The Background

Burlington, like most places in the US, is geographically dominated by detached, single-family homes. 22% of Burlington’s total land area, which includes all the parks, streets, and buildings, is occupied by single-family homes. 70% of all residential parcels are currently in the lowest-density zoning district, on which nothing denser than a duplex can be built (and even that with many severe restrictions). You can find details of this data in the Neighborhood Character Analysis & Report prepared by the city planning staff.

As you may know, single family homes in cities are, on average, more expensive per unit than multifamily buildings. They also require more land, driving sprawl and car-dependency and reducing the efficacy of public transit, walking and cycling. They require more energy (on average) to heat and cool, increasing emissions. I could go on ad nauseum about the ills of single-family zoning, but for a concise summary, look here:

• How Bad Housing Policy Can Shape a Nation | Harvard Political Review
• Single-Family Zoning: Can History be Reversed? | Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies

Since Burlington cannot exactly acquire more land, any additional housing must be constructed on existing parcels, which means redevelopment. Rather than try and force all of this additional construction into a few square blocks downtown, it would make more sense to open up more of the city to infill development. This so-called “gentle density” will allow for more housing everywhere.

This is the goal of the Neighborhood Code. While it is partially a statutory requirement of Act 47 (the HOME bill), passed by the Vermont Legislature last year, the code has gone beyond the minimum requirements.

Definitions

There are a lot of details, and zoning policy can be quite opaque. We’ll be focusing on the major reforms. First a few important terms to define:

The Impact

Now, what does the Neighborhood Code change?

The Good:

• You can now build, at minimum, a quadplex (four units per building) on every residential lot in the city.
• In addition, you can build a secondary structure (limited to a 1100 sq. ft footprint in R-Low, 900 sq. ft. in R-Medium) which can also contain up to four units on that same lot.
• Maximum allowed density is removed entirely as a regulatory tool. There will no longer be an explicit density limit.
• Minimum lot size is also removed entirely. A lot can be as small as building code, setbacks, and lot coverage allows across all residential zoning districts. This will also allow existing homeowners to subdivide and sell parts of their lot for others to buy and build upon.

Together, these changes mean that in an optimal configuration with a large enough lot to meet the required setbacks and lot coverage limits (which have been modestly increased), you can fit 8 units (10 in R-Medium) across two buildings where there was previously just one of each. Not every lot will meet the requirements to support a full 8-10 units, and nor will every homeowner want to sell or build to this level. The idea is that, over time, units will gradually be added everywhere in the city.

• The Code creates a series of high-density corridors along places like North Ave, Colchester Ave, and Shelburne St. The idea here is to encourage further development along routes well-served by transit and with access to other amenities, to further reduce the need for car ownership. On these corridors, buildings can be up to 4 stories, take up 80% of the lot, and have no limit to the number of units they can contain. This functionally legalizes low-rise apartments along these corridors. These zones also allow some commercial activity like cafes, restaurants, and some services.

Remember that because the city removed parking minimums last year, none of the homes created under this new code will be required to build parking. Generally, developers will still do so as they don’t perceive sufficient demand for car-free housing, but they will typically build less than what has been done in the past.

Does The Code Go Far Enough?

Well, probably not - but only because Burlington’s zoning has been so restrictive for so long and we are in such a severe housing crunch. We, as a city, likely need to construct 1000 units of housing per year to meet the existing demand in the short term, to say nothing of future population growth.

Some potential changes that were proposed were not taken up. A corridor along Pine Street was removed after some local residents complained about increased density in their neighborhood. The committee got into very detailed neighborhood-by-neighborhood discussions around where R-Medium was appropriate versus R-Low. Unfortunately, it often came down to whether individual councilors “felt” a certain neighborhood looked a certain way or not. VPOP would favor a broadly applied R-M standard to simplify our zoning code and reduce socioeconomic segregation between neighborhoods.

There were also a few things that the committee did not have time to fully hash out. They wanted to get the zoning changes mentioned above in front of the city council first, but some other impactful policies are still up in the air.

What Comes Next?

For the ordinance to become law, the city council must pass it. The full council is holding the first public hearing on Monday, February 26th in Contois Auditorium at City Hall (the main meeting room on the second floor). The time is a bit variable, but will likely be between 6:30pm and 7:30 pm. This is a major opportunity for the public to show their appreciation for the Neighborhood Code and encourage the council to pass the change without watering it down. This is also an opportunity to call for the residential medium district to apply more broadly throughout the city - push for more density!

If you can make it in person to speak, please do! You can also attend and speak virtually via zoom or send a written comment to citycouncil@burlingtonvt.gov and CC lolberg@burlingtonvt.gov.

Additional Resources

• Neighborhood Code Introduction from Burlington Planning Department

  This has some very good background explanations of what the purpose of the code is, what it hopes to achieve, and the state and history of zoning in Burlington.

• Maps and Documents from the Joint Committee Meetings

  This page has all of the presentation materials and links to meeting minutes from the Joint Committee. There were a lot of great slides, maps, and data visualizations produced during this process. Check them out for more details around the intricacies of the Code.