We are pleased to begin accepting nominations for our 2009 Smart Growth Awards. This biannual awards program honors projects, initiatives, and plans anywhere in the state of Vermont that demonstrate smart growth principles in action. "Smart growth" refers to an approach to land use that revitalizes neighborhoods, protects farmland and open space, keeps housing affordable, and provides more transportation choices. Please visit our Smart Growth Awards page for more information and to learn about past recipients.

We are also accepting nominations for the Arthur Gibb Award for Individual Leadership. Named in honor of long-time legislator and conservation leader Arthur Gibb of Weybridge, this annual award honors an individual whose leadership has brought about a positive and lasting change in the way their community or the state integrates growth and conservation. Please visit the Arthur Gibb Award page for more information and to learn about past recipients.

Nominations for both awards are due April 30, 2009. For assistance, contact our Program Director, Jason Van Driesche.

Communities Update

The Town of Warren is a great place to live, but it is becoming difficult for an average family to find a home they can afford in this beautiful Mad River Valley town. The median price for single-family homes is well over $300,000, which puts a decent home out of the reach of a substantial portion of the Town’s population. With an eye towards practical solutions, the Planning Commission asked Smart Growth Vermont to help the Town come up with strategies that make it easier to build moderately priced homes in Warren.

Over the last eight months, Smart Growth Vermont has been working with the Planning Commission to identify possible programs, policies or updates to the town’s zoning bylaw that will remove unintended obstacles to housing affordability. For example, the Town is considering density bonuses to encourage development in and around the village that will promote a compact, walkable layout giving residents alternatives to driving. The Planning Commission is also considering ways to encourage new commercial activities, while maintaining or increasing current housing opportunities.

Warren is working on Village Center Designation in order to provide the tax incentives for current owners of commercial properties to upgrade them, and potential investors to purchase deteriorated, historic private residences for the purpose of converting them into income producing properties. The community also wants to utilize the benefits of the Vermont Neighborhood Program to expand housing options by encouraging well-designed, higher density housing in and around the village.

The town of Bristol is moving ahead with finalizing its new Town Plan. Developed with assistance and review from Smart Growth Vermont, the new plan was recently presented at a hearing where the Planning Commission took extensive comments from the public. The Planning Commission is now revisiting the plan in light of those comments, and will hold future public meetings to gather input. The plan will then go to the Select Board, which is charged with reviewing the plan and approving it for a public vote. The updated Town Plan will go before the voters by Australian ballot, hopefully this fall. Stay tuned for updates!

We're on Facebook!

In an effort to expand our message and support, Smart Growth has created a Facebook page. Facebook is a “social networking” site that lets people and organizations create profiles for themselves; “friend” other users; and declare and promote their interests. You do not need a Facebook account to view our page. If you already have an account, please consider becoming a "fan" (just click on the "become a fan" button).

You can also join our Facebook "cause," Support Vermont Communities. This feature allows members to recruit friends and to raise money for our Community Planning Partnership program.

In addition to our Facebook presence, we have also created a blog, http://smartgrowthvermont.blogspot.com, which we will update regularly to keep our members and supporters up-to-date on the work we do. Our blog is also conveniently posted to our Facebook page.

Ferrisburgh Residents Call on Smart Growth Vermont for Guidance

In November of 2008, Ferrisburgh resident Judy Chaves contacted Smart Growth Vermont to ask for help. She was one of the founders of a group of neighbors – Friends of Ferrisburgh for Responsible Growth – who were trying to figure out how to defeat a large truck stop, convenience store, and fast-food restaurant proposed for a site on Route 7 in Ferrisburgh. The group knew that the proposal was out of keeping with what they wanted for the future of their town, but they were unsure about how to get any traction to stop it.

“We were at the point where we really needed some good advice,” Chaves said. “The zoning process is really confusing if you aren’t an expert, and we were anything but experts. Smart Growth Vermont has done a great job of helping us learn the ropes, and we’ve become a lot more effective thanks to their assistance.”

But Friends of Ferrisburgh is going beyond simply opposing a project that does not fit with the town’s character. They are also working with the Ferrisburgh Planning Commission to initiate a complete rewrite of the zoning standards for the entire Route 7 corridor through town. “We want more development along Route 7, but what we want are small businesses that are consistent with the character of the community,” Chaves said. “This is what our Town Plan calls for. What we realized through this process is that our bylaws need to be updated to make them work with the Town Plan.”

Smart Growth Vermont’s work with Friends of Ferrisburgh has been routed through the Vermont Smart Growth Collaborative, which has brought in several other organizations that have added their own expertise and resources. In particular, the Vermont Natural Resources Council has provided advice on strategy, and Preservation Trust of Vermont has offered the group up to $5,000 in matching funds.

