The Vermont Statutes Online
The Statutes below include the actions of the 2025 session of the General Assembly.
NOTE: The Vermont Statutes Online is an unofficial copy of the Vermont Statutes Annotated that is provided as a convenience.
(Cite as: 24 V.S.A. § 3203)
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§ 3203. Findings and declarations of necessity
(a) It is hereby found and declared that there exist in municipalities of the State slum
and blighted areas, as herein defined, which constitute a serious and growing menace,
injurious to the public health, safety, morals, and welfare of the residents of the
State; that the existence of such areas contributes substantially and increasingly
to the spread of disease and crime, constitutes an economic and social liability imposing
onerous municipal burdens which decrease the tax base and reduce tax revenues, substantially
impairs or arrests the sound growth of municipalities, retards the provision of housing
accommodations, aggravates traffic problems and substantially impairs or arrests the
elimination of traffic hazards and the improvement of traffic facilities; and that
the prevention and elimination of slums and blight is a matter of State policy and
State concern in order that the State and its municipalities shall not continue to
be endangered by areas which are focal centers of disease, promote juvenile delinquency,
and consume an excessive proportion of its revenues because of the extra services
required for police, fire, accident, hospitalization, and other forms of public protection,
services, and facilities.
(b) It is further found and declared that certain slum or blighted areas, or portions
thereof, may require acquisition, clearance, and disposition subject to use restrictions,
as provided in this chapter, since the prevailing condition of decay may make impracticable
the reclamation of the area by conservation or rehabilitation; that other areas or
portions thereof may, through the means provided in this chapter, be susceptible of
conservation or rehabilitation in such a manner that the conditions and evils hereinbefore
enumerated may be eliminated, remedied, or prevented; and that salvable slum and blighted
areas can be conserved and rehabilitated through appropriate public action as herein
authorized, and the cooperation and voluntary action of the owners and tenants of
property in such areas.
(c) It is further found and declared that the powers conferred by this chapter are for
public uses and purposes for which public money may be expended and the power of eminent
domain and police power exercised; and that the necessity in the public interest for
the provisions herein enacted is hereby declared as a matter of legislative determination.