The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 20 : Internal Security and Public Safety

Chapter 173 : Prevention and Investigation of Fires

Subchapter 002 : Division of Fire Safety

• § 2730. Definitions

  (a) As used in this subchapter, “public building” means:

  (1)(A) a building owned or occupied by a public utility, hospital, school, house of worship, convalescent center or home for elders or persons who have an infirmity or a disability, nursery, kindergarten, or child care;

  (B) a building in which two or more persons are employed, or occasionally enter as part of their employment, or are entertained, including private clubs and societies;

  (C) a cooperative or condominium;

  (D) a building in which people rent accommodations, whether overnight or for a longer term;

  (E) a restaurant, retail outlet, office or office building, hotel, tent, or other structure for public assembly, including outdoor assembly, such as a grandstand;

  (F) a building owned or occupied by the State of Vermont, a county, a municipality, a village, or any public entity, including a school or fire district; or

  (G)(i) a building in which two or more persons are employed, or occasionally enter as part of their employment, and where the associated extraction of plant botanicals utilizing flammable, volatile, or otherwise unstable liquids, pressurized gases, or other substances capable of combusting or whose properties would readily support combustion or pose a deflagration hazard; and

  (ii) notwithstanding subdivision (b)(3) of this section, a building on a working farm or farms that meets the criteria of subdivision (G)(i) of this subsection is a “public building.”

  (2) Use of any portion of a building in a manner described in this subsection shall make the entire building a “public building” for purposes of this subsection. For purposes of this subsection, a “person” does not include an individual who is directly related to the employer and who resides in the employment-related building.

  (b) The term “public building” does not include:

  (1) An owner-occupied single-family residence, unless used for a purpose described in subsection (a) of this section.

  (2) A family residence registered as a child care home under 33 V.S.A. chapter 35, or specifically exempted from registration by 33 V.S.A. § 3502(b)(1).

  (3) Farm buildings on a working farm or farms. For purposes of this subchapter and subchapter 3 of this chapter, the term “working farm or farms” means farms with fewer than the equivalent of 10 full-time employees who are not family members and who do not work more than 26 weeks a year. In addition, the term means a farm or farms:

  (A) Whose owner is actively engaged in farming.

  (B) If the farm or farms are owned by a partnership or a corporation, one that includes at least one partner or principal of the corporation who is actively engaged in farming.

  (C) Where the farm or farms are leased, the lessee is actively engaged in farming. The term “farming” means:

  (i) The cultivation or other use of land for growing food, fiber, Christmas trees, maple sap, or horticultural and orchard crops.

  (ii) The raising, feeding, or management of livestock, poultry, equines, fish, or bees.

  (iii) The production of maple syrup.

  (iv) The operation of greenhouses.

  (v) The on-site storage, preparation, and sale of agricultural products principally produced on the farm. Notwithstanding this definition of farming, housing provided to farm employees other than family members shall be treated as rental housing and shall be subject to the provisions of this chapter. In addition, any farm building that is open for public tours and for which a fee is charged for those tours shall be considered a public building.

  (4) An owner-occupied single-family residence with an accessory dwelling unit as permitted under 24 V.S.A. § 4412(1)(E), unless rented overnight or for a longer term as described in subdivision (1)(D) of subsection (a) of this section.

  (c) For the purpose of this subchapter, subchapter 3 of this chapter, and chapter 174 of this title, the words “premises,” “building,” and “structure,” or any part thereof shall mean “public building” as defined in this section.

  (d) “Historic building” or “historic structure” means any structure that has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places or the State Register of Historic Places or that has been determined to be historically significant by the Vermont Advisory Council on Historic Preservation or that meets the standards adopted by the Division for Historic Preservation pursuant to 22 V.S.A. § 723(a).

  (e) The phrase “damage or destroy the historic architectural integrity of the historic building or structure” means to have an undue adverse impact on historically significant features of the historic architectural integrity of the building. (Added 2003, No. 141 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. April 1, 2005; amended 2007, No. 172 (Adj. Sess.), § 5; 2013, No. 96 (Adj. Sess.), § 122; 2017, No. 113 (Adj. Sess.), § 142; 2019, No. 44, § 3, eff. May 30, 2019; 2023, No. 47, § 26, eff. July 1, 2023.)