If your community needs help identifying sensible solutions to development issues, please contact Jason Van Driesche, Program Director, at 864-6310 or by email: jason@smartgrowthvermont.org.

Volunteer Profile

Abby Miller joined us as a volunteer this past January. Since then, she has reorganized most of our library, researched wildlife habitat conservation, and started developing new content for our online Community Planning Toolbox. All in just two months!

Abby is recently retired from the National Park Service, where she specialized in natural resources management. She has lived in Shelburne for the last four years, where she is a volunteer for and on the board of directors of SCHIPS Treasure, an organization that raises grant money for projects focusing on human needs.

Abby's interest in Smart Growth Vermont is a natural outgrowth of her past involvement in environmental organizations at the national level. She feels that our progressive but practical approach to land use is highly effective at protecting the landscape values that drew her to Vermont.

The 2nd Annual Junior Iron Chef competition will be held on March 28, 2009 at the Champlain Valley Expo, in Essex Junction - and the secret ingredient is local, seasonal foods!

The event, a fundraiser for VT FEED (Food Education Every Day) and the Burlington School Food Project, will strengthen Farm to School programs across the state and support the health of families and farms in our communities.

There will be a 'get to know your farmers' market, chef demonstrations, food vendors, entertainment, and games throughout the day. To learn more, visit the Jr. Iron Chef website; http://www.jrironchefvt.org/

Also, Be sure to check out Upcoming Events on our website! You'll find information about conferences, lectures and presentations on a wide variety of topics.

Smart Growth in Action: Downtown Tax Credit Program

5 N. Main Strret, Wallingford, circa 1890. Photo courtesy of Flickr.com

5 N. Main Street, present day. Photo courtesy of Flickr.com

Strong, vibrant downtowns have represented social and economic achievement in Vermont for generations. Maintaining the unique qualities that towns, villages, and rural landscapes have to offer is imperative to the future of the state. With this in mind, The Vermont Downtown Program was established in 1994 to provide technical assistance and training to communities and help them develop skills and strategies for their downtown revitalization efforts. The Program is an affiliate of the National Main Street Center, a division of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which has worked in over 1,400 communities nationwide revitalizing and redeveloping "Main Streets."

Through the downtown and village center program, tax credits are available and have become a great incentive for municipalities and private owners. The funding aims to rejuvenate historic buildings and preserve the distinctive qualities of Vermont communities. Across the state, these downtown and village restoration projects continue to attract new businesses, produce more local jobs, and maintain the liveliness of communities. In past and current projects, these tax credits aim to establish new financial and social possibilities for communities.

The Pub in Wallingford is a great example of a successful Downtown Tax Credit revitalization project. The Pub is located in a picturesque historic building on downtown North Main Street, and was renovated by the owners. After the discovery of an original photograph, they worked to preserve the original state of the building.

The Downtown Program also helped the Town of Hardwick recover from a devastating fire that destroyed the Bemis Block, a prominent historic structure on Main Street. Housing Vermont and the Lamoille Housing Partnership took on the project and restored the building to include 14 affordable apartments and three commercial spaces on the ground level. The project received partial funding from the Downtown Tax Credit Program, which laid the groundwork for additional financial support from other agencies. Claire’s restaurant has especially provided an upbeat “gathering place” where people can come together to socialize and build community ties.

Community Spotlight: Town Meeting Results Are In

Town meeting in Calais. Photo by John Dillon, Vermont Public Radio

Each year, the first week of March provides Vermonters with the opportunity to participate in local self-governance. On Town Meeting Day, residents gather and deliberate on a range of issues that directly affect their communities. This year was no different. Across the state, town residents met for community dialogue and direct democracy.

During a time of economic uncertainty, many towns paid significant attention to how to allocate funds effectively and reduce spending wherever possible. Even so, a number of towns made investments in projects and organizations that contribute to the long-term strength and vitality of the community. This attention to community needs even when times are hard is part of what makes Vermont one of a kind.

A number of local initiatives approved this year recognize the benefit of incorporating smart growth principles into long-term solutions. Here are just a few examples:

In Stowe, residents voted against selling or tearing down a 170 year old historical rotary barn. Supporters hope to raise money to restore the building and develop it as a new community center.
In Plainfield, voters approved the development of a micro-hydro electric plant to produce local renewable energy from the town dam.
Community members in Bristol appropriated $6,000 to the Addison County Transit Resource to maintain alternative transportation options. The organization also could receive $3,750 from Bristol as part of a grant to expand a tri-town transportation service between Vergennes, Middlebury, and Bristol if the organization receives a matching grant from the state.

