 Thank you all for joining us and I want to thank this great crowd for being prior of this important event and I particularly want to say thank you to David Mullen from the Habitat for Humanity chapter here in Burlington that is building this house and that has done so much for housing here in Burlington and Chittenden County and I think there are a number of people here who are associated with that Habitat chapter which is kind of exciting for me personally. My first thing I ever did in housing other than being the son of an architect who talked about housing all the time was a volunteer down in America at Georgia Habitat International and that you know really had an experience down there that changed the trajectory of my whole career and I'm grateful to Habitat for it and in many ways it has defined how I've tried to lead in this role as mayor and we have asked you all here because we are on the cusp of taking an action as a city that will change the trajectory of housing in this community so let me explain a little bit by what I mean by that so from my perspective kind of partial on this Burlington is one of America's great small cities and yet at the same time we face many challenges and you can they're very visible right now as we come out of the pandemic we have dozens of people who are sleeping outside on any given night even in the cold weather months like now we have renters in this community who pay some of the highest rents relative to their incomes of any renters in the country young couples struggle mightily to buy homes in this community older couples individuals who love this place who have invested their whole lives here and want to stay here in some kind of downsized situation struggle to find a way to do that the biggest challenge that our businesses face is that they can't find employees to hire because it's so hard to find something it's so hard to afford to live in this region and despite our deep community commitment to inclusion and to supporting immigrants our BIPOC home ownership rates remain shamefully low in short name a problem and housing is part of is probably the solution this reality has has peaked in the last few years as I said as a result of the pandemic and the new pressures that those years brought onto the housing market but in many ways this is a problem that has been building for decades and frustratingly both both I would say both frustratingly and hopefully and that I think it points to the solution our local land use decisions have contributed greatly to these challenges as zoning reforms in the 1970s and then again in the 1990s made it much harder to build anything but a single family home in about 70% of Burlington for the last two years since we launched what we call the housing action plan at the end of 2021 it was the I think was the third housing action plan of this this 12-year administration for the last two years my administration partners on the planning commission and the city council and in the community have been working on what we call the neighborhood code this is a new zoning ordinance that applies to that 70% of the city that is zoned for residential at outside of the downtown and what this new code would do is put us on that different trajectory by doing a couple things first of all it will make legal once again duplexes triplexes and fourplex structures that used to be commonplace in Burlington but it become rare in recent decades because they are not they're basically prohibited in the great majority of the city for the first time since zoning was started here in Burlington in the 1950s the neighborhood code will make it easier not harder to build in Burlington's neighborhoods the neighborhood code creates the possibility that all of Burlington's neighborhoods can be part of the housing solution and in short over time and we'll hear from Megan Tuttle my planning director in just a moment but you know in short what does the neighborhood code do it will make it possible for hundreds hopefully thousands of more people to call this special place home in the decades ahead despite the years of work literally years of work on this effort I know there are some right there right now we're calling for this neighborhood code to be sent back to committee for more work on Monday we called today's event in part because I want to urge my colleagues on the city council to act on Monday instead our housing challenges are serious and they demand action now not at some future date on Monday we have a rare opportunity to make a change that will create new homes throughout the city and I urge my colleagues not to miss this chance so with that I'm excited to be joined today by an incredible coalition of individuals and organizations that supports the neighborhood code and that supports more housing in this community we're going to hear from a number of them starting with a woman who has given in eight years an enormous gift to this community has been incredibly committed and hard working on housing issues and other planning issues in a range of ways and she has really poured herself into the neighborhood code this wouldn't be happening without her work our planning director Megan thank you mayor as we're here today talking about the neighborhood code I thought it might be helpful to just speak about the context in which the neighborhood code is coming forward as the mayor said this code builds on over a decade of work that has been done around reforming the city's zoning policies in support of housing and I just want to quickly name what some of those things are starting in the beginning of the 2010s we started taking action to make our downtown a place where more people could call home first by removing limits on the portion of buildings that could be used for homes and then by adopting an entirely new downtown form