§ 4471. Appeal to Environmental Division

(a) Participation required. An interested person who has participated in a municipal regulatory proceeding authorized under this title may appeal a decision rendered in that proceeding by an appropriate municipal panel to the Environmental Division. Participation in a local regulatory proceeding shall consist of offering, through oral or written testimony, evidence or a statement of concern related to the subject of the proceeding. An appeal from a decision of the appropriate municipal panel, or from a decision of the municipal legislative body under subsection 4415(d) of this title, shall be taken in such manner as the Supreme Court may by rule provide for appeals from State agencies governed by 3 V.S.A. §§ 801-816, unless the decision is an appropriate municipal panel decision which the municipality has elected to be subject to review on the record.

(b) Appeal on the record. If the municipal legislative body has determined (or been instructed by the voters) to provide that appeals of certain appropriate municipal panel determinations shall be on the record, has defined what magnitude or nature of development proposal shall be subject to the production of an adequate record by the panel, and has provided that the Municipal Administrative Procedure Act shall apply in these instances, then an appeal from such a decision of an appropriate municipal panel shall be taken on the record in accordance with the Vermont Rules of Civil Procedure.

(c) Notice. Notice of the appeal shall be filed by certified mailing, with fees, to the Environmental Division and by mailing a copy to the municipal clerk or the administrative officer, if so designated, who shall supply a list of interested persons to the appellant within five working days. Upon receipt of the list of interested persons, the appellant shall, by certified mail, provide a copy of the notice of appeal to every interested person, and, if any one or more of those persons are not then parties to the appeal, upon motion they shall be granted leave by the Division to intervene.

(d) Local Act 250 review. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of this section, decisions of a development review board under section 4420 of this title, with respect to local Act 250 review of municipal impacts, are not subject to appeal, but shall serve as presumptions under the provisions of 10 V.S.A. chapter 151.

(e) Neighborhood development area. Notwithstanding subsection (a) of this section, a determination by an appropriate municipal panel shall not be subject to appeal if the determination is that a proposed residential development within a designated downtown development district, designated growth center, designated Vermont neighborhood, or designated neighborhood development area seeking conditional use approval will not result in an undue adverse effect on the character of the area affected under subdivision 4414(3) of this title. (Added 1967, No. 334 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. March 23, 1968; amended 1971, No. 185 (Adj. Sess.), § 205, eff. March 29, 1972; 1973, No. 193 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. April 9, 1974; 1993, No. 232 (Adj. Sess.), § 48, eff. March 15, 1995; 1999, No. 112 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; 2003, No. 115 (Adj. Sess.), § 107; 2007, No. 176 (Adj. Sess.), § 9, eff. May 28, 2008; 2009, No. 154 (Adj. Sess.), § 236; 2015, No. 51, § F.6.)