On Wednesday, Montpelier City Council unanimously approved their 2024 legislative agenda for the upcoming session. Officials say the city needs all the funding and help they can get after July’s floods, and it’s a critical session for them. The priorities are flood recovery and rebuilding, easing housing restrictions, and getting resources for homeless people.”Businesses do not get grants from FEMA, even businesses who do get loans are already stretched to the limit,” said Jack McCullough, the mayor of Montpelier.On the housing front, the city wants restrictions for Act 250, a 50-year-old state-wide land use development law, to be eliminated for designated downtowns, which they say creates an unnecessary duplicative process. “We need housing, and developers say every step in the process they have to go through costs thousands of dollars,” McCullough said. Rep. Conor Casey, who represents Montpelier, knows there is a housing crunch but says they can get more creative while protecting the environment, which is Act 250’s main goal.”I’m interested in the project-based TIFs which are being asked for by city council, so I think we can get pretty creative with this without sacrificing some of the environmental protections,” Casey said. For the homeless population, both are in agreement a permanent solution needs to be found rather than the weekly and monthly temporary options.”Homeless shelters going place to place and never having a permanent location and never able to be settled and have the staffing services in place that are needed needs fixing,” McCullough said. City leaders are planning to meet with legislators in December for a full debrief of what they need.
On Wednesday, Montpelier City Council unanimously approved their 2024 legislative agenda for the upcoming session.
Officials say the city needs all the funding and help they can get after July’s floods, and it’s a critical session for them.
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The priorities are flood recovery and rebuilding, easing housing restrictions, and getting resources for homeless people.
“Businesses do not get grants from FEMA, even businesses who do get loans are already stretched to the limit,” said Jack McCullough, the mayor of Montpelier.
On the housing front, the city wants restrictions for Act 250, a 50-year-old state-wide land use development law, to be eliminated for designated downtowns, which they say creates an unnecessary duplicative process.
“We need housing, and developers say every step in the process they have to go through costs thousands of dollars,” McCullough said.
Rep. Conor Casey, who represents Montpelier, knows there is a housing crunch but says they can get more creative while protecting the environment, which is Act 250’s main goal.
“I’m interested in the project-based TIFs which are being asked for by city council, so I think we can get pretty creative with this without sacrificing some of the environmental protections,” Casey said.
For the homeless population, both are in agreement a permanent solution needs to be found rather than the weekly and monthly temporary options.
“Homeless shelters going place to place and never having a permanent location and never able to be settled and have the staffing services in place that are needed needs fixing,” McCullough said.
City leaders are planning to meet with legislators in December for a full debrief of what they need.