code that aim to make development more permissible faster cheaper and overall contribute to the vibrancy of this regional center which is Burlington's downtown we followed that with work to create new neighborhoods we created a new neighborhood activity center on North Ave which is where Cambrian rise has currently added hundreds of new homes and hundreds more in the pipeline just last summer the council adopted the south end innovation district zoning and work has been underway through a partnership of many public and private stakeholders to plan for the future of a new mixed-use neighborhood in the south end they could also be home to hundreds if not a thousand new homes we reformed our parking regulations not once but twice and now all uses city wide are able to choose how much and if they provide parking in a critical tool to help us address both the cost and availability of housing and contribute to our climate goals and and alternative transportation goals we also reformed our zoning rules twice making them progressively over the last decade much more easy to build and we have certainly seen a significant uptick in the number of permit applications for accessory dwelling units citywide as a result and finally we also took on the very tough task of balancing short-term rental use with the availability of our housing stock for long-term housing every time we adopted one of these zoning changes we said this situation or this zoning change alone is not the solution to our housing crisis all of these things together over the last decade have been working in tandem to help us address both the chronic and emerging challenges that we've had in in building more housing in Burlington and the neighborhood code is the most recent step in that trajectory this is really about ensuring that our neighborhoods are places where not only our current households but our future households also have housing choices and opportunity to live across the city we're a landlocked city unlike our neighbors in Chittenden County we can't grow out we have to grow in our dense urban centers and by creating more housing choice in our existing vibrant neighborhoods this gives us another tool to do that and also to help us make progress towards our equity and climate goals as well and I have been proud to work on this not only on the neighborhood code but all of these zoning reforms that I've mentioned with essentially everyone that's in this room and many more over the last decade thank you so next we're gonna hear from Andy Montrell who has had a long career public service in this community served on the City Council for many years I'm not gonna get it exactly right but then did something unusual when he left the City Council a lot of people never want to step into City Hall again after all those Monday nights Andy went the other direction and joined the Planning Commission and has now been the chair of the Planning Commission for I think the entire time that I've been in office maybe not the chair that whole time and before and has contributed enormously in that volunteer role and we're very grateful for it I'm grateful Andy that you've taken on the neighborhood code is something that the Planning Commission wanted to get done so before you're about to thank you mayor and thank you Megan for all your work as well you know this project and all the zoning projects really the Planning Commission does its role but it's the people behind it and really in front of it Megan and her staff who've just been amazing on this you know as the mayor said I've been involved in sit in the city for a number of years now and I think this is probably one of the most significant things that I've worked on since I've been part of all of this really I first got on the council it was in 1994 and one of the first things that we talked about that was 30 years ago was a housing shortage that we had and and rental rates were like 1% then or 2% if that and it's just been a problem that has persisted for all of these years and as Megan said you know over the years there have been a number of different projects zoning and other kinds of projects that have been done that have tried to help this and it isn't just one thing that will solve any problem but this one the neighborhood code really is a culmination and they'll be more after this but the neighborhood code is a culmination of a lot of these efforts they're really looking at our neighborhoods and saying what and our city and saying what kind of a city do we want to be who are we and what are we and in all the years that I've been working on these kinds of things we always have people coming out speaking to us sharing their views of it but the thing that struck me this time that was different from probably most of the other ones that I've worked on is a number of young voices that came out and shared with us what they were looking for what they needed I have two kids and both in their early 20s and both have graduated college and they've left Berlin and they said they just don't see you know hopefully they'll come back but they don't see their opportunities here right now and one big reason is for the housing and yet the people who did come and speak to us the young voices that we heard told us what they were looking for and while we may not have done everything that they were looking for on this I think we're really trying to accomplish a lot to help Burlington be the community of choice for the for our younger generation and for the current generations of and for all the people who are here and I think that's just really important if we want to stay a vibrant city that we are and that we have been and want to continue for the future so hopefully this will be adopted by the council on Monday and we'll move forward and even once adopted there's a lot more work