Vt. Senate blocks governor’s Act 250 order

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) - The Vermont Senate voted Thursday to block Gov. Phil Scott’s Act 250 executive order.

The governor last month signed the order to shift power from the nine Act 250 district commissions to a single statewide board. Scott says the order was designed to create more uniformity and predictability for developers, who sometimes are issued different rulings under the 51-year-old land use law.

But lawmakers and some other groups have bridled at what they say was the governor’s unilateral action, saying it should go through the legislative process. The vote passed 22 to 8.

Scott last session vetoed what had begun as a comprehensive effort to reform Act 25. But the bill was thrown off track by the pandemic and whittled down to just two proposals -- an Act 250 review exemption to recreational trails and new rules to curb forest fragmentation.