Welcome to Our CHIP Learning Resources
This page helps you learn about Vermont's Community and Housing Infrastructure Program (CHIP). CHIP is a state program that uses project-based Tax Increment Financing to finance infrastructure improvements that enable housing development.
VLCT's three‑year municipal workforce development effort – CHIP IN VT – helps towns and cities understand how CHIP works and how to use it well. As part of this effort, we are hosting a series of webinars for local governments. Each webinar explains a different part of the program, from building with CHIP to carrying out long-term responsibilities.
After every webinar (and sometimes between webinars), we add tools and resources to this page. These materials are designed to help you take the next step, build your skills, and feel confident using CHIP in your community.
Introducing CHIP: Vermont's $2B Housing and Infrastructure Program
CHIP overview and resources to help municipalities launch their CHIP efforts.
- CHIP IN VT: Building Local Capacity for Housing and Infrastructure is VLCT 's CHIP IN VT landing page
- CHIP Introductory Brochure is a trifold brochure that can be included in meeting packets
- Actions to Enable Housing Development in Your Community
- Best Practices for Committees to Work Effectively with Municipal Leaders
- Funding Opportunities for
Building with CHIP: Project Readiness and Pre-Development Planning
Pre-development workflow, resources, and support available to municipalities.
Municipal Readiness
- CHIP Municipal Readiness Self-Assessment – Understand your community's readiness to participate in a CHIP application and experience.
- Increasing Municipal Capacity for Grants – A list of resource providers to increase municipal capacity for grants. Some provide CHIP assistance too.
- Drinking Water, Wastewater, and Housing in Vermont – This webpage of the Vermont Rural Water Association explains elements that contribute to assessing water and wastewater capacity.
- Questions-for-Local-Water-Wastewater-Systems.docx – Questions compiled by the Vermont Rural Water Association to help you learn about water and wastewater systems serving your community.
- Best Practices for Early Engagement in CHIP - Explore best practices for building community understanding, engaging residents early, and maintaining trust throughout a CHIP project.
- Preparing Municipal Land for Housing Development - Steps municipalities can take to understand a property, identify development challenges, and prepare municipal land for housing before reaching out to potential developers.
Working with Developers
- CHIP Project Roadmap explains the stages of CHIP projects, who is responsible for each step, and when important decisions are made.
- Information to Share with CHIP Developers identifies information municipalities can provide or post to help developers understand local goals, expectations, and processes.
- Assessing Project Readiness - Information to expect from developers, why it matters, and questions to ask before investing significant time in a potential project.
- CHIP Project Readiness: Sketch Plans – What a sketch plan is, how it is used, and typical elements included on sketch plans in Vermont.
- Early Questions to Ask Housing Developers Seeking CHIP Financing – A guide for early conversations with developers. Includes a meeting notes template.
- Reading a Housing Development Feasibility Study - A practical guide for understanding the study well enough to ask thoughtful questions, recognize important assumptions, and understand how the study supports the request for public participation.
- Tools and Support for Local Mapmaking – A list of reliable mapping tools and support options to make planning easier and help your community understand local projects.
- Environmental Review Starter Guide for Local Governments – Key data sources, maps, and explanations related to environmental reviews to help you understand what information is required and why it matters; a resource for conducting preliminary CHIP and infrastructure project reviews.
Understanding Estimated Property Valuation and Tax Increment Projections
- The Grand List: Understanding It and Why It Matters - Explains what the grand list is and how it can help local officials make better decisions about community growth, budgeting, and property taxes.
Generating Buy-in for Public-Private Partnerships
- Building Community Trust in Public-Private Partnerships - Lessons learned from municipalities that partnered with private developers to advance housing and redevelopment projects.
- Project Champions: Helping Municipal Projects Move Forward - Good municipal projects need more than a good idea. They need people who believe in the work, help others understand why it matters, and keep it moving when challenges arise.
- Model CHIP Participation Policy + Guidance - Optional model policies to help your municipality decide whether to sponsor a project through CHIP.
Risk Management for Public-Private Partnerships
- The Municipality's Role in Managing CHIP Project Risk - While municipalities cannot eliminate every risk, they can take steps to understand those risks and make informed decisions.
- Building a Strong CHIP Public-Private Partnership - Practices that can help municipalities build strong working relationships with housing developers.
- CHIP: Vetting Housing Developers - Steps municipalities can take to understand whether a developer has the experience, team, financial resources, and financing plan needed to move the project forward.
- Managing Risk in a CHIP Public-Private Partnership - Guidance and tools to help municipalities understand what could affect a project, decide which risks need the most attention, and put steps in place to manage them.
- Managing Tax Increment Risk - Common circumstances that may affect tax increment and practical questions to help municipalities evaluate and manage those risks.
- Typical Housing Infrastructure Agreement Components - Understand the types of provisions commonly found in an agreement and download the CHIP Housing Infrastructure Agreement requirements.
- CHIP Housing Development Plan Checklist - Learn about information that must be included in the plan and the steps the municipality must take to hold the required public hearing and adopt the plan.
- Lessons from Middlebury’s CHIP Experience - Middlebury submitted Vermont’s first CHIP application. Learn about the Town's experience, what it has learned, and what advice it can offer other municipalities.
Publication Date
04/21/2026