that still needs to be done so thank you all right in a moment we're gonna gonna hear from some of those younger voices but we're gonna have one more really great hair folks up here first and that's I wanted to have our host David Mullen come come up here and say a few words we chose to have this event here in that I think this project is a great example of what we're trying to create more of these small scale structures that provide multiple housing opportunities so you know of course this is getting built now before the neighborhood code so it is not impossible to build duplexes under the current code in some places but what the neighborhood code will do is it will expand dramatically the number of locations in the city where this type of development and development slightly larger than this are are legal once again and and I think having here having habitat and host us here as well as we're gonna hear in a little bit from Michael Monty the CEO of Champlain Housing Trust shows how this is gonna create housing opportunities that are very varied in who is going to be able to live there including including pretty important new affordable housing opportunities so with that David thank you again for us thank you so much again what an appropriate place to talk about housing and more housing and I will tell you after 22 years of being with Green Mountain Habitat it is getting harder and harder and harder and more complicated so this neighborhood code is about saying yes to the potential solution it is much easier to say no or put it off it is harder to stand up and say yes when something makes sense because you don't want to be here 22 years from now saying we should have made a choice we should have had said yes at that time Green Mountain Habitat for humanity we always talk about building houses and 2x4 but it's about families it's about people single people young couples older couples looking to stay in a home this is what it's about and neighborhood code enables this community to do more of that because the opposite of that are significant problems for every town in Vermont and if we don't stand up for codes like this and changes like this it will not improve and so Green Mountain Habitat is in favor and hopes that the community will stand up and say yes to that it'll make a difference to families and so we're grateful for the opportunity to talk about that and welcome you to a Habitat home if you haven't gotten a donation envelope thank you so much okay next we we are gonna get an opportunity here from Tino Rutanhara Tino I've known you know I think the first time I met Tino it's when he was acting in one of the local stage productions and he was an incredible actor he's worn many hats in this community and one of the most important ones in recent years is he's been one of the leaders of something that we call that's called the Vermont professionals of color and I'm really grateful that Tino is here today and hoping he will be able to speak to why this should getting the neighborhood code done should be one of the most important things that we can do to make Burlington a more inclusive and diverse community so welcome to you thank you Mayor Rumber and Seem for Montes I'm here to speak on behalf of the community of color over the past several years no matter who you ask legislators of all parties businesses of all industries communities across the state the answer is to what is Vermont's most existential crisis is unanimously unaffordable inadequate housing yet by most measures we are moving backward rather than forward Vermont can boast of some of the fastest growing per capita non-white population rates in the country the Vermont black indigenous people of color population has surged by an astonishing 112 percent between 2010 and 2020 meaning that the BIPOC community holds the keys to the future of the state of Vermont yet this community is being hurt it's being hurt the most by racial and housing disparities for example a mere 20% of black vermonters own their homes compared to 72% of white vermonters despite all the new home construction that we've seen only a me go 1% of Vermont's total housing units are available for purchase in Burlington 62% of homes are rent are occupied the vast majority of these by people of color and with the average rent of a one-bedroom apartment being at $1,600 a month if an individual is earning less than $60,000 a year a full third of their gross income is devoted to housing alone the picture is even more incredibly bleak given the disparities and pay and generational wealth that exists between BIPOC and white vermonters municipalities driven by NIMBY sentiments often employ zoning laws that hinder affordable housing development exacerbating the challenges faced by the BIPOC community Vermont's Act 250 intended to preserve landscapes limits options and perpetuates segregation and racial disparities through exclusionary zoning we cannot have 85 municipalities signing and adopting a declaration of inclusion yet when it comes to building housing for Montes in these same cities and towns are discouraging development we find us find ourselves at a crossroads where bold creative and comprehensive action is imperative the housing crisis faced by people in Vermont is nothing short of an emergency demanding an all-hands-on-deck response we can no longer allow state and local regulatory processes to be weaponized and be derail and derail housing opportunities housing is a fundamental human right and not a privilege so if housing is a human right then it is undeniably right to build housing and to support the neighborhood code thank you thank you Tino I I think that is exactly what we were trying to do here we are serious about the promise that housing should be a human right in this community I think value that many people would