§ 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.
(5) A building that is used in the outdoor cultivation of cannabis by a person licensed
pursuant to 7 V.S.A. chapter 33 in accordance with such chapter and related rules 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.
(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; 2023, No. 166 (Adj. Sess.), § 12, eff. June 10, 2024; 2023, No. 160 (Adj. Sess.), § 14, eff. July 1, 2024.)