Community participation at town meeting is critical to the health and future of the state of Vermont. By staying involved and informed, individual residents have the power to influence the future of their town through open forums such as town meeting. Find out more on Town Meeting results across the state online at the Burlington Free Press and at VPR's website.

Vermont Receives $2.6 million Grant from MacArthur Foundation

The MacArthur Foundation has awarded a $600,000 grant to the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board (VHCB) and a $2,000,000 loan to the Vermont Housing Finance Agency to maintain affordable rental housing for all Vermonters. The funding is part of an ongoing initiative to preserve thousands of affordable housing apartments across the state over the next decade.

The VHCB grant will support several programs that offer technical assistance and training workshops to nonprofit organizations dedicated to housing preservation. The funding also ensures that developers will utilize quality energy-efficient practices and capital needs assessments for the projects.

The program-related investment awarded to Vermont Housing Finance Agency will provide low-cost energy loans and offer more equity in loans to preservation projects.

To learn more about the project, visit The MacArthur Foundation.

Council on Future of Vermont: "Vermont in Transition" Report Available

Vermont in Transition: A Summary of Social, Economic and Environmental Trends, a breakthrough in its field, was released by The Council on the Future of Vermont and St. Michael's College Center for Social Science Research. The publication explores crucial changes in fourteen public policy issues in Vermont over the past two decades. It is based on the major topics raised in the Council on the Future of Vermont public forums, as well as the expertise of the St Michael's research team.

St. Michael's College researchers worked with state, federal, non-profit and business data analysts to compile all the data and trend-lines available into this book. Data analysts and experts across the state were extensively interviewed and the report identified 160 key trends with over 300 supporting graphs and charts. The report is available in an easy to use electronic format. You can download the entire book at http://futureofvermont.org and the entire appendices. Or you can choose one chapter at a time.

State Grants Historic Buildings $16K for Facelifts

Historic Windsor, Inc and The American Precision Museum in Windsor, Vermont received a total of $16,000 in grants from the Division for Historic Preservation, a sector of the State’s Agency of Commerce and Community Development.

The American Precision Museum will use its grant to begin the first phase of a project to repair the exterior brickwork of the Robbins & Lawrence Armory, which is home to the celebrated museum. The funding will be the initial installation of a momentous $1.2 million project to restore the building's exterior.

Historic Windsor Inc, a non-profit, will use their $7,690 grant to repair the roof of their recently acquired Stephen Jacob House, a symbol of the anti-slavery movement in Vermont. The organization operates the Preservation Education Institute, providing hands-on training for students in the restoration and preservation of historic buildings. The building and the grant awarded will facilitate a valuable learning environment for students of the institute.

Two New National Community Improvement Awards Available for 2009

The Nature Hills Nursery of Omaha, Nebraska has launched the Green America Awards to acknowledge nonprofit organizations dedicated to improving their local environment through greening initiatives that incorporate the planting of trees, bushes and shrubs. The winners will be chosen based on their proposed projects that best incorporate the use of plant life.

Nature Hills Nursery will donate a total of $5,000 in plant materials annually to the earth friendly winning projects. The application deadline is April 1, 2009. More information can be found at www.naturehills.com.

Do Something and Mountain Dew Voltage have also announced a new grant program to recognize groups of young volunteers who are working together to improve their local communities. The Power in Numbers program will provide ten groups of friends with $10,000 each to expand or implement their project or idea.

Program teams should consist of three to ten individuals between the ages of 13 and 25 years of age. Grants will be provided through a qualified 501(c)(3) organization.
For more information, visit the Power in Numbers Program.

2009 Call for Entries for National Award for Smart Growth Achievement

The National Award for Smart Growth Achievement, provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), applications are now available and are encouraged in five categories: built projects; policies and regulations; smart growth and green building; smart growth streets; and overall excellence in smart growth. Public and private sector projects that exemplify smart growth principles are encouraged to apply.

The winners will be chosen based on the inclusion of smart growth principles that embody community culture and the environment, foster economic development, and enhance quality of life and public health. Submitted projects should demonstrate significant progressive influence on their communities between April 2004 and April 2009.

This year, the public sector winners will receive support for further achievements in smart growth strategies within their communities. Winners will receive one complementary registration to the New Partners for Smart Growth Conference in 2010. Apply by April 23, 2009. For more information and an application packet, visit, www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/awards.htm.

You have received this message because ###USER_email### is subscribed to Smart Growth Vermont E-News. We'll send you about one email per month.

To make sure our newsletters continue to be delivered to your inbox, please add info@smartgrowthvermont.org to your address book/allow list.

E-News March 2009

Quick Links

Nominate a Project for the 2009 Smart Growth Awards