Vermonters for People-Oriented Places started in 2021 as a group chat among Burlington neighbors who wanted more housing and transportation choices in our community. By late 2022, we'd grown enough to launch as a grassroots advocacy group, and over the following two years we organized around some of the most significant planning conversations in the region: lending support to Burlington's South End Innovation District, advocating for better multimodal design on the Winooski Bridge, and helping build public momentum behind Burlington's Neighborhood Code rezoning.
Along the way, several of our most active members moved away, some for jobs or school, others because they couldn't find housing they could afford. At the same time, the advocacy opportunities for championing strong municipal policy slowed to a crawl as well. We spent the fall of 2025 rethinking our approach and decided it was time to be more proactive. Rather than waiting for good proposals to show up and then rallying support, we wanted to start shaping the conversation ourselves.
That's why we're launching a 2026 Platform: six focus areas where we believe targeted advocacy can make meaningful progress toward more livable, affordable, and sustainable communities in Vermont's urban communities.
Fund Public Transit
Vermont's public transit systems have no dedicated funding source, and providers like Green Mountain Transit are facing budget shortfalls that could force the elimination of up to a quarter of fixed-route service by 2027. When transit service gets cut, fewer routes mean fewer riders, which means less federal funding, which means even fewer routes. What most people don’t realize is that the riders whose service gets cut don't wait around: they rearrange their lives, often at great personal cost, and they don't come back. This is especially dangerous right now, with Vermont setting a goal of building 30,000 to 40,000 new homes over the coming decades, a necessary scale of growth that will only work if people can get around without every household needing a car.
We're calling on the Legislature to act this session on short-term funding measures that can keep transit providers solvent over the next two to three years, and to commit to establishing a permanent, dedicated transit funding stream in the next biennium. We’re also calling on municipalities to be active partners in this effort, taking co-ownership over the need to fully fund—and ultimately expand—transit service as a foundation of functional people-oriented places. Transit has been a “third or fourth priority” for too many years in a row: it’s time to act.
Adopt Unified Transit-Oriented Development Overlays
Chittenden County needs tens of thousands of new homes over the next 25 years. Where those homes go matters enormously for the region's long-term transportation needs, cost of living, and quality of life. Growth that's coordinated around transit corridors supports walkable neighborhoods and viable public transportation; growth that's too spread out requires more driving and more road capacity.
We're calling on municipalities across the county to work together on a unified Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) zoning overlay. The idea is to establish compatible standards along transit corridors that cross municipal boundaries, making it easier to build housing in the places that can best support it. Several municipalities already have TOD provisions in their zoning, and we want to see those aligned into a regional framework that treats our core population centers as a connected system rather than separate jurisdictions.
Expand Quick Build and Traffic Calming Programs
We don't need to wait years for federal funding and concrete to make our streets safer. Quick build infrastructure uses low-cost, flexible materials like painted curb extensions, flexible bollards, and temporary lane markings to make street improvements rapidly. Because these interventions are inexpensive and reversible, municipalities can test changes, respond to community feedback, and fill gaps in walking and biking networks without waiting years for full reconstruction projects.
Burlington and other municipalities in the region already have quick build and traffic calming programs, but their use is limited relative to the scale of improvements that would meaningfully shift how people get around. We want to see some funding and attention shift from heavy duty infrastructure projects to these quick build programs, along with a push to use them strategically to connect existing infrastructure. A protected bike lane that dead-ends at an intersection, or a sidewalk that disappears for a block, discourages the people who would otherwise use it. Every city around the world that is making rapid progress on multimodal transportation goals is doing so with "paint and posts", and it's time we join them.
Prioritize Human-Scale Lighting
Our streets are lit for cars, not people. Most overhead lamps illuminate the roadway for drivers, leaving sidewalks and paths in the dark. This is an unintentional but clear signal to residents that "you are not expected to be walking here." On the contrary, well-lit paths and sidewalks improve safety by ensuring all users can see each other clearly, and they make walking feel more comfortable during Vermont's long dark months, especially for vulnerable populations.
Over the coming years, continued electrification, grid upgrades, and new housing development will bring significant infrastructure investment to our communities, and each of these represents an opportunity to improve the pedestrian realm. We're advocating for municipalities to prioritize human-scale lighting as part of this ongoing work, so that investments we're already making can also make our streets more inviting for people on foot.
Legalize Neighborhood Mixed-Use Zoning
Some of the most beloved neighborhoods in the world have corner cafes, small groceries, and home-based businesses woven into their residential fabric. Burlington's Old North End is a prime local example. However, in most of our residential zoning codes, these uses are either prohibited or require extensive permitting, even for low-impact activities like a small daycare or a hair salon operating out of a home.
We want to see zoning updates that broadly re-legalize small-scale commercial activity in residential neighborhoods. These uses bring life to a block, let neighbors start businesses out of their homes, reduce car trips, and put more eyes on the street. They also help neighborhoods develop more organically over time, providing amenities that make denser living more appealing. Our current approach has prioritized preventing possible nuisances over enabling likely benefits, and we think it's worth revisiting that balance.
Implement Residential Parking Zones
As our denser neighborhoods grow, street parking pressure builds, but it isn't evenly distributed. Main corridors face competing demands for bus lanes, bike infrastructure, and pedestrian space, while adjacent side streets often sit underutilized. The current approach of managing parking street-by-street doesn't reflect this reality very well.
Moving to residential parking zones would allow cities to think about parking at a neighborhood scale. Some streets could more easily reclaim street parking for transportation uses if nearby streets can absorb the parking demand. This shift would make parking more accessible for residents while creating space for the infrastructure improvements that make it easier to get around without a car in the first place.
The Bigger Picture
These six priorities are what we're focusing on this year, but they're part of a larger vision. We want to see streets with robust transit amenities like dedicated bus lanes and signal priority for fast, affordable public transit. We envision a future where protected bike infrastructure allows people to move seamlessly across the region. We're fighting for neighborhoods where small-scale development and local businesses can emerge organically. We want public spaces that invite people to linger. And eventually, when our density supports it, we dream of real investment in high-efficiency transit like regional passenger rail.
We also see economic opportunity in that future: more local businesses, more jobs accessible without a car, and the kind of walkable, vibrant places that attract people and investment. We want communities where housing is abundant enough that our neighbors don't have to leave, and where those who can't or don't want to drive can live a full life.