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Well...for beginners....read all about ACT 250.
There is a reason Vermont is full of small businesses and very little in the way of commercial development - it takes to darn long and costs too much $$$ for the permitting process.
An example.....Lowe's - Lowe's in Littleton NH went up within a year of announcing they were interested in coming to town. Vermont's first Lowe's is finally ready to open next week after TEN years of permitting & appeals (by an out of state environmental watch group).
NH has seen TREMENDOUS growth due to the easiness of getting things built there...just look at what has happened in Littleton over the past 5 years and southeastern NH.
While I applaud the theory behind Vermont's permitting process, it's a little extreme IMO, yet on the other hand, I don't like what I see happening in NH. So....we've just got to find a good medium IMO.
If NH wants to see the future outcome of easy corporate permits and poorly planned and regulated construction -- they should come and take a look at LI. Everywhere one turns (with a few exceptions) there is an increasing number of big box chain retailers. HD every couple of towns and now Lowes going up within a short distance of those. Mom and Pop hardware shops and lumber yards are quickly succumbing to this. Bad Bath and Beyond sits across the road from Linens and Things...the local curtain store folded. I can go on and on, it's that sad and pathetic.
Take a good look at WLeb's shopping area and just expand upon it up and down every large commercial corridor. That's your future, NH, if you don't start cracking down. Pretty soon those big box chains will be all your residents clamour for -- Cheap prices! -- and the CEOs will know this. They'll want corporate welfare, tax abatements in order to give your community the 'honor' of their being there. Residents will get low-paying wages and more Mom and Pops will go under.
I have a home in VT that I plan on moving to year round. While ACT 250 might seem harsh, it is protecting the state and the residents, not the corporate interests. And that makes all the difference. I'd sooner pay more from my neighbor than support a national chain which bulk purchases from China.
I am a NATIVE Vermonter, my father's family has been here since before the Revolutionary War, and I want to make something VERY clear... while I agree that nobody wants a corridor of big box stores, very few VERMONTERS, those of us who actually make our living working and living year round in Vermont, have the time to go from small store to small store to spend twice as much as we would at a big box store. Most Vermonters don't shop "locally" because they are trying to make ends meet on Vermont wages and simply cannot afford to pay more from a "neighbor" and still cover other necessary expenses. We are just forced to drive and spend our money in NY or NH at the big box stores instead.
Also, I'd like to point out that many of these "neighbors" or the "local mom and pops" shops are not owned by Vermonters, but by transplants or by larger out-of-state companies. I don't want to spoil the beauty of Vermont, but on the other hand, Vermonters also need to have some larger companies in their towns to help offset the ever rising Property Taxes.
I am not against people moving to Vermont, my mother was originally from N.J. afterall, but what I am against are people moving in, pricing year-round Vermonters out of the housing market while their houses sit vacant all but 2 weeks and 10 weekends a year and then come in and treat us like we are stupid and ignorant hill-billies that need guidance from all you more sophisticated city-folk on how to run our state. Vermont is more than just a playground for the rich.
I am a NATIVE Vermonter, my father's family has been here since before the Revolutionary War, and I want to make something VERY clear... while I agree that nobody wants a corridor of big box stores, very few VERMONTERS, those of us who actually make our living working and living year round in Vermont, have the time to go from small store to small store to spend twice as much as we would at a big box store. Most Vermonters don't shop "locally" because they are trying to make ends meet on Vermont wages and simply cannot afford to pay more from a "neighbor" and still cover other necessary expenses. We are just forced to drive and spend our money in NY or NH at the big box stores instead.
Also, I'd like to point out that many of these "neighbors" or the "local mom and pops" shops are not owned by Vermonters, but by transplants or by larger out-of-state companies. I don't want to spoil the beauty of Vermont, but on the other hand, Vermonters also need to have some larger companies in their towns to help offset the ever rising Property Taxes.
I am not against people moving to Vermont, my mother was originally from N.J. afterall, but what I am against are people moving in, pricing year-round Vermonters out of the housing market while their houses sit vacant all but 2 weeks and 10 weekends a year and then come in and treat us like we are stupid and ignorant hill-billies that need guidance from all you more sophisticated city-folk on how to run our state. Vermont is more than just a playground for the rich.
Larger corporations are one thing, large retail box stores which offer low wages are something completely different. No one anywhere can support a family on those wages -- and then having to drive to another state? UGH the cost of the gasoline used diminishes the low price paid (unless one lives a stone's throw away.) So many large corporations are leaving for greener pastures: China, India, Mexico. LI was once huge in the aerospace industry; now it's a ghost.
I'm in the midst of trying to make the move from NY to VT. I am moving from an area that has insanely high taxes (neighbor behind me -- $15K for 2400 sq ft on 1/2 acre ) and what was largely uncontrolled development and commercial retail building. The chickens have come home to roost.