raise their hands for then we need to build a lot more housing and that's what the neighborhood code will enable we have only we're only here at this point we're only gotten to this important day we only have the chance to make this really historic vote on Monday really there's many reasons that you've been hearing we've gotten here but one of the key reasons came from outside city government came from a voice that might surprise some folks it came from the AARP AARP I think a lot of people know as an organization that fights for social security and older Americans they here in Vermont and increasingly nationally have also been standing up for great infrastructure and and more housing the the elements that make a community a good place to grow old in and there's been a long partnership now between AARP and the city of Burlington and specifically AARP had put out put out this idea years ago of infill development in neighborhoods and we appreciate their partnership not only with that spark but then throughout the process and then being here today Kelly Stoddard for the director of outreach for AARP we're so grateful for the partnership thank you very much mayor and thank you for all of the work across city government to get us to where we are today on behalf of AARP Vermont we are very pleased that the city is moving forward with that neighborhood code the neighborhood code will open up opportunity for incremental change by allowing for more diverse housing in neighborhoods with existing infrastructure and amenities the city's current zoning limits the availability of housing types and overly restricts the ability to diversify our housing landscape to meet housing needs missing middle housing types which would be allowed under the proposed zoning changes in the neighborhood code will help meet the needs the needs of many types of households and provide age friendly housing for the growing population of older adults as our country and as our state ages it's critical to address the housing needs and opportunities among older adults age friendly housing allows older adults to choose how and where they want to live whether that's by downsizing or aging in place in their community smaller more moderately priced missing middle housing units provide the flexibility for older adults to live an affordable walkable neighborhoods that foster independence and community connections AARP Vermont strongly supports the neighborhood code and we encourage City Council to vote favorably on Monday March 25th thank you okay thank you all for hanging in there with us you know this is an issue as I to the top that touches so many communities that it's important I think that we hear from a broad cross section of this community and next up is going to be Bob Duncan who is long been an architect in this community at his business Duncan Wyshnefsky and who has over the course of the many many months of debate at the City Council really been quite eloquent about how this change fits into city actions that he's seen take place over a long period of time I'm really grateful you could be here today and share your perspective so I'm not the oldest person I know that one of the white hairs that's the speaking I I graduated from University in 1974 you know I put myself in that category names 12 years ago so I graduated from University in 1974 with a degree in architecture and moved to Burlington for what I thought was a summer job and so now I'm like looking at the Guinness Book of World Records is probably the longest summer job history so I've been working here for 50 years and I've been involved in the zoning updates ever since the beginning in the 1970s and I was amazed and didn't understand in 1975 why we couldn't have two buildings on a lot I didn't understand why we had such restrictive zoning and why people could only live in one place and they couldn't shop in the same place so I've been looking at this for 50 years and what I can say for right now is it's been a long time and it's about time so it really is important a couple things about this code that I think maybe people don't really realize one of them that I think is very important is that you can build more than one building on a lot and when you look back at the history of what happened in the 70s and 80s in particular in Burlington a lot of our historic buildings that had additions had to have additions added to them couldn't have a separate building on the lot some of those designs are unfortunate our community I think has suffered architecturally and visually because of that and I think this code will make a difference in that way so you can have a second building on a lot it's really important the other thing that's really important in this is the reduction in lot size there are a number of lots in the city they could accommodate another home another lot and actually subdivided lot that up until now can't be done so that's another important change and finally I'll just say that there's some people in the community that are concerned that there's going to be too much happening too fast I think I think Megan indicated that in her remarks that and several people have that this is incremental growth it's it is not the panacea to our housing crisis when I moved here in 1974 it was 1% vacancy rate I couldn't find an apartment for months it was really hard so that aspect hasn't changed but the incremental growth part is really important because there are so many other things that impact the development of housing when you have to get an erosion control permit from the Department of Public Works to prove that you're not putting too much stormwater into the city streets that's that is a check and balance on the system some can argue that it's too strict others will say it's not strict enough but the point is there's another way to