Community Investment Program (CIP)

Community Investment Program (CIP) is sponsored by State of Vermont. Funding and Incentives <a href="/community-development/funding-incentives/sales-tax-realloc Category: Community Development.

Community Investment Program (CIP) | Agency of Commerce and Community Development Planning Your Town’s Future Community Investment Program (CIP) Community Investment Board Designated Centers for Community Investment Designated Neighborhoods for Community Investment Community Investment Designation Benefits Community Investment Strategies & Success Stories Events, Training and Workshops Designation 2050: Design the Future of Vermont Community Investment Program (CIP) Overview of the Community Investment Program The Department of Housing and Community Development manages Vermont’s community investment program established under 24 V.

S. A Chapter 139. These include designations for community investment: Centers and Neighborhoods.

Designated Centers for Community Investment Designated Neighborhoods for Community Investment These designations work together to provide incentives, align policies, and give communities the technical assistance needed to encourage new development and redevelopment in our compact, designated areas.

The program’s incentives apply to both the public and private sectors within the designated area, including tax credits for historic building rehabilitation and code improvements, permitting benefits for new housing, funding for transportation-related public improvements, and priority consideration for other state grant programs.

The New Designations for Community Investment Facing an urgent housing crisis and a desire to better align planning and investment, Vermont’s General Assembly funded a review of the state’s five designation programs in 2023. The result, the Designation 2050 Report , guided legislative changes enacted in 2024.

These changes modernized and simplified the five legacy designation programs: Downtowns, Villages, New Town Centers, Growth Centers, and Neighborhood Development Areas, making them more accessible to rural towns, better aligning designations with local and regional planning, and strengthening Vermont’s delivery of community investment for vibrant places.

The new designation framework consolidates the State’s five legacy designations into two categories: Centers and Neighborhoods. The two new designations -- Centers and Neighborhoods -- are designed to support coordinated investments in compact places planned for efficient growth.

The Center designation will continue to recognize the legacy Downtown, New Town, and Village Center designations throughout the state, and the Neighborhood designation will continue to recognize the legacy Neighborhood Development Area and Growth Center designations. Find more information about the transition of legacy designations below.

The 2024 legislative changes shift the designation process to a new regional plan approval process, which expands access to the designation programs and transfers all legacy designations into the new framework upon approval of the regional plan’s future land use maps on or before December 2026. It also establishes standard categories for future land use (FLU) areas to be approved by the State Land Use Review Board (LURB).

New community investment designations are established upon LURB confirmation of the Regional Plans for three eligible regional future land use categories: 1. downtown and village centers, 2. planned growth areas, and 3.

village areas. Regional Planning Commissions (RPCs), in collaboration with municipalities, are responsible for developing draft future land use maps, which must be approved by the LURB before entering the designation program. Areas may be designated through this regional plan land use mapping process.

The Regional Planning Commission (RPC) maps downtown or village center, village area, or planned growth area future land use in the Regional Plan State Land Use Review Board confirms the RPC-approved Plan Areas mapped as a downtown or village center are established as Designated Centers Areas mapped as village areas or planned growth areas are established as Designated Neighborhoods Designated areas are added to the Vermont Planning Atlas & State Planning Data Center Benefits are available for designated Centers & Neighborhoods Municipalities may apply for Step Two or Step Three Center status to access additional benefits at any time they meet the requirements.

Designation Manual, Data Center & Map Resources Designation Manual, Data Center, and Map Resources Vermont Planning Manual Module 2 State Planning Data Center (opens in new window) Vermont Planning Atlas (opens in new window) This manual on the state designation programs offers guidance and case studies on how they help communities build thriving communities.

This database includes tabs with details for all designations, both new and legacy. This map viewer displays the boundaries for all designations (new and legacy) and other mapping layers to support municipal planning and community investment.

Transition of Legacy Designations The Center designation consolidates the legacy Downtown, Village Center, and New Town Center designations and transfers them to the new Center designation through the regional planning commissions' Regional Plan Future Land Use maps. Legacy-designated Downtowns will enter the new program as Step 3 Centers, and legacy-designated Villages and New Town Centers will enter the new program at Step 2.

All new centers will enter the program at Step 1. The Neighborhood designation consolidates the legacy Neighborhood Development Area and Growth Center designations and transfers them into the new Neighborhood Designation.

Upon approval of a regional plan, the legacy designations will be transferred to the new program using the boundaries established in the Land Use Review Board-approved regional plan, even if they differ from the legacy boundaries. There will be no loss of existing incentives for legacy designated areas upon transition, and the mapping of legacy areas will be maintained on the Vermont Planning Atlas.

This overview of the designation changes (PDF) serves as a resource on Vermont's transition to the new Designations for Community Investment. 2025: State Designation Programs Annual Report (PDF)