2023 LDC Amendments - Housing
More people are moving into Chittenden County every year, but housing has become increasingly difficult to find. As of 2022, Chittenden County had a rental vacancy rate of 0.4 percent, a rate that has continually declined since 2016. According to the Champlain Housing Trust, a healthy rate is 5 percent. More data on the current housing shortage is available through CCRPC’s Building Homes Together campaign.
Residents throughout the county are suffering the consequences of a severe housing shortage.
- Some renters are being priced out of the City while those who remain are spending an increasing portion of their income on rent.
- Homeownership is falling out of reach for many people.
- Businesses are having trouble hiring qualified employees.
- People are having to live further away from work, extending time away from their families. Longer commutes are adding traffic to our roads and increasing our climate impact.
To house a growing population, we must create more ways to build housing and efficiently use space. The proposed amendments would enable this in several ways.
Allowing Up To Three Dwelling Units Per Lot In The Residential Zoning Districts (R-1 And R-2)
UPDATE: With the passage of the H.100 State Housing Bill, all municipalities are required to allow up to four dwelling units per lot in any residential area served by water and sewer services.
The proposal adds duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes (residential buildings with up to four dwelling units) as permitted uses in the R-1 & R-2 Residential Zoning Districts. To maintain the aesthetics of the existing residential districts, these additional units would only be allowed within one building, covering no more than 30 percent of the area of the lot.
Parking would not be allowed to take up more than 30 percent or 20 feet of the linear frontage of the lot, whichever is less. This means that parking would sometimes have to be placed at the side or rear of duplex and triplex properties.
The green areas in the map show where duplexes and triplexes would be allowed under the proposed rules. Purple indicates areas where multi-unit residential uses are already currently allowed.
Note that a previous version of this map erroneously displayed the Planned Agriculture zoning district as an area residential uses are not allowed. This zoning district currently allows all residential uses and no changes are currently proposed. The map has been updated accordingly.
Allowing Increased Density in the Multi-Family Residential Districts (MF-1 and MF-2)
Some parts of the city, including many areas along the main transportation corridors, already allow multi-family residential uses like apartments and condominiums. This LDC amendment would allow three units per 7,500 square feet of lot size, meaning a 75,000 square foot lot would be allowed to accommodate up to 30 units. Lot coverage limits would remain the same, at 50 percent.
UPDATE: With the passage of the H.100 State Housing Bill, all municipalities are required to allow qualifying affordable housing developments to exceed existing height limits by one story.
Simplifying and Improving the Accessory Dwelling Unit Approval Process
An Accessory Apartment (also known as Accessory Dwelling Unit, or ADU) is an additional, smaller dwelling unit added to a single-family house. Unlike the Duplexes and Triplexes mentioned above, Accessory Apartments can be in a separate building. The proposal would allow Accessory Apartments to be 30 percent of the floor space in the main dwelling unit, or 900 square feet, whichever is greater. It would also lift the limit of two persons living in an accessory apartment. The current owner-occupancy requirement would also be relaxed such that the owner can live in the accessory apartment while renting out the main unit.
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