Land Use Zoning
March 2, 2018 / March 2, 2018 by Gareth Orsmond | Leave a Comment
Earlier this year, the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) issued a relatively straightforward decision concerning heliports, home rule authority, and preemption – Roma, III, Ltd. v. Board of Appeals of Rockport (pdf). The decision held that a municipality could exercise its home rule authority to regulate private heliports and other non-commercial aircraft landing areas, and that […]
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Affordable Housing Restrictions Zoning
December 4, 2017 by Daniel Bailey | Leave a Comment
In its recent decision in 135 Wells Avenue, LLC v. Housing Appeals Committee (pdf), the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) confirmed that a property restriction held by a municipality cannot be overridden by the municipality’s zoning board of appeals – or by the state’s Housing Appeals Committee (HAC) – when acting on an application for a comprehensive […]
Variances Zoning
March 16, 2017 / April 3, 2017 by Donald R. Pinto, Jr. | Leave a Comment
The Massachusetts standard for granting a zoning variance is notoriously difficult to meet. In a nutshell it requires proof that: (1) due to circumstances concerning soil conditions, the shape of the lot, or the topography of the land; which (2) especially affect the land but not the zoning district generally; (3) literal enforcement of the zoning ordinance would cause a […]