You love your home state and I doubt you want to see it looking like LI. Those low prices are blood money; it all catches up with a community and bites it in the rearend. There's another person on this board who relocated from LI. She could vouch for the fact that commerical development in the form of big box retail is not an economic savior. Large non-retail corporations with decent paying jobs need to be wooed. I am not telling anyone how to run their state and I take offense to the fact that you would imply that I would treat anyone like "stupid and ignorant hill-billies in need of guidance." I merely hold up as example the massive screw up that came of poor planning on LI and beg VTers not to make that mistake. Once the land you love is paved over and built up -- it is gone forever.
My roots are not in VT as yours are, and yet I cherish this state. I bought existing housing stock within VT, a house in need of repair, nothing subdivided off of another property. My taxes are at the out-of-state rate, and seeing as I don't have children in the local schools, my neighbors children are benefitting from the school portion of the taxes I pay. It is my hope that my time here will be gentle and not leave a negative impact.
My house is not rented out when I am not there, so my neighbors have additional peace and quiet. This flatlander has winched natives out of muddy ditches, spent time cleaning the local area on green up day, and donates money whenever possible to the local emergency services, Meals on Wheels, food pantries, library and animal shelters. I have to work twice as hard at being a good neighbor to dispell the negative stereotype that some VTers have about NYers. The more time I spend in VT, the more I realize I am not a NYer.
As for pricing people out of their homes: If out-of-state buyers are coming in and buying houses in VT, who are they buying them from? Who is setting the price? I purchased my home from a Native Vermonter who took my money and ran to Europe to work for our government. They set the price, I dickered it down. I see plenty of Vters, some whose families have lived here as long as your paternal lineage -- and they are the ones subdividing their properties and building small subdivisions. They're setting the price and selling to out-of-staters. (I am not saying that out-of-state owners aren't wheeling and dealing, but a substantial number of homes and land I see sold in the VPOR are sold by Vermont residents.)
It will never be my intention to tell VT how to run itself, to outprice my neighbors and destroy a good thing.
Re: Locals being priced out of the market....A lot of folks from out of state come in and buy "cheap" property and then proceed to pour a ton of $$$ into them. When it comes time to sell, guess what? The only folks who can afford to buy are those with lots of cash, more often than not, folks from out of state. As far as locals subdividing....for some people its a necessity as they need the money.
Knotte & Ohbeehave - you both make some great points. There is no easy answer.
I think it all boils down to what's going on everywhere - the rich get richer, and well, we know the rest. I look at what's happened to my 'middle-class' neighborhood in NYC...there is a house for sale across the street for me for $1.6 MILLION DOLLARS. This house is on a 50x100 lot. The original house was torn down, some huge monstrosity put up in it's place. Another one down the street is selling for the same price. How is anyone supposed to be able to afford to live here? And better yet, I want to know where the people who buy these houses get their money!
So these prices squeeze the working class out - further to Long Island, or upstate NY, or out of the state altogether. And this is happening all over the country. As far as I'm concerned, the fall of the housing market is a blessing in disguise - as much as I'd like to sell my house and make a 'killing', we need the correction in prices in many parts of the US. Even my house, which is a 1400sq foot ranch, can sell for $900K. How is the average family to afford that? I don't care how much money you make - that's almost a $200K down payment! And no matter what everyone thinks, the average family in NYC does not make the money to support that mortgage...
Re: Locals being priced out of the market....A lot of folks from out of state come in and buy "cheap" property and then proceed to pour a ton of $$$ into them. When it comes time to sell, guess what? The only folks who can afford to buy are those with lots of cash, more often than not, folks from out of state. As far as locals subdividing....for some people its a necessity as they need the money.
Knotte & Ohbeehave - you both make some great points. There is no easy answer.
Thank you.
I respect that Knotte has a long term vested interest in VT and I don't want to see Knotte or the Knotte family (or any other family in VT for that matter) displaced or disenfranchised.
I believe Knotte and I both have the best of interests in our hearts.
As for your comments (and furthered by tkln) I agree that people come into a place from somewhere else -- lured by cheaper prices. It happened here in my neighborhood several times. If I had to, I couldn't afford my home today. I understand what the VTers who are being priced out are experiencing. As tklyn wrote, this is happening everywhere.
While VTers would like to point a finger at out-of-state buyers, the truth is that some (not all)of the culprits live amongst them -- just elsewhere in the state. Down the road from my home in VT a Vermonter held onto land for a number of years. He's from south in the state and as we've come to learn, has bought up many such properties to sit on and wait. He's watched our little town become desirable and WHAM! subdivided into a number of lots -- mercifully not as many as he wanted thanks to failed perc tests.
Two summers ago we listened to loggers on a regular basis. Last summer we listened to many more trees fall as they cleared sites for McLog McMansions. I've come to learn the apprehension involved when one's loved sylan retreat becomes a playground for some richy-rich who doesn't see the community past their property line.
I'm no richy-rich, we're hard-working blue collar people who've saved and squirreled and planned our "Escape from LI' But now I understand what my neighbors must have felt when they learned the (my) house down the road was going to an out-of-stater.
