Environmental Renewable Energy
March 2, 2023 by Tess Edwards | Leave a Comment
Late last year, pursuant to her review authority under M.G.L. c. 40, § 32, then-Attorney General (now Governor) Maura Healey (the AG) issued a decision disapproving the Town of Carver’s moratoria on large-scale solar projects and battery storage systems. The grounds for the decision were straightforward and well-supported: citing the Supreme Judicial Court’s June, 2022 […]
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Easements Land Use Restrictions
January 19, 2023 by Michelle O'Brien | Leave a Comment
A Kingston couple was dealt a significant blow days before Christmas when the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) set aside a jury verdict awarding them $3.5 million in damages for errant golf balls hitting their property. In Tenczar v. Indian Pond Country Club, Inc. (pdf), the SJC ruled that the trial judge erred in his jury […]
Environmental Justice Land Use
January 10, 2023 by Tess Edwards | Leave a Comment
In GreenRoots, Inc. v. Energy Facilities Siting Board, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC), for only the second time, had an opportunity to interpret the Environmental Justice Policy (EJ Policy) promulgated by the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EOEEA). The first time, in the 2014 case City of Brockton v. Energy Facilities Siting […]
Affordable Housing Land Use Zoning
December 20, 2022 / December 21, 2022 by Donald R. Pinto, Jr. | Leave a Comment
The Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) last week gave real estate litigators an early holiday gift: an important, clarifying opinion on a recent amendment to Section 17 of M.G.L. c. 40A (the Zoning Act), which governs appeals to court from decisions of local zoning boards. The case is Marengi v. 6 Forest Road, LLC (pdf). In […]
Chapter 91
July 15, 2022 by Paula Devereaux | Leave a Comment
In this April 2021 blog post we discussed the Superior Court’s decision in Armstrong vs. Theoharides. Since then the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) took the case on direct appellate review and earlier this week the SJC issued a decision (pdf) affirming the Superior Court. The SJC found that the longstanding procedure for approving Municipal Harbor […]
Environmental Zoning
June 3, 2022 by Joel Quick | Leave a Comment
Massachusetts has committed to increasing the generation of electricity from renewable energy sources, such as solar power, through a series of laws and policies. As solar energy systems have proliferated, trial courts have been asked to determine the limits of local government power over where large ground-mounted solar energy facilities can be sited. For the […]
Zoning
December 9, 2021 by Donald R. Pinto, Jr. | Leave a Comment
In its recent decision in Allegaert v. Harbor View Hotel Owner, LLC, the Massachusetts Appeals Court reversed in part two Superior Court judgments dismissing the plaintiffs’ zoning appeals. In the process the Appeals Court helpfully clarified some procedural issues that often arise in such cases. The plaintiffs in Allegaert are neighbors of the Harbor View Hotel in […]
Environmental Land Use Wetlands
September 21, 2021 by Michelle O'Brien | Leave a Comment
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) recently handed a victory to a conservation commission seeking to impose an enforcement order on a property owner who bought land containing unauthorized fill placed there by a prior owner 35 years before. The SJC ruled that the “statute of repose” in the state Wetlands Protection Act, which protects […]
Easements Real Estate
September 30, 2020 by Paula Devereaux | Leave a Comment
In its decision last week in Town of Sudbury vs. Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) declined to expand the reach of the common-law prior public use doctrine. As the court explained, “[u]nder this long-standing doctrine, public lands acquired for one public use may not be diverted to another inconsistent public […]
Land Use Real Estate Zoning
August 19, 2020 / August 21, 2020 by Rick Novak | Leave a Comment
In perhaps a sign of the linguistic times, Appeals Court Justice James R. Milkey’s opinion in the case of Comstock v. Zoning Board of Appeals of Gloucester received more media coverage for certain racial history commentary in a footnote than for the central zoning principles at stake. Yet, for zoning lawyers, there is far more […]
