April 13, 2023

The meeting was called to order at 8:00 a.m.

Brian Shupe, VNRC

·       Brian reviewed areas and items to consider in regards to S.100

o   Legislature has not revisited 171 in many years but has been working on adjustments to Act 250

o   Some concerns with proposals to Act 250 as it relates to housing as there are other bills also focused on housing

o   Direction to Natural Resources Board and ACCD last year to review studies and oversee areas of Act 250

o   Taking a hard look at existing programs and looking at current needs (to adjust based on needs that were placed when these bills were originated)

o   Many of the areas of Act 250 that were in place years ago need to be adjusted – i.e. time it takes is more than double now

o   This bill has other jurisdictional configures

·       Losing farm land because not reviewing development that is having fragmentation in rural areas – believe in early stages of in-migration into state

·       Any questions can be directed to Brian at VNRC

GMP & VT Electric

·       Staff from Green Mountain Power shared the impacts to electrical services with the changes in weather over the last several years

·       In prior years, only 1-2 storms per year were of heavy/wet snow – now almost every storm hovering around 32 degrees which means high ice storms

·       There is a need to act with urgency on resilience plans in rural areas to ensure access to electricity during storms and the quick recovery

·       There is criteria that needs to be met with many permits and therefore aren’t able to get to some of the upgrades/outages in a necessary timeframe

·       GMP is working closely with NVU Meteorology Department and it doesn’t appear that temperatures will be returning to the below 32 degree threshold

·       Need to ensure all areas of the state are set up for success

·       Looking at am exemption of Act 250 for distribution of projects for existing structures

·       Vermont Electric added:

o   Shared a map of an example of a resiliency project to highlight the critical need for roadside relocation of power lines – moving lines out of wetlands for easier access for repairs and maintenance

o   Impact reduction wasn’t recognized in regulation considerations for Act 250

o   Had hopes to add an additional reliability portion of this project but costs for regulations and permitting were to high

·       Representative Sibilia requested copies of their community engagement presentations. These will be shared with Representative Priestley and shared with members

·       Discuss of a possible tour for members to see some of the impacted lines in the future

Vermont League of Cities & Towns

·       Discussion of reappraisal bill for H.480

·       There are 130 towns in Vermont that are under orders to conduct reappraisals (which is significantly higher than previous years and unreasonable to get to all of these)

·       Vermont is the only state that does this under this trigger process

·       This would put towns on schedules for reappraisals where everyone would know the timing for all and be able to plan with contracts, etc.

·       The bill also includes two progress reports and the establishment of a statewide reappraisal office that would take effect July 2026.

·       The primarily concern right now is that there is not enough capacity right now to conduct all of the necessary reappraisals as currently outlined

·       Any questions can be directed to Karen Horn at VLCT

General Reminders

·       A letter was shared with members for S.100 and signatures are due by the end of the day

·       Other topics for future meetings/speakers

o   Interested in recreation/VOREC funding

o   Updates for EMS/Dispatch

·       Request to continue meeting after the session is over to think about what to do in summer/fall