By Andy Kirkaldy, Addison Independent
With affordable and workplace housing a critical need across Vermont, some advocates are working on a plan to expand housing in town centers in a way they say is “gentle.”
With the “Homes For All” project, the Agency of Commerce and Community Development hopes to blend “missing middle housing” into existing neighborhoods.
That means adding to those neighborhoods a variety of one-to-four-unit buildings — including small second homes onto existing lots, apartments, duplexes and townhouses — mostly by way of a process called “gentle infill.”
Homes For All is a three-year project in its initial phase of making five visits to what the agency is calling “pilot communities” that successfully applied to participate: Rutland, Fairlee, Bellows Falls, Middlesex, and Vergennes.
Eventually, Homes For All will offer designs, technical support, and at least some grants of up to $50,000 per unit to communities, property owners and developers who wish to add infill housing. Funding will come least in part from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The four pilot communities, were picked because of their commitment to housing and the progress they have already made in creating housing-friendly planning and zoning.
Three phases
Over its three years under Commerce and Community Development Agency oversight, the Homes For All project is planned to consist of three phases. The first will be to create a “toolkit” for prospective builders and developers of projects that fulfill the Homes For All goals of blending in with existing neighborhoods and building patterns.
The types of “missing middle housing” the project has in mind include: structures containing one to four units including duplexes; second smaller homes and/or apartments added to single family homes; condos; apartment buildings, including what they called “courtyard apartments;” and second-story apartments above businesses in mixed-use neighborhoods.
These styles of housing are not new — they were more typical in the mid-20th century and remain common in many communities.
“These are already nested into many Vermont neighborhoods in various contexts, everything from a duplex to more concentrated development types, townhouses or buildings like that,” architect and urban planner Zoë Taft Mueller said.
The state hopes structure will primarily be one-to-four units because financing, siting and code requirements become more complex for larger projects.
During the second phase, according to Homes For All documents, a cohort of those potential builders and developers will be trained in the “ins and outs” of the developing projects and creating final designs. It will also include a design contest for construction-ready products.
The third phase will help guide developers and builders to the finish line and also show some the money: Grants will be awarded.
Zoning
Some zoning ordinances may have to be changed to conform with Vermont’s HOME Act, which passed this year and rewrote the statewide laws that underpin local planning and zoning.
For example, according to an Agency of Commerce and Community Development summary of the HOME Act, provisions include:
“In residential districts served by municipal sewer and water, municipalities cannot require more than 1 parking space per dwelling unit.”
“ADU (Accessory Dwelling Unit) review, dimensional, or other regulations must not be more restrictive than those for single-unit dwellings.”
“In areas served by municipal sewer and water, municipalities must allow multiunit dwellings with three or four units to be a permitted (not conditional) use.”
“In municipal water sewer service areas that allow residential development bylaws must permit a dwelling unit density bonus of 40% and a bonus of one habitable floor above the height maximum.”
For more information on the HOME Act, visit: accd.vermont.gov/community-development/resources-rules/planning/HOME.
