Testing former farmland now residential (Burlington: sales, houses, living in)

[miruca]

Does Vermont or Burlington have requirements for disclosure and testing for pesticides prior to developing former farm land for residential use? Including length of time farmed and for what crops?

Does anyone have recommendations for where to get information on this in the Burlington area? Or for firms that do this type of testing?

I noticed on older satellite pictures that a newer development looked to be actively farmed. We continually return to this development as a favorite but the former use concerns me. We almost bought there a couple of years ago but had to hold off for "domino" financial reasons. At that time, I remember being startled by terms in the sales agreement referencing acknowledging this was in an area of farms that use chemicals - when questioned, the seller made light of my concern saying that is everywhere in Vermont and in all agreements. It bothered me - and later I found that this particular spot looked to be actively cultivated in recent years.

This is one of few, if only, development that backs up to conserved land and has building lots with space between the houses. Most other developments seem to slam houses in next to each other - like living in a fish bowl. For such a beautiful placed (Vermont), this seems incongruent.

[arctichomesteader]

I'd be more worried about the chemicals being dumped on lawns in developments than what the farms used years earlier.