Eminent Domain Urban Renewal

Somerville Urban Renewal Taking Survives Challenge

May 26, 2021 by Paula Devereaux | Leave a Comment

In Cobble Hill Center LLC v. Somerville Redevelopment Authority (pdf), the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) upheld the eminent domain taking by the Somerville Redevelopment Authority (SRA) of 3.99 acres of land located at 90 Washington Street in Somerville. Cobble Hill, the owner of the parcel, argued that the taking was improper because there was no […]

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Adverse Possession Eminent Domain Prescriptive Easement

Breaking: Mass. High Court Rules Municipality’s Acquisition of Prescriptive Easement Isn’t a Taking

February 24, 2020 by Donald R. Pinto, Jr. | Leave a Comment

In a rescript opinion issued this morning in Gentili v. Town of Sturbridge (pdf), the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) ruled that a municipality’s acquisition of a prescriptive easement over private property is not an eminent domain taking.  In prior proceedings in Gentili, the Land Court ruled that the defendant town had acquired a prescriptive easement […]

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