WOODBURY – I’m writing to speak from my heart about the terrible human toll of Act 181, the major overhaul of Vermont’s land-use system that’s threatening to destroy the lives of so many rural Vermonters.
My husband of 48 years has Alzheimer’s. I have become both husband and wife in our duties at home as I care for him through his illness. We are on a fixed income, and since I’ve taken over our budgeting, I’ve found that we have enough to live on for now, but I also realize that his care may become expensive.
We own 12 acres of land, so I thought I could raise funds by selling half to someone to build a home. But then I found out that the Vermont Legislature has passed Act 181, which allows a rulemaking committee to classify my land into one of several development tiers. My land will likely be designated as Tier 3, which means it will require an Act 250 permit to build a house on it. This effectively makes it unsellable.
I consider this a theft of our asset: the state effectively stealing land from two lowly landowners, or “cave dwellers” in the words of Sen. Alison Clarkson, D-Windsor, who was quoted in a recent commentary for VTDigger, for that’s what we surely must be. It is my understanding that the wildlife corridor maps behind these designations rely on a mapping tool developed by the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources to support conservation planning and land-use discussions, not to set development policy, and yet here we are. In fact, those who developed this software explicitly warned that it was “not a regulatory tool.”
No one has come to look at my land to see if this makes any sense. My husband and I are part of the land, from the land, just like the animals are. We have deer, moose and foxes that cross this land. They don’t need a connection corridor to protect them; they already have freedom. I’ve seen moose swimming in the lake that I live next to, which, oddly enough, is not in the corridor. And yet I am the one losing independence thanks to my own legislature.
The legislature should protect the people, and the people protect the land. I honor the animals who live here. I don’t shoo them away, nor do I shoot them. But I live here too. I exist on this planet, and I’m heartbroken that my own state has now made my life harder with no care for me.
From what I see of the legislature, they don’t care about people. They care about land that’s not theirs: animals that do not belong to them and walk freely wherever they choose to go.
So yes, I object to Act 181, and I object to S.325, the bill now moving through the legislature to implement and expand it. I object to the legislature’s constant obfuscation. Enough of taking more power from the people of Vermont. The regulations in this state are already horrendous. Businesses struggle to function. Housing can’t be built because of the rules the legislature keeps piling on.
And I am tearful. I know that what I have written will be ignored, and I know it will get stuck in a file somewhere. I know there are people just like me. And I know there are people thinking, “we’ll just hold our breath while reading this, for it will go away.”
But I won’t go away. I will continue to speak out from my heart and soul.
If you’ve read this far, thank you.
This opinion first appeared in VTDigger.
