Vermont Statutes Title 24 Sec. 4471
Terms Used In Vermont Statutes Title 24 Sec. 4471
- Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
- Appropriate municipal panel: means a planning commission performing development review, a board of adjustment, a development review board, or a legislative body performing development review. See
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Fees: shall mean earnings due for official services, aside from salaries or per diem compensation. See
- interested person: means any one of the following:
- Legislative body: means the selectboard in the case of a town, the trustees in the case of an incorporated village, and the mayor, alderpersons, and city council members in the case of a city, and the supervisor in the case of an unorganized town or gore. See
- Municipality: means a town, a city, or an incorporated village or an unorganized town or gore. See
- Person: means an individual, a corporation, a partnership, an association, and any other incorporated or unincorporated organization or group. See
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States may apply to the District of Columbia and any territory and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. See
- Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
§ 4471. Appeal to Environmental Division
(a) Participation required. An interested person who has participated in a municipal regulatory proceeding authorized under this title may appeal a decision rendered in that proceeding by an appropriate municipal panel to the Environmental Division. Participation in a local regulatory proceeding shall consist of offering, through oral or written testimony, evidence or a statement of concern related to the subject of the proceeding. An appeal from a decision of the appropriate municipal panel, or from a decision of the municipal legislative body under subsection 4415(d) of this title, shall be taken in such manner as the Supreme Court may by rule provide for appeals from State agencies governed by 3 V.S.A. §§ 801–816, unless the decision is an appropriate municipal panel decision which the municipality has elected to be subject to review on the record.
(b) Appeal on the record. If the municipal legislative body has determined (or been instructed by the voters) to provide that appeals of certain appropriate municipal panel determinations shall be on the record, has defined what magnitude or nature of development proposal shall be subject to the production of an adequate record by the panel, and has provided that the Municipal Administrative Procedure Act shall apply in these instances, then an appeal from such a decision of an appropriate municipal panel shall be taken on the record in accordance with the Vermont Rules of Civil Procedure.
(c) Notice. Notice of the appeal shall be filed by certified mailing, with fees, to the Environmental Division and by mailing a copy to the municipal clerk or the administrative officer, if so designated, who shall supply a list of interested persons to the appellant within five working days. Upon receipt of the list of interested persons, the appellant shall, by certified mail, provide a copy of the notice of appeal to every interested person, and, if any one or more of those persons are not then parties to the appeal, upon motion they shall be granted leave by the Division to intervene.
(d) Local Act 250 review. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of this section, decisions of a development review board under section 4420 of this title, with respect to local Act 250 review of municipal impacts, are not subject to appeal, but shall serve as presumptions under the provisions of 10 Vt. Stat. Ann. chapter 151.
(e) Designated areas. Notwithstanding subsection (a) of this section, a determination by an appropriate municipal panel that a residential development will not result in an undue adverse effect on the character of the area affected shall not be subject to appeal if the a proposed residential development seeking conditional use approval under subdivision 4414(3) of this title is within a designated downtown development district, designated growth center, or designated neighborhood development area. Other elements of the determination made by the appropriate municipal panel may be appealed. (Added 1967, No. 334 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. March 23, 1968; amended 1971, No. 185 (Adj. Sess.), § 205, eff. March 29, 1972; 1973, No. 193 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. April 9, 1974; 1993, No. 232 (Adj. Sess.), § 48, eff. March 15, 1995; 1999, No. 112 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; 2003, No. 115 (Adj. Sess.), § 107; 2007, No. 176 (Adj. Sess.), § 9, eff. May 28, 2008; 2009, No. 154 (Adj. Sess.), § 236; 2015, No. 51, § F.6; 2023, No. 47, § 9, eff. July 1, 2023.)