Proposed Bylaw Amendment: Village Center Zoning Updates (BMG)

The 2024 Town Plan directed the Planning Commission to update zoning to make it easier to develop compact neighborhoods in the village growth areas. The PC received a grant award to modernize the bylaws and spent more than a year working with a consultant to steer process. The update included comparing current zoning with recommendations in Vermont’s Enabling Better Places: A Guide for Vermont Neighborhoods. Local developers and residents weighed in throughout the process.

Proposed changes simplify an existing form-based code in the Riverside Village Center, align with the Town Plan, and establish regulations appropriate for an area serviced by a future municipal wastewater system in Riverside.

The amendments address five topics:  

1. Dimensional Standards – lot sizes, lot coverage, building setbacks and height, number of principal buildings on a lot, non-conforming conditions, required architectural treatments, and character-based frontage requirements; 

2. Parking –number of on-site parking spaces, on street parking, and location of parking that can reduce costs and are appropriate for walkable neighborhoods. 

3. Allowable Uses – reduce restrictions for housing, contemporary definition of family composition, and reduce unnecessary subdivision of land to support diverse uses and barriers to housing. 

4. Street Standards – Allow on-street parking, public realm standards, reduce lane widths, and implement complete-street principles to create streets that support more intense land use and walking, biking, and driving; and,

5. Development Review Processes – Reduce requirements for conditional use approval and discretionary site plan review, simplify requirements for small-scale development, allow limited deviations from certain zoning standards, avoid overreliance on PUD reviews, and make staff responsible for site plan review – all updates that can reduce costs and time associated with permitting housing.

Read more information on the main project page - here.

The Selectboard will hold a public hearing on this topic on June 26, 2025 at 6pm. Get details here.