Two months after lawmakers voted to overhaul the state’s land use and development law, Vermonters have a way to visualize temporary changes made to Act 250.

Areas that are currently exempt from the Act 250 land use review process — and thus open for housing development — are now documented on a statewide interactive map, according to a Thursday press release from the Department of Housing and Community Development.

The exemptions will remain in place until 2027 while lawmakers work to solidify the changes that Act 181 will make to Act 250.

Act 250 was first passed in 1970 as a way to review development plans while considering their environmental, aesthetic and community impacts.

But as an acute housing shortage shapes Vermont’s economy — and as towns scramble to attract and retain families to fill their schools and open job positions — state leaders pushed for the law’s reform this legislative session.

Act 181 became law in June when legislators overrode Gov. Phil Scott’s veto. Scott had formerly vetoed the bill because, he argued, it did not do enough to address what he described as “Vermont’s housing affordability crisis.” But proponents of the legislation argued that it could reform Act 250 in a way that balanced the promotion of housing growth with the conservation of the environment.

Act 181 is set to modernize Act 250 over the next five years, cutting Vermont into categories that will dictate how development is treated and reviewed.

That’s a departure from how Act 250 works now — largely triggering review based on how big a project is rather than where it’s located.

Until those boundaries and rules are finalized, the interim Act 250 exemption areas create space for housing developments in town and city centers where jobs, amenities, schools and transportation options are already concentrated. All exempted areas are designed to promote development in compact centers only, which is intended to help Vermont retain rural character and protect the environment, according to the Natural Resources Board’s outline of the program. 

Under the temporary guidelines, all housing projects within the state’s 24 designated downtown areas are exempt from Act 250 review.

Priority housing projects — those designed as mixed-income units in designated neighborhoods and growth centers — are also permitted unlimited development without review, according to the Natural Resources Board. 

In other areas, such as town centers and village centers, development projects are exempt from review but capped at a certain number of new dwelling units, according to the Natural Resources Board.  

“These new exemption areas are a breakthrough, but they don’t get us to the finish line,” said Department of Housing and Community Development Commissioner Alex Farrell in the press release. “We need more housing now. We hope builders will take advantage of this limited window where development can happen more affordably without Act 250 review, but we also need long-term solutions allowing for the creation and rehabilitation of units in every corner of Vermont.”