Land Use Zoning
November 10, 2026 / November 10, 2026 by Ryan Douglas | Leave a Comment
In its decision last week in Blanche v. Zoning Board of Appeals of Westminster (pdf), the Massachusetts Appeals Court held that processing mostly imported logs into cordwood and woodchips on a parcel in the Town of Westminster (Town) is wood processing, not farming, so it doesn’t qualify as “agriculture” under M.G.L. c. 40A, § 3 […]
Read more »
Tagged
Affordable Housing Land Use Subdivision Zoning
May 14, 2025 by Tess Edwards | Leave a Comment
Last week, in an important decision for land-use and development lawyers, the Massachusetts Appeals Court ruled in Palmer Renewable Energy, LLC v. Zoning Bd. of Appeals of Springfield that permit extensions granted by the Legislature “stack” on top of equitable tolling triggered by the appeals process. The Land Court had found that permit extensions under […]
Affordable Housing Land Use Zoning
February 26, 2025 / February 27, 2025 by Donald R. Pinto, Jr. | Leave a Comment
Last Friday, Massachusetts’ “Unlocking Housing Production Commission,” established by Gov. Maura Healey in October, 2023, released its report titled “Building for Tomorrow.” The report lays out a series of recommendations to address the Commonwealth’s housing crisis, organized into several categories: Economic Incentives and Workforce Development; Land Use and Zoning; Regulations, Codes, and Permitting; and Statewide […]
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 […]
Environmental Zoning
June 3, 2022 by Donald R. Pinto, Jr. | 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 […]
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 […]
