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Paving paradise? Futurists question direction of Vt. development


By KEVIN O'CONNOR Staff Writer
Is there an answer to the decades-long question of how to balance the state's environment and economy through land-use planning?

"In testimony about land use and development, Vermonters focused on their desire for the continuity of the state's historic development pattern of tidy villages and cities surrounded by farms, fields, and forests," the council writes in its 112-page report, "Imagining Vermont: Values and Vision for the Future."

But as the nonprofit, nonpartisan study group held more than 100 meetings at downtown venues statewide, many of the almost 4,000 experts and everyday folk present didn't walk or bike from nearby, but drove from far and wide.

"While Vermonters profess positive attitudes toward the preservation of open land or the working landscape, they often choose to vote with their dollars to build and live in
the countryside," the council writes.