back to home

Passage of Act 250 in 1970

Vermont devoted much of this century to promoting itself. The marketing campaign paid off. In 1969, though, fear rippled through the state, especially the southern half, that the marketing campaign had been too successful. Housing developments, mostly of second homes, were popping up everywhere -- and unfortunately in places that could not handle them.

"We had sewage running right on to the highway," said Deane Davis, who took office as governor in 1969. "These developments were being built on soils that could not handle them and in numbers that could not be supported."

Davis convened a State House conference on the environment. More than 500 people attended. The governor followed up the gathering with an executive order creating a commission on environmental control, chaired by then-state Rep. Arthur Gibb, a Republican whom Davis would later describe as "a man of great personal charm (who) was well-known for his judicial and fair-minded temperament."

Out of the Gibb Commission came the framework for Act 250, passed in 1970, which established district commissions throughout the state to evaluate development projects. The law details 10 criteria for reviewing such projects.

Thirty years after the commission report, Gibb said he had no doubt Act 250 played a crucial role in saving what makes Vermont special. "It leads to responsible development," he said. "When you think of the irresponsible development we had in 1969... Thank God for Act 250."

Act250 | Women's Sufferage | Family Farms | Chittenden County | Sanders
Coolidge| Depression | Gibson | Flood | Aiken | Parkway| Kunin | Interstate
Hoff | Lands | Reapportionment | Ski Areas | Tourism | VtCommission | World Wars