Chip Carter, a retired television anchor, moved in 2016 to Guilford, where he volunteers with a number of community organizations and serves on the Selectboard.
GUILFORD-As Vermonters rally and speak out about Act 181, to understand where things stand today, you have to go back - 50 years, back to a time when Vermont was starting to feel the pressure of change.
In 1970, Act 250 was passed with a pretty simple idea behind it. Growth was coming - faster than many towns were ready for - and there needed to be a way to make sure it didn't get out of hand.
Ski areas were expanding. Subdivisions were popping up. And there was a real concern that if nobody was paying attention, Vermont could start to lose the very things that made it Vermont.
So Act 250 was put in place as a kind of guardrail.
It didn't try to map the whole state. It didn't try to predict the future. It just looked at projects as they came along and asked a few basic questions: Does this fit the land? Can the roads handle it? What does it do to the water? To the community?
For a while, that worked.
But systems like that don't stay the same forever. Over time, more rules were added. More state agencies got involved. Regional planning started to carry more weight. Permits took longer. They cost more. They became harder to work through.
To be fair, each change had a reason. Protect the water. Manage growth. Make sure infrastructure keeps up.
But taken together, something else started to happen. The system got more complicated. More restrictive.
As Act 250 expanded, it got more expensive - and the ones who paid the price were Vermont landowners.
You didn't just walk into a process anymore. You needed planners. Engineers. Consultants. Sometimes lawyers.
Different state and regional groups had a bigger say in how things were interpreted and applied. At a certain point, complexity wasn't just part of the system. It was the system.
None of this happened overnight. It built up slowly. One change at a time. Until one day you could step back and see that what started in 1970 had become something very different.
And that's where the next chapter - Act 181 - begins.
* * *
Now, Act 181 didn't start from scratch. It builds on what came before. But it also changes how things work.
Instead of waiting for a project and then reviewing it, the system starts with the map. Tier 1. Tier 2. Tier 3. Places where development should go. Places where it shouldn't.
On paper, that sounds like clarity: You look at a map, and you know what to expect.
But in Vermont, land doesn't line up like that.
Here, land has been used the same way for generations. It isn't just lines on a map. It's shaped by roads that take a winding path up a hill. By terrain that doesn't cooperate. A parcel is one thing on paper and something else entirely in practice.
And that's where the friction starts: Act 181 depends on data that doesn't always match the details.
* * *
Take the road rule.
On paper, it makes sense. Long roads can mean development is pushing too far into places that were never meant to handle it - so someone draws a line.
But in Vermont, long roads aren't unusual. Sometimes they're the only way to get to a place where you can build.
So a rule meant to catch one kind of development ends up catching something else. And once again, it's Vermont landowners who feel it.
In Vermont, land isn't just a parcel. It is something that's been passed down. Worked over time. Built on slowly, when it made sense.
And when a system starts to limit how that land can be used - or even reached - it doesn't just affect a project. It starts to shape what the next generation can do with it.
That's a different kind of impact. And it points to a broader shift.
* * *
Act 250 looked at projects as they came along. Act 181 looks at the map first.
The goal was to simplify things. But in the process, lines were drawn and maps were laid out, often without the input of the people who live on that land. That is leading to confusion, pushback, and growing evidence that major parts of the framework are simply not working for those who live on and work that land.
The simple question is not whether Act 181 be reworked. It's how much it gets reworked - and whether it brings the map any closer to the land.
Because a line on a map can detail a property - but it doesn't define the people who live on it.
And when Act 181 doesn't line up with the land - or those who live on it - that's the final Act.
This Voices Viewpoint was submitted to The Commons.
This piece, published in print in the Voices section or as a column in the news sections, represents the opinion of the writer. In the newspaper and on this website, we strive to ensure that opinions are based on fair expression of established fact. In the spirit of transparency and accountability, The Commons is reviewing and developing more precise policies about editing of opinions and our role and our responsibility and standards in fact-checking our own work and the contributions to the newspaper. In the meantime, we heartily encourage civil and productive responses at voices@commonsnews.org.