8/19 Caution Accessory On-Farm Businesses: Land Use Review Board Listening Sessions

Farmers and activists passed a law exempting all types of Accessory On-Farm Businesses from Act 250 permitting in 2026, thanks to the leadership of Representative Greg Burtt, who successfully pressed a floor amendment to that effect (see Act 152, Section 6). Through this grassroots initiative, our constituencies achieved legislatively in 2026 what many thought was impossible: realizing a long-desired clarification and remedy to a charter to more stringently regulate Accessory On-Farm Businesses that offer farm events, and farm stays that many opponents still favor today.

As so often in advocacy, this win is not the end of the road, and we caution that further regulations are likely still going to be proposed in future legislation.  Alongside the AOFB exemptions from Act 250 permitting in 2026, the legislature also tasked the Land Use Review Board to issue a report by November 15, 2026, on “whether and how Act 250 jurisdiction over commercial activities on farms should be revised” (see Act 152, Section 11).

Act 250 currently does NOT regulate “activities” but only “improvements” - actual construction projects. In 2025, Rural Vermont supported farmers challenged by the Land Use Review Board (LURB) for constructing and multi-using a pole barn. In testimony, we shared our legal analysis that the existing law does NOT limit the multi-use of (Act 250 exempt) farm structures. Thus, the LURB lacked the legal basis to challenge any farmer (or homesteader) for using farm structures in many different ways. During that legislative process, Senators from the Committee on Agriculture introduced legislation that would have served the LURB’s interest to expand their existing jurisdiction to require farms to seek permitting on an event-by-event basis. You can see the draft legislation on “Special Event Permits” (that we suppose had been drafted in 2025 on behalf of the LURB) in H.484 here, starting on page 27. We anticipate that the language in 2026 Act 152, Section 11, which mandates the LURB to make recommendations over Act 250 permitting “commercial activities,” opens the door to reconsidering the “Special Event Permits” idea yet again.

In addition, it is important to note that the LURB is the approving authority of Regional Plans - which are all being updated across all 14 Regional Planning Commissions Statewide at the moment. Regional Plans could issue municipal policies and regulations of Accessory On-Farm Businesses that become enforceable through Town Plans or Ordinances that reference the otherwise not legally binding Regional Plans. Rural Vermont has shared that the Two Rivers-Ottauquechee Regional Commission, Vermont’s largest Regional Planning Commission, has drafted a new land use policy that would limit AOFBs to hosting no more than 20 events per year. Vermont state law strictly limits municipal authority over AOFB’s to site plan review and performance standards and states that: “no bylaw should have the effect of prohibiting an accessory on-farm business at the same location as a farm.” However, TRORC staff did not remove the relevant policy from the Land Use Chapter (see p.15, policy 8) before publishing its draft after Act 152 was passed into law and after Rural Vermont’s Legislative Director questioned the continued existence of the policy in the draft after the 2026 legislative session in her role as Commissioner representing Youth At Large at TRORC in a volunteer capacity. 

Therefore, we invite farmers to attend the upcoming listening sessions of the LURB on Accessory On-Farm Business regulations with caution and call farmers that operate AOFBs to show up in opposition to prospective “Special Event Permits” and regional plans that seek to set policies specific to AOFB’s that are likely going to be subject to discussion. You can attend the upcoming listening sessions to provide public comment verbally or submit written comments to the LURB at any time on this matter.

Take Action! We encourage you to attend, to bring a friend, to spread the word, and to make your voices heard at the Land Use Review Board’s upcoming listening sessions on how to regulate Accessory On-Farm Businesses further. Rural Vermont has experienced, in recent years, a number of state-led “stakeholder” processes and recommendations that have tokenized the input and agency of “stakeholders,” delivering largely predetermined solutions and outcomes rather than those grounded in the responses, lives, and concerns of community members. Though we cannot control the outcomes of this upcoming LURB engagement process and report to the legislature, we recommend that you attend at least one session and/or submit written comments about these important aspects of farm and farmland regulation - make sure your opinion becomes part of the public record!

As a means of sharing your comments more broadly, and having some accountability for the LURB and its recommendations, please also share your comments with Rural VT (caroline@ruralvermont.org), and/or your chosen farm organization of affiliation, and/or your legislator such that they have your voice, and stakeholder voices, directly in hand.

Here is the meeting schedule; RSVP or submit written comments by emailing Brooke Dingledine (Attorney at LURB) at: Brooke.Dingledine@vermont.gov

Stakeholder Meeting #1
Wed. Aug. 26
1pm – 3:30pm

Stakeholder Meeting #2
Wed. Sept. 9
1pm – 3:30pm

Stakeholder Meeting #3
Thurs. Sept. 24
1pm – 3:30pm

Stakeholder Meeting #4
Wed. Sept. 30
1pm – 3:30pm

Stakeholder Meeting #5
Thurs. Oct. 15
1pm – 3:30pm