They say “failing to plan is planning to fail.” But in Vermont, it turns out planning everything is how we failed—just very thoroughly and with great documentation.
Half a Century of Planning, and What Do We Have?
For over 50 years, Vermont has been one of the most heavily “planned” states in the nation. We’ve built an entire industry around land-use planning, regional commissions, municipal commissions, transportation plans, housing plans, climate plans, and emergency management strategies. If there’s a problem, we form a task force. If there’s a question, we hold a public forum. And if anything actually tries to get built, we slow it down with permits and environmental reviews.
And what do we have to show for all this planning?
A housing crisis. Crumbling roads. An economy that can’t keep our kids here. A shrinking workforce. And an ever-growing stack of studies, PowerPoints, and planning documents sitting on shelves gathering dust. It’s no longer just inefficient. It’s absurd.
A Billion Dollars Taken Out of the Economy
Let’s call it what it is: a billion dollars for butt-kiss.
When you account for 50 years of funding across 11 Regional Planning Commissions, state and federal agencies, consultant fees, legal costs, and municipal zoning efforts, the conservative estimate is that Vermont has spent at least $1.8 billion on planning-related operations since the early 1970s. Not on building, not on producing, not on fixing—but on planning.
That money wasn’t found in a field somewhere. It was taken—from workers, farmers, property owners, and businesses—through taxes and fees, and then funneled into government salaries, redundant studies, and regulatory systems that often prevent more than they produce. It wasn’t reinvested in Vermont’s communities—it was absorbed by the overhead of the bureaucracy itself.
The Act 250 Trap
Just look at Act 250, Vermont’s signature planning tool, established in 1970 to prevent “uncontrolled development.” A reasonable idea in theory—but in practice, Act 250 has morphed into a rigid, expensive, and painfully slow gatekeeping mechanism that punishes even the most modest development proposals.
As our team at FYIVT found in our deep dive on 50 years of Act 250, the system has created massive friction for builders, deterred manufacturing, and helped create the very housing shortage we now pretend to be shocked by. In fact, housing permits today are lower than they were in the 1970s. Let that sink in.
Between 2010 and 2020, Vermont’s housing stock grew by just 0.6% per year—adding fewer than 12,000 homes statewide in a full decade. That’s barely enough to keep up with natural turnover, let alone attract new families or retain young Vermonters. Overregulation isn’t slowing us down—it’s freezing us in place.
Vermont’s labor force shrank by over 8% between 2011 and 2021. That’s not just retirees—it’s a sign that younger workers are leaving, and no one’s replacing them. People go where they can build, live, and grow. And for too long, Vermont has told them: not here.
What We’ve Lost: Private Property and Prosperity
Worse than the dollars lost is the quiet erosion of property rights in the state of Vermont.
In a free society, ownership implies control. But in Vermont, owning land has become conditional. You can’t build without permits. You can’t subdivide without approval. You can’t improve your land without navigating a maze of bureaucracies. The idea that your property is truly yours has been replaced by the idea that it is managed on your behalf by someone with a planning degree in a regional office.
This is how freedom dies in modern America—not with a bang, but with an application form.
Time to Take the Other Road
So the real question we should be asking is this:
Do we really want another 50 years of this?
Do we want another generation bound by a planning-industrial complex that costs us billions, slows our economy, erodes our freedom, and gives us nothing but more meetings?
Or is it finally time to take the other road—the road Vermont didn’t take 50 years ago?
What if we had trusted Vermonters to do what they’ve always done—build smart, care for the land, and grow their communities with common sense? What if we hadn’t spent that billion dollars on consultants and studies, but instead left it in the hands of the people to invest, build, and create?
Sure, we might have seen a few more houses on ridgelines. Maybe even a billboard or two. But we would’ve also seen more homes for our kids, more businesses hiring workers, and a more affordable, livable Vermont.
The Vermont Promise Is Freedom—Let’s Reclaim It
The promise of Vermont has always been freedom, stewardship, and self-reliance—not centralized planning from Montpelier.
Maybe it’s time we remembered that.
Dave Soulia | FYIVT
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