Draft Version
Williston Town Plan 2025-2033
A comprehensive plan for sustainable growth and community development over the next decade.
This website is a reproduction of the official comprehensive plan, made to increase access and interactivity. The full plan, including supplementary materials and maps, can be found here.
How The Plan Was Developed
The town plan was developed through an extensive 12-month process involving community input, expert analysis, and public review.
Public Input Collection
May 2023 - Jan 2024
Draft Development
May - Sept 2024
Draft #1 Published
Oct 2024
Plan Revisions
Nov 2024 - Mar 2025
Public Hearings
Apr - Aug 2025
Plan Approval?
Aug 2025
Online survey, 6 round table workshops, and 7 popup events
Planning Commission breaks into group for initial plan draft
Town Plan Draft Iteration #1 is published to Williston2050.com
Incorporation of initial feedback
Public hearings to solicit and incorporate feedback.
TENTATIVE! Implementation begins
Plan Chapters
Williston's People
Arts And Social Infrastructure
Cultural Resources And Archaeology
Economic Development
Education And Childcare
Homes And Smart Growth
Town Departments And Core Services
Recreation, Programming, Parks & Library
Utilities
Transportation
Energy And Climate Resilience
Hazard Mitigation
Land-based Conservation Resources
Watershed Resources
Future Land Use Boundaries
Residential, Mixed Use And Industrial Land Uses
Rural Land Use & Subdivision Design
VISION & VALUES STATEMENT
Williston's Planning Commission began its public engagement for the 2025-2033 Williston Comprehensive Plan with "Livable, Resilient, Equitable" in mind. The Vision created under these three attributes carries through the Goals stated in each Chapter, which are then fulfilled by the Objectives, Strategies, and Actions called for throughout the Plan.
Livable
Across thousands of years and into the most recent decades, people have made Williston their home. It is a place that supports, sustains, educates, connects, and inspires people. Williston, Vermont is a livable place. The people of Williston have consistently expressed their desire that Williston continue to provide a high quality of life for all within its borders. Keeping Williston livable - even as the environmental, economic, demographic, and cultural conditions around us change - requires constant work on the part of the town and its people.
Resilient
Since it became a town in 1763, the defining characteristic of Williston has been change. For the life of the 2025-2033 Town Plan and beyond, Williston will continue to be driven by a changing climate, a changing economy, and a changing population. Change brings both challenge and opportunity, but resilience in the face of change usually requires action. Williston will face a changing retail landscape, climate change, technological advances, and other challenges that will be disruptive if they are not planned for and addressed proactively.
Equitable
In 2022, Williston adopted a Town Values Policy stating the Town's commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Anti-Racism. The Town is committed to implementing this policy in the 2025 Town Plan. Additionally, Williston's planners used the principles and practices in the American Planning Association Planning for Equity Policy Guide throughout the engagement process discussed in Engagement Insights Report and in drafting concrete, tangible actions for the implementation of this Town Plan.
INTRODUCTION
The Fabric of Community
See that thread hanging from the cuff of your faded jeans? Of course you do; we all have them. Give it a tug. See how easily it breaks?
Now, grab the cuff and try to tear it. Go on, pull hard. Woven into fabric as it is, that delicate thread takes on remarkable strength. Any individual thread can be easily snapped by a child, yet a strong adult can't tear the fabric.
The power of many.
The same is true in a town. How many times have you heard the phrase, 'a tight-knit community?' What exactly is woven together to create that sense of being tightly knit?
The answer is simple: the fabric is a shared story that defines the fundamental qualities of the community and everyone who lives there.
You hold that story in your hands.
Every eight years, Williston's Staff Planners and Planning Commission, in cooperation with the people who live and work here, write a new town plan that presents our collective vision for the future of Williston and how we will turn that vision into an achievable reality. The plan tells our collective story: who we are, what defines us, how we got here, where we're going, and why we're going there.
Weaving Required Elements of a Comprehensive Plan (the "What") into Livable/Resilient/Equitable (the "Why" and "How")
Our story, this fabric that defines us, is woven from two opposing but complementary threads. They're shown in the diagram below, created by Williston Town Planner Matt Boulanger. On the left are the "required elements" – the commitments we make in our role as a responsible Vermont community, required by State statute to be integral to a Comprehensive Plan. We agree to put into place and support objectives, policies, and programs that are in alignment with state-level planning goals. We engage in responsible and effective land use and transportation practices. We work hard to ensure the availability of town utilities and facilities that support a comfortable standard of living for the people who live and work here. We protect and preserve our considerable natural resources, carefully balanced against the realistic needs for town growth and development. We create strong, future and capability-focused education programs, energy policies, and housing programs designed to meet the current and future residential needs of Williston, taking into account a wide range of factors including changing demographics, economics, and town geography. We work closely with neighboring communities to ensure cooperation, communication, and collaboration on our most important initiatives. We focus strongly on economic development that is in concert with our town growth strategy and develop clear strategies and plans to deal with the inevitable impact of climate change.
Those factors shown along the left side of our Williston community fabric are the 'what' factors that we agree to support. They're tactical outcomes of a well-thought-out strategy, characterized by responses to 'why' and 'how' questions, which are lined up across the top of our fabric.
The why is what drives us. Why do we create this plan every eight years? To ensure that we take into account every possible factor required to have a town where we live and work that is livable, resilient, and equitable. To be a place where people want to live rather than have to live. To be a community that wants for very little. And to be a place that focuses on a constantly evolving future because that's how the world works, while never forgetting the depth and richness of our past, the legacy that made us who and what we are.
And how do we do that? By weaving the painstakingly designed pattern of our town fabric. We are a livable place because we create a strong, inalienable sense of belonging for everyone—we welcome all. We are sociable and kind. We work hard to maintain the heterogeneous beauty of Williston, a diverse mix of rural, urban, and suburban environments, woven into a dynamic place that offers a broad range of affordable housing and business options.
We are an equitable community, this Williston of ours. Equitable communities are diverse communities, and diverse communities are strong and resilient and tolerant and balanced. In biology, it's called hybrid vigor. We grow and expand and become richer as a community because of this approach, offering abundant and diverse services for all.
And we are resilient. Charles Darwin said it well. Contrary to popular myth, he never said anything about 'survival of the fittest.' What he did say was that those who survive and thrive are not the strongest, or the smartest, but those that are most adaptable to change. Change: the word of the year, the decade, the century. Climate change. Environmental change. Political change. Economic change. Demographic change. We live with all of those in our midst; they are forces that in many ways define us. And how does Williston respond? By envisioning the possible impacts of these changes and planning for their future impact. By creating firm strategies with flexible execution plans. By relying on sustainable, responsible, energy-efficient practices in transportation, food production, business, education, housing, growth, storm water management, and waste control. By communicating and collaborating across the entirety of the fabric that defines us and our story.
Carved into the lintel above the entrance to the National Archives in Washington, D.C. is this phrase: 'The Past is Prologue.' Williston's past (Old Town Charm) establishes the foundation for our future and what it means (New Town Spirit). This plan tells the story of that future.
This is our plan. This is our community. This is our story.
- Dr. Steven Shepard, Williston Planning Commission