measure what happens in the city so I think I think we just need to be mindful that this has opportunity it will create opportunity for lots of people but it will also not be something that's going to change the city dramatically overnight and I think that's an important thing for councillors to remember thank you next up we're here from Michael Mati the CEO for Champlain Housing Trust everybody knows Champlain Housing Trust as a housing provider and manager that helps this community deal with this housing challenges in so many ways I was very excited a few weeks ago to hear this Champlain Housing Trust is already looking at that what the what the neighborhood code will allow and has some possible plans in the books I don't know if you're planning on speaking to them Michael I hope you are I think it is exciting to hear that this trusted and critical affordable housing provider sees opportunity in the neighborhood code and happy to give you the chance to speak to that Michael thank you first Dave mentioned 22 years ago we actually mentioned 22 years that's not 22 years go by interestingly enough I had been thinking about former mayor Clevelle sustainability plan that he had introduced right about that time in that plan he talked about three ease economic development social equity and environmental justice that is what the neighborhood code addresses and it really addresses all three and at the time the mayor actually got Clevelle got a hard time for suggesting that the city can grow substantially to like 65,000 a very high number nevertheless he was challenging the city at the time city wasn't ready we should have done it back then we should be doing it right now there's always room to tinker there's always room to make better what we have now doesn't work let's make something that work and we could take her later now as I was planning with a group of parents who are parents of disabled we call them a disabled adult children about a new community we want to build at 322 st paul street it's an older building used to be four units recently a group home we began to look and see what we could do with the existing building and it really wasn't enough and then we took a look at the neighborhood code and frankly from because of the neighborhood code we're going to be able to build 13 small apartments some congregate living a whole bunch of social space some common kitchen some common areas plenty of green space patio space room for parking it's going to be a great project if we don't have the neighborhood code we can't do that project and those adult children won't be able to essentially establish an urban community in berlington so it's really critical for us to do that thank you mayor two more speakers another key partner in so much that i've had the privilege to work on the last 12 years and always a voice for more housing is the bronyton business association and their director kelly divine kelly thank you for for being here doing yet another event together and uh and and coming and coming out for housing I will say I'm also grateful we have the lake champlain chamber of commerce represented here as well by austin davies and I'm grateful to you both for being here thank you uh you know we have two priorities at the berlington business association one of which is housing we've had that on the top of our priority list for several years and we've made some really amazing progress I want to thank the mayor director tuttle the members of the joint planning commission and city council as well as all the partners here it really does show that you need a bunch of people working together to make change I want to especially also thank ARP they really have been amazing leaders on this particular piece and we're all trying to together figure out a way to get more housing in this community so more people can live there we represent over 200 businesses and nonprofits in the berlington area and virtually all of them will tell you that staffing is a challenge we need more housing and more importantly affordable housing across the spectrum it's critical to moving people forward from the most high paying jobs in our community down to everyday staffing jobs people cannot hire or they have people pass jobs over because they can't find a place to call home here uh berlington needs some solutions we're in in the housing affordability crisis we need solutions for Montpelier as well as Tito said Tino said excuse me and we need them now the neighborhood code is a key step forward um also it's going to help expand our tax base it's critical to berlington's vitality in the years to come as everything gets more expensive we need a lot of people working together and we need a lot of uh you know we need a lot of people contributing to the pot so we can take care of what we need to do in the city uh Megan's department recently had a study performed from a consultant company called urban three and they take a look at neighborhood performance throughout the city based on uh performance per acre and the amount that different types of neighborhoods contribute to the tax code they found among other things that neighborhoods with existing middle missing middle housing stock that were in this community typically built well before our modern zoning changes have two to three times higher appraised value per acre than single family home neighborhoods that means they're really working for the city and working for the people that can live there these proposed changes aren't a scary thing we have worked on a bunch of different zoning changes over the course of the year that Megan mentioned we are in a crisis we need to take this thing and move forward we built missing middle housing in this community hundreds of years ago you drive around downtown you look to the back of lots you'll see it some of it in