise GIS Consortium (EGC) has been established as the organization responsible for reviewing and approving Vermont GIS standards crafted by VCGI (in collaboration with the Vermont GIS Community). The standard will be adopted according to the EGC Procedure.

Acknowledgements

  • Melanie Needle, CCRPC
  • Pete Fellows, TRORC
  • Luke Slomba, NRPC
  • Jake Hemmerick, ACCD
  • Janet Hurley, LURB
  • Josh Plaksa, ADS/ACCD
  • Erik Engstrom, ADS/ACCD
  • Ivan Brown, VCGI