Land clearing in
Burlington, Vermont
Clearing work around Burlington runs to tight urban lots, steep banks, rental properties, institutions, and limited-access sites.
Estimate clearing cost↗The surface around Burlington is lake-bottom clay and sand terraces, with steep unstable bank faces where they meet the lake. Almost no job here is limited by vegetation. It is limited by whether a machine can get in, turn, stage material and work without a neighbour twelve feet away, and on the bank parcels, by whether the bank will hold it at all. The binding constraint is street access and staging, not the brush itself. Burlington reviews any project that disturbs more than 400 square feet of earth, and a steep-slopes overlay and a natural-resource overlay can restrict clearing before a machine arrives. Urban work is less season-bound than rural work because the machine is on hard surfaces more of the time, but bank work still wants dry, firm conditions. Machine access, neighbor exposure, utilities, limited staging, and material handling matter more than raw acreage on a tight city parcel.
What makes clearing a Burlington property different from a rural one?
Checked 2026-09-01
| Factor | On the ground here |
|---|---|
| Landform | Lake Champlain shoreline terraces and the steep banks above them |
| Elevation of workable ground | roughly 100–400 ft |
| Watershed | Lake Champlain directly, plus the lower Winooski at the northern edge |
| Mobilization zone | Core: Chittenden County |
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Frost-free window | April 29 to October 15 |
| Snowfall per year | 87.5 in |
| Highest named summit | Catlins Hill, about 367 ft |
| Named rivers | Winooski River |
| Soils with bedrock within 40 in | 8% |
| Hydric (wetland-type) soil | 19% |
| Most extensive soil | Adams and Windsor loamy sands (33%) |
| Seasonal high water table within 20 in | 28% |
- Burlington's 2019 Comprehensive Plan says the Burlington Fire Department, operating from five fire stations, responds to about 8,000 emergency calls a year. — City of Burlington, 2019 planBTV: Comprehensive Plan (adopted March 25, 2019)
- Burlington's 2019 Comprehensive Plan cites the Chittenden County 2050 forecast projecting the city's population will grow 12.8% over the following 30 years. — source
- Burlington's 2019 Comprehensive Plan describes the Intervale as an 870-acre Winooski River floodplain that holds the city's largest natural area and its working farms. — source
- Burlington's 2019 Comprehensive Plan says the Burlington School District operates 4 elementary schools, 2 elementary-level magnet schools, 2 middle schools and Burlington High School. — source
What Burlington reviews before a clearing crew moves
Burlington's threshold is far lower than the state's. The city's Stormwater Program reviews every project that disturbs more than 400 square feet of earth, whether or not another city permit is needed, and requires an erosion prevention and sediment control plan to be filed online before work starts. A backyard brush and stump job on a city lot can clear that line without anyone meaning it to.
Two overlays in the city's Comprehensive Development Ordinance matter on the steep banks and lake edge this page describes. A 2022 amendment (ZA 22-03) added a Steep Slopes Overlay District to the buildable-area rules in section 5.2.4, and the natural resource protection overlay covers riparian and littoral conservation, wetland conservation, natural areas and the special flood hazard area. Look up the parcel on the zoning map before deciding where a clearing limit can go.
Shoreland Protection Act reaches 250 feet from mean water level
Lake Champlain is far larger than the 10-acre threshold, so any parcel within 250 feet of mean water level is inside the protected shoreland area, and creating cleared area there is a permit or registration question before it is a clearing question.