burlington's most desirable neighborhoods it's time to re legalize these housing types so that more burlingtonians can have a home in our walkable vibrant neighborhoods throughout the city thanks finally um we are going to get to hear from jack tiano who is a member of an organization called v-pop for monitors for people oriented places and he's also lives in this community and i just want to say thank you to jack and his colleagues at v-pop who have completely changed over the last couple years the discussion about housing in this community the big reason that for so long it was almost impossible to make pro housing reforms is that the people who had concerns about what might get built next to them they were engaged in these issues and they would show up and there was no voice on the other side saying we need more housing that is hopefully now forever changed by v-pop and younger people who understand what's at stake with these housing decisions and are coming out again and again and again to call for change and i appreciate jack being here today to do that one more time good afternoon um so before i get started i just want to thank the mayor for inviting me to speak today and for taking this off two years ago but i especially want to give thanks to the phenomenal work of our city's planning department which i'll touch on in a moment so my name is jack tiano and i'm a member of vermont is for people oriented places v-pop is a grassroots advocacy group that works towards building stronger cities and towns in vermont through the lenses of housing and transportation with the goal of affordability sustainability and vibrancy i may be the one person up here speaking today but v-pop is a large group project and every one of the dozens of people who've contributed to our advocacy work are essential i threw out some names but we don't have the time for how many names there are to say we're a non-partisan group that is really united in a politics that is not determined by party affiliation but by wanting to truly understand what drives something like our housing crisis so that we can make the changes needed to put us behind us as quickly and as fairly as possible and as it turns out zoning is a big deal and so needless to say we've been very involved throughout the neighborhood code process there's a lot that i could say about the neighborhood code uh believe me but today i just want to highlight what i think has been the primary motivating factor for us as advocates and what has given us the energy to stay so engaged on the neighborhood code for so long and that's equity you might hear some redundancies i'm the last speaker so there's not a lot of new ground to cover but so burlington like many places across the country has made housing policy mistakes in its past that have been hugely detrimental to the city and its residents in both the 70s and the 90s burlington enacted significant downzoning on its residential neighborhoods that effectively froze those places in time and locked the door for home ownership and housing stability for generations of future burlingtonians i don't think it's necessary to assume the motives behind why those changes were made but i think it because i think it's enough to just look at the consequences nearly a half a century of stagnant population in burlington while people were pushed out rapidly into rapidly expanding sprawl and every increasing percentage of renters in the city who are as a result unable to achieve housing stability and thus financial stability the neighborhood code directly acknowledges and dismantles this history of exclusionary zoning and walks the talk in its proclamation that burlington is for everybody i want to close out with what this means to me personally i moved here in 2011 to go to champlain college started renting in 2014 and have been renting ever since my partner and i have been living near marble avenue for the past couple years in a tiny one bedroom apartment it was supposed to be temporary but there's not a lot of options so temporary has become four years and counting with every year that goes by our lives become more deeply enmeshed with this pocket of the city and it became more painful to know that eventually we would probably have to leave this neighborhood or even the city against our will in order to find stable housing especially if we ever wanted to start a family i've been primarily engaged on maybe i've been primarily engaged on neighborhood code from a big picture and long-term perspective but yesterday on a walk looking in backyards and visualizing secondary structures i realized that there could be more opportunities for housing and even ownership on my street and soon for the first time in years i felt the spark of tangible hope that i personally might actually be able to choose to stay here there in what has become my neighborhood which is something that i have not let myself believe would be practical for a long time and so in summary i think the neighborhood code is one of those rare spreadsheets that manages to both right historical wrongs and inspire hope in the future and it is honestly something that everyone in burlington should be immensely proud of thanks okay thank you for your attention through through all that and we'd be happy to answer some questions if there aren't using the word secondary structures do you explain to the viewers this is an apartment building popping up three eight stories these are smaller structures on top of that can you explain that yeah i think uh i can but i think i'll let megan tuttle our planning director speak to see that thank you um yeah one of the elements of the neighborhood code is that it allows for flexibility for how new homes could be created on lots over time you've heard speakers talk about the ability to have smaller lots that