Phil Dodd
MONTPELIER — In an Act 250 jurisdictional opinion dated Aug. 5, the state’s District 5 Environmental Commission ruled that landowner Alan Goldman would not need an Act 250 permit for any of four possible large housing projects on three different parcels he owns in Montpelier, if the projects were started by Jan. 1, 2028 and completed by June 30, 2029.
It is unclear if Goldman plans to actually go ahead with any or all of the projects in that time period. He did not return phone calls, and one of his attorneys told The Bridge that Goldman had not authorized him to speak on the subject.
The parcels include a 514-acre tract at 1014 Terrace Street, a 0.44-acre parcel with a commercial building at 7 Court Street, and a 94-acre parcel located off Sabin Street and Barre Street. Goldman co-owns the latter property, commonly known as Sabin’s Pasture, with Doug Zorzi, doing business as Perro Pinto, LLC.
The jurisdictional opinion covers four separate proposed projects by Goldman, none of which would require an Act 250 permit if started and completed in the identified time period, it said.
On Sabin’s Pasture, Goldman and Perro Pinto might build 223 mixed-income units, both owner-occupied and affordable rental units, for seniors 55 and over, according to the opinion. At least 20% of those units must meet requirements of affordable owner-occupied housing, and the costs for both owner-occupied and rental housing would not exceed 30% of the gross annual income of a household.
The opinion also addressed a separate plan to construct 74 units or fewer of “market rate housing” on Sabin’s Pasture, which requires a new access road with a culvert.
The third proposal ruled free of a requirement for an Act 250 permit was the construction of 30 market-rate apartments in Goldman’s commercial building at 7 Court Street.
Finally, the opinion said a plan to construct 74 or fewer units of market-rate housing on Goldman’s land on Terrace Street would not need an Act 250 permit if constructed within the stated time period.
Montpelier-based attorneys Anthony Iarrapino and Joslyn Wilschek, on behalf of Goldman, asked for the jurisdictional opinion in a letter dated June 25. The letter contended the projects would be free from Act 250 jurisdiction under several state statutes — including those passed as part of Act 181 in 2024 designed to encourage housing construction — if built before June 30, 2029, and the state agreed.
Even if exempt from Act 250 permits, the projects would need Montpelier zoning permits, Iarrapino and Wilschek stated in their letter.
In addition to creating temporary exemptions to Act 250 per the jurisdictional opinion, Act 181 also began a process to divide the state into three regulatory tiers with different Act 250 requirements. The city of Montpelier is seeking approval to have some of its land put in “Tier 1A,” which will be fully exempt from Act 250.