I find it humorous that we call ourselves Native Vermonters, or Native Virginians, etc, when the truth is, we're all children of immigrants and 300 years is the blink of an eye for a landscape that has had humans scurrying around it for over 10,000 years. So to anyone who seeks a better place and believe they've found it in Vermont, I say, Welcome Home. For each person paying "too much" for real estate, there is a seller enjoying a substantial cash windfall. This is a free market. If you couldn't afford to buy the home you live in today, you likely live in a desirable area. You made a good investment. If you have a lower income then rebates reduce your higher tax burden.
Big box stores do have their caveats. But so to do small box stores. I don't really buy all of the talk about low prices being the driving factor behind the success of a big box. It just can't be reconciled with the rest of our free market culture. The same culture that overspends on convenience store items, overspends on recreational items, overspends on credit card interest payments, overspends on gambling, cars, and so on. Even "poor people" waste money (I used to be one of them). I think a big box store thrives due to their superior selection of everyday mundane items. How often have each of us walked into a small box store and walked out empty handed, frustrated by a lack of choice or a total lack of availability? It's that experience alone that I think drives the most people to the big box for most items.
The "small box" stores in Small Town's downtown that thrive tend to be boutiques that serve the affluent or quirky among us - those whose upscale or uncommon needs can't be met by the big box. I shop often at these places. But I also shop in Staples, Target, and so on. Choice is good.
I remember living in Orwell, VT. The closest "big town" was Middlebury and I remember joking with relatives that you could buy a $15,000 piece of art in Middlebury but you had to drive 25 miles to buy men's socks and underwear. Yet even today a vocal minority in Middlebury are fighting a proposed mini-Staples and a Starbucks. The argument being, Staples will put the office supply store out of business, and Starbucks will put the coffee shop out of business. Perhaps. But coffee shops are very location-centric. A downtown coffee shop won't lose downtown customers. A starbucks next to McDonalds and Hannafords on the outskirts of town shouldn't bankrupt a downtown coffee shop. And I shopped in that office supply and electronics store. The selection was pretty abysmal. Want a TV? Sure thing, you can have your pick as long as it's the 20" Panasonic. Want a VCR? Have a look at our dusty Sony in the corner. Shrug. When I ran a small home office based business in the area I gave up shopping there and bought all of my supplies online at Staples.com. There are an untold number of businesses in Middlebury who do the same, rather than drive an hour to Burlington. So the argument that a Staples is bad for Middlebury just blows my mind, particularly when one considers the thousands upon thousands upon thousands of miles driven daily by Addison County residents who run businesses but can't find a satisfactory supplier within a 45 mile drive? Exactly how is this good for the local economy, and the environment?
No, there doesn't need to be a big box store development in every town. Not all of Vermont needs to look like Tafts Corners. But there is certainly a better balance to be had, and I don't think many Vermont counties have found it yet.
I just passed four gas stations, south-central VT, and the prices have all gone down; they are now ranging between $3.09 to $3.03...amazing isn't it that we now get excited to see a gallon at $3.03. Actually, it is pitiful. My understanding that one of the reasons price escalates is the oil company speculates at what the price might be...is that true?
All true, Sean, but then one has to step back and remember how isolation kept many generations of Vermonters from buying much of anything from out-of-state. Granted, there was Monkey Ward and Sears, but the trip to Burlington, St J, or Rutland, were rare events for many people. The character of the state was maintained because of the lack of easy commerce and lack of easy money.
The government(s) have grown increasingly dependent on consumerism as economic engines. I don't think I realized when the 3% sales tax was first instituted, how much that and similar enactments in other states would change the entire attitude of people. Instead of acting as a dis-incentive, sales tax and emphasis on commerce has somehow increased a desire to buy and encouraged businesses.
I think back to the 1950s and reflect on the purchases made during a sample year back then. One year there was the television, about every five years there was a car, but in an average year, the purchases were clothes, food, Chistmas presents, maybe a piece of furniture, and maybe a replacement for a furnace or other maintenence issue, but that was about it.
Compare that to today, when people can't live without easy access to the latest consumer gadget, and purchases pile up so fast that perfectly good items get tossed in the trash. No more "make good, make do, or do without."
When I lived in south Florida, I started cruising the streets in the immediate area around our home on bulk trash pickup days. One year I picked up not one, but three complete patio sets of table and chairs, all in perfect condition. I passed up working dishwashers and other appliances, decided against a coffee table with a single ding in it, and countless types of exercise equipment. If the Vermonters of the 1950s had suddenly been transported there, they would have been stunned at the consumerism and waste.
In a nutshell, the Vermont that people want to preserve only existed through denial of consumerism, and consumerism now drives the country.
You could see a similar, if more extreme, example in Cuba until recently. The embargo, governmental control, and lack of money all conspired to keep people driving vintage U.S. automobiles, and maintaining ancient steam locomotives. Eventually, the "quaintness" created a tourist Mecca similar in some ways to Vermont, with the result being that now there is enough money in Cuba that the old cars are being sold to collectors and the old steam engines decommissioned. Market economies are nearly impossible enemies. Only the Amish and Mennonites seem to have maintained a tight grip on a non-consumer-oriented life.
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) and what was largely uncontrolled development and commercial retail building. The chickens have come home to roost. 
