§ 6021.
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/vt/title-10/chapter-151/6021A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
§ 6021. Board; vacancy; removal
(a)Board established. The Land Use Review Board is created.
(1)The Board shall consist of five members appointed by the Governor after review and approval by the Land Use Review Board Nominating Committee in accordance with subdivision
(2)of this subsection and confirmed with the advice and consent of the Senate, so that one appointment expires in each year. The Chair and the other four members shall be full-time positions. In making these appointments, the Governor and the Senate shall give consideration to candidates who have experience, expertise, or skills relating to one or more of the following areas: environmental science; land use law, policy, planning, and development; and community planning. All candidates shall have a commitment to environmental justice.
(A)The Governor shall appoint a chair of the Board, a position that shall be a full-time position. The Governor shall ensure Board membership reflects, to the extent possible, the racial, ethnic, gender, and geographic diversity of the State. The Board shall not contain two members who reside in the same county.
(B)Following initial appointments, the members shall be appointed for terms of five years. All terms shall begin on July 1 and expire on June 30. A member may continue serving until a successor is appointed. The initial appointments shall be for staggered terms of one year, two years, three years, four years, and five years.
(2)(A) The Land Use Review Board Nominating Committee shall advertise the position when a vacancy will occur on the Land Use Review Board.
(B)The Nominating Committee shall review the applicants to determine which are well qualified for appointment to the Board and shall recommend those candidates to the Governor. The names of candidates shall be confidential.
(C)The Governor shall appoint, with the advice and consent of the Senate, a chair and four members of the Board from the list of well-qualified candidates sent to the Governor by the Committee.
(b)Terms; vacancy; succession. The term of each appointment subsequent to the initial appointments described in subsection
(a)of this section shall be five years. Any appointment to fill a vacancy shall be for the unexpired portion of the term vacated. A member may seek reappointment by informing the Governor. If the Governor decides not to reappoint the member, the Nominating Committee shall advertise the vacancy.
(c)Removal. Notwithstanding the provisions of 3 V.S.A. § 2004, members shall only be removable for cause by the remaining members of the Board. The Board shall adopt rules pursuant to 3 V.S.A. chapter 25 to define the basis and process for removal.
(d)Disqualified members. The Chair of the Board, upon request of the Chair of a District Commission, may appoint and assign former Commission members to sit on specific Commission cases when some or all of the regular members and alternates of the District Commission are disqualified or otherwise unable to serve. If necessary to achieve a quorum, the Chair of the Board may appoint a member of a District Commission who has not worked on the case to sit on a specific case before the Board.
(e)Retirement from office. When a Board member who hears all or a substantial part of a case retires from office before the case is completed, the member may remain a member of the Board, at the member’s discretion, for the purpose of concluding and deciding that case and signing the findings and judgments involved. A retiring chair shall also remain a member for the purpose of certifying questions of law if a party appeals to the Supreme Court. For the service, the member shall receive a reasonable compensation to be fixed by the remaining members of the Board and necessary expenses while on official business. (Added 1969, No. 250 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. April 4, 1970; amended 1989, No. 234 (Adj. Sess.), § 2; 1991. No. 111, § 1, eff. June 28, 1991; 1993, No. 82, § 1; 1993, No. 232 (Adj. Sess.), § 26, eff. March 15, 1995; 2003, No. 115 (Adj. Sess.), § 48, eff. Jan. 31, 2005; 2013, No. 11, § 9; 2023, No. 181 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. June 17, 2024.)