SLAPP Suits Zoning
April 27, 2020 by Nicholas Brown | Leave a Comment
A decision late last year from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC), 477 Harrison Ave., LLC v. JACE Boston, LLC (pdf), gives real estate developers a surprising new weapon when confronted by litigious neighbors. The dispute began in 2012, when the plaintiff developer obtained zoning relief to redevelop a residential property in Boston’s South End. […]
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March 9, 2020 / March 11, 2020 by Donald R. Pinto, Jr. | Leave a Comment
In what passes for high drama in the world of Massachusetts land use law, the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC), after hearing oral argument last Thursday in an important case involving standing in zoning appeals, entered an order the next day reversing the Appeals Court decision under review and reinstating the trial court’s decision dismissing the […]
February 7, 2020 by Michelle O'Brien | Leave a Comment
In one of its noteworthy zoning decisions of late 2019, the Massachusetts Appeals Court interpreted the “two-year bar” for zoning amendments contained in M.G.L. c. 40A, § 5, sixth par. In Penn v. Town of Barnstable, the Appeals Court affirmed a summary judgment entered by the Land Court and concluded that the Town of Barnstable’s […]
Land Use Zoning
September 23, 2019 by Donald R. Pinto, Jr. | Leave a Comment
In a noteworthy decision today, the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) reaffirmed that the exemption in the state’s Zoning Act, M.G.L. c. 40A, for uses deemed to be “for educational purposes,” is construed very broadly. That exemption, which appears in Section 3 of Chapter 40A and is known as the Dover Amendment, provides in relevant part […]
August 26, 2019 by Joel Quick | Leave a Comment
Two bills pending at the Massachusetts State House would amend the state Zoning Act, known as Chapter 40A, which governs zoning in every Massachusetts city and town except Boston. The Zoning Act is seldom amended, even though courts and land use lawyers are well aware of its shortcomings. This is no doubt because zoning is […]
June 28, 2019 by Donald R. Pinto, Jr. | Leave a Comment
In its recent decision in RCA Development, Inc. v. Zoning Board of Appeals of Brockton (pdf), Massachusetts’ Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) considered whether a division of land into two lots accomplished solely by deeds describing the new lots, with no plan having been drawn or approved by the local planning board, is valid. Without hesitation the […]
February 28, 2019 by Michelle O'Brien | Leave a Comment
There’s no shortage of case law on the issue of standing to maintain a zoning appeal. A case decided by the Appeals Court reminds us why the issue is still being discussed after all these years. In Talmo v. Zoning Board of Appeals of Framingham, 93 Mass. App. Ct. 626 (2018), the court addressed whether a […]
December 13, 2018 / December 14, 2018 by Donald R. Pinto, Jr. | Leave a Comment
The Massachusetts Appeals Court’s recent decision in McIntyre v. Zoning Board of Appeals of Braintree demonstrates the importance of subject matter jurisdiction in the context of administrative proceedings. The plaintiffs appealed the issuance of a building permit authorizing construction of a single-family house on an abutting lot. Though they knew immediately that the permit had issued, the […]
October 24, 2018 by Michelle O'Brien | Leave a Comment
The merger doctrine is alive and well in Massachusetts zoning law. In its recent decision in Kneer v. Zoning Board of Appeals of Norfolk, the Appeals Court examined whether the doctrine applies to property owned by a realty trust where a trustee owns abutting property individually. The Appeals Court disagreed with the way the Land Court […]
June 13, 2018 by Gareth Orsmond | Leave a Comment
As municipalities assert more control over development, zoning bylaws become more complex. And as mechanics, programmers, and lawyers all know, when there are many parts, there are many more opportunities for things to go wrong. Hence, the value of troubleshooting. Provincetown learned this the hard way. In Sinaiko v. Zoning Board of Appeals of Provincetown, […]