to subdivide to create new lots for new homes but another option for that could be by adding new buildings in the backyards of the uniquely deep lots that we see across neighborhoods in the city these would be house scale buildings we do have rules in the new neighborhood code that would limit the size and mass of those buildings would limit the number of units that would be within them but would create an opportunity for new ways that new homes could be added do you think building that will that eventually or how will this lower that sixteen hundred one bedroom number we keep on hearing is this going to be low income or is that we're going to get through this first to first great yeah i think that's a great question you've certainly heard from partners here today who have talked about the opportunities that the neighborhood code could open for them to come to the table to bring new affordable housing that's really truly protected in some way to the city we also know from the experience of other communities that have pursued a similar slate of zoning reform over a long period of time that together these changes start to make a difference we've seen in communities like minneapolis that has really you know consistently pursued changes that rents have slowed austin other cities that have had housing at the top of the list through zoning changes like the neighborhood code but also through changes like densifying downtowns and other growth areas like we've done as well these things start to make a difference in terms of helping not only to alleviate vacancy rates but help relieve the pressure on rent growth and to be clear this is already existing lots this doesn't infringe on act 250 at all uh is for most of the projects that we're talking about i think act 250 will have a limited impact but you know i think one of the things that we're looking to is the potential that you know new small developers could help create homes in our communities and so we think that there are some additional changes that act 250 could make to make sure that that's not a barrier to implementation in the future mayor you mentioned that uh at the beginning that you want the city council to pass the neighborhood code and not send it back to committee if it goes to committee you know there's no guarantee it won't come up again and they'll pass it in the future what's the concern about the potential of it going back to committee on monday so pat it um it has been my experience over the last 12 years that when you have an opportunity to take an action to address our biggest challenges uh you should take it and you should that that is the way we get big things done i have you know i remember very early on um in the time that i was mayor there was a chance to make one of the parking reforms that megan referenced um and we chose instead to send it back for to committee for a little study you know it was i think seven years before it got back to the city council so i i don't want to see that happen again with something this important uh every these as you heard from bob dunkin and others this is writing historical wrongs that go back to the 90s and the 70s these are changes that are long overdue we shouldn't wait any longer than money monday to put them in practice i do want to go back just to i explain about you know act 250 absolutely matters for burlington and every community in in the state that wants to to build more housing there's a lot that is solely within the the city's discretion but ultimately the uh even in burlington right now the largest city by far in the the state um most projects uh that go forward not every single one but most projects including neighborhood code projects will be subject in one way or another to to act 250 if changes aren't made and uh it appears we are at risk of going through you know talk about changes that are long overdue that it has been 50 more than 50 years now since there have been any material changes to act 250 we were promised that this was going to be the year that the state finally took action you know all they did last year was put more was to kind of beat up on municipalities further and you know i agree i supported that bill and i agree with most of it but the biggest thing the state can do to encourage more housing is to fix the state regulations they get to fix act 250 and they're at risk of failing to do that again for another legislative session and that too would be a missed opportunity so could you run into a wall so this could pass on monday but then if someone wants to build could they run into issues uh you know these issues are complicated like in their hearts it's completely boiled down but the the um the biggest intersection as i see it i hope i don't get this wrong i'll let some of the experts in the room correct me if i am not quite right is there are there are limited there there's one of the many perverse and frustrating elements of act 250 is that it it um it regulates buildings differently depending on who's building it you know it's almost un-american like it like we don't generally have laws that say it's one thing if one person is doing it but if someone else is doing it it's something different with act 250 we draw the line uh we say that if if if a if a quad-poreplex or was being um built by a builder that had already built other projects in the community that might trigger act 250 in certain situations where and and by doing that sugar you add a whole level of costs and review and delay that probably makes makes it uh impossible for that that project to get built so i think we'll happen less in Vermont it's our less in brolington than in uh other areas for a variety of reasons but um absolutely the full potential of the neighborhood code will only be unlocked if the state takes further action to reform act 250 as well