Chester Planning Commission to hold workshop on housing shortage

The Chester Planning Commission will be hosting the first in a series of up to four workshops beginning at 6:30 p.m., Monday July 18 at Town Hall, 556 Elm St., and via Zoom by clicking here.

With the state experiencing a shortage of affordable housing, these workshops will gather citizen opinions to assist in broadly updating Chester’s Unified Development Bylaws with a focus on implementing steps to help ease the local housing shortage.

These workshops will provide an opportunity for Chester residents to help shape the future of the town.

“I hope many of Chester’s citizens will become involved as well as staying informed through these workshops,” said Planning Commission chair Hugh Quinn.

The Chester Town Plan, the Village Center Master Plan and a recent zoning audit will help inform the needed changes to the zoning bylaws. The Planning Commission will also utilize a guide titled Enabling Better Places: A Zoning Guide for Vermont Neighborhoods, produced by the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development for use by towns.  Each of these documents can be downloaded from the town’s website by clicking here.

Once completed, the overall project will incrementally update Chester’s Unified Development Bylaws with a particular focus on modernizing Chester’s bylaws to better address local housing needs and village revitalization goals.