VPA Fall Conference 2016 

Legal Matters - Join your colleagues in Randolph Center to learn about current legal issues driving conversation and concern in Vermont planning.  Public Service Board use of plan provisions; B&M Realty (Quechee Highlands), Exit 1 VT Supreme Court decision; new renewable energy siting law (Act 174); US Supreme Court ruling on sign regulation and freedom of speech. Including: VPA annual meeting, lunch, networking, and a quiz show!

** AICP CM credits approved - including 1.5 CM law credits **

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Program/Agenda:

8:30am

• Arrival/Registration

9am - 9:45am

• Welcome
• David Mears - Keynote and B&M Realty (Quechee Highlands) VT Supreme Court decision

9:45am - 10:45am

• Panel Discussion - PSB Decisions on Solar - Bennington vs. Rutland

11am - 11:45am

• Act 174 Overview - Local/Regional Siting Standards for Renewables

11:45am - 12:30pm

• VPA Annual Meeting

12:30pm - 1:30pm

• Lunch

1:30pm - 2pm

• Quiz Show!  What is or isn't legally enforceable regulation or plan language.

2pm - 3pm

• Panel Discussion - Newark Town Plan, Caledonia Superior Court Case

3:15pm - 4pm

• Panel Discussion - Reed vs. Town of Gilbert (Arizona), US Supreme Court Case

Keynote - David Mears (VT Law School)

David Mears is Vice Dean for Faculty and Associate Professor of Law at Vermont Law School.  Professor Mears specializes in environmental law and policy.  He will discuss implications of the recent VT Supreme Court decision on the B&M Realty (Quechee Highlands) case in which a development near Exit 1 of Interstate 89 was denied an Act 250 permit in part because of inconsistency with a regional plan.

Professor Mears has experience in the major pollution laws (air quality, water quality and hazardous waste management and cleanup), water resources law, federal facilities regulation, and state and federal sovereignty. He returned to Vermont Law School in August 2015 after serving four years as Commissioner of the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation. Prior to joining the State of Vermont, he taught at Vermont Law School from 2005 to 2011. During that time, he also taught as a Fulbright Scholar at Sun Yat Sen University in Guangzhou, China. Professor Mears has held a number of positions in state and federal government including positions in Texas as Enforcement Coordinator in the Texas Water Commission, Assistant Attorney General in the Texas Office of Attorney General, and Senior Attorney for Water Quality with the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission. He left Texas to serve as the Energy and Environmental Policy Director with the Texas Office for State-Federal Relations in Washington DC, then served both as a Trial Attorney and Counselor for State and Local Affairs with the U.S. Department of Justice, Environment and Natural Resources Division. Following his time at the Department of Justice, Professor Mears was appointed Senior Assistant Attorney General and Chief of the Ecology Division in the Washington Office of the Attorney General.

PSB Decisions on Solar - Bennington vs. Rutland

The VT Public Service Board looked very differently on plan language in reviewing renewable energy facilities proposed in Rutland and Bennington.  The PSB turned aside concerns raised by Rutland; however, in Bennington it denied a solar facility proposal based in large part on provisions in the municipal plan.  The panel will review the two cases, discuss lessons learned, and highlight what other municipalities and regional planning commissions should and shouldn't take from these cases.

• Aaron Kisicki - Attorney, VT Department of Public Service
• Jim Sullivan - Executive Director and Planning Program Coordinator, Bennington County Regional Commission
• Cindy Hill - Attorney, Hill Attorney PLLC (Middlebury)

Act 174 Overview

In 2016, an act relating to improving the siting of energy projects became law.  The Energy Development Improvement Act (Act 174) created an option under which municipalities and regional planning commissions, "may engage in enhanced energy planning that results in greater weight to their plans in the energy siting process before the Public Service Board."  Our speakers will provide an overview of what that means, and more specifically, what planners need to do to obtain the coveted "substantial deference" status for plan recommendations on siting of renewable energy facilities. 

• Anne Margolis - Renewable Energy Development Director, VT Department of Public Service
• Jon Copans - Deputy Commissioner, VT Department of Public Service
• Jim Sullivan - Executive Director and Planning Program Coordinator, Bennington County Regional Commission

Newark Town Plan

In 2012, the Caledonia Superior Court ruled that the Town of Newark’s municipal plan was not sufficiently detailed with regard to the siting of power generating plants and transmission facilities. The Court rejected the use of Newark's Town Plan in a PSB proceeding on a proposed wind energy project because a recent plan amendment to address wind energy siting was defective.  The issue was the lack of a sufficient report on the plan amendments as required by State Statute.  Panelists will discuss the decision and its implications.

• Dale Azaria - Attorney, VT Department of Housing and Community Development
• Brooke Dingledine - Attorney, VDM Law, PC (Barre)
• Alison Low - Senior Planner, Northeastern Vermont Development Association

Reed v. Town of Gilbert - Content Based Sign Regulations

In 2015, the US Supreme Court ruled on a case that provides some direction on when municipalities may impose content-based restrictions on signage.  It also clarified the level of constitutional scrutiny to be applied to content-based restrictions on free speech.  The case revolved around a municipal sign regulation that included stricter limitations on signs advertising religious services than signs displaying political or ideological messages.  Panelists will discuss the decision, why it does not invalidate traditional sign regulations across the country, and what free speech lessons to take from the ruling.

• Amanda Lafferty - Attorney, Stitzel Page & Fletcher, PC (Burlington)
• Tim Corwin - Senior Planner, Lebanon, NH
• John Kessler (Invited) - Attorney, VT Agency of Commerce and Community Development

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Vermont Technical College (our venue)

Vermont Tech’s main campus is located in Randolph Center – a quintessential small Vermont town in the geographical heart of the state. Situated on 544 picturesque acres, the campus encompasses residence halls for 620 students, modern classrooms and labs, conference facilities, the SHAPE facility, and the college farmstead.

        

 

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