Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay The Supreme Judicial Court has held that a McLean Hospital program focused on developing the emotional and social skills of adolescents who exhibit extreme emotional dysregulation may, under the Dover Amendment, be located in a residential zoning district. The Court… READ MORE
Mina S. Makarious and Paul Kominers co-authored, “Spaulding v. Town of Natick School Committee: Allowing Free Speech while Accomplishing Municipal Work”, for the 2019 spring edition of the Boston Bar Journal. based on the Spaulding v. Town of Natick School Committee, MICV2018-01115 (Nov. 21, 2018) (Kirpalani, J.) decision. Read it here!… READ MORE
Just before 2018 ended, Governor Baker signed An Act Regulating and Insuring Short-Term Rentals into law. The Act capped off years of public debate, Beacon Hill wrangling, and local regulation of short-term rentals such as those arranged through Airbnb and VRBO. The Act will take… READ MORE
image credit: DariuszSankowski If a proposed activity is more therapeutic than educational, it not protected by the Dover Amendment and therefore may not be conducted in a zoning district where it is not permitted under the zoning ordinance or bylaw, under a recent Land Court decision. The McLean… READ MORE
image credit: Couleur The Supreme Judicial Court recently reaffirmed that a landowner whose property is damaged by a neighbor’s healthy tree cannot hold the neighbor responsible for damages. Shiel v. Rowell, SJC-12432 (July 16, 2018). The Rowells’ oak tree overhung and caused algae buildup on Shiel’s roof. Shiel sued for… READ MORE
In Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) v. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA),–F.3d—(June 19, 2018), the DC Circuit left unaddressed the question of whether the FAA’s rules governing drone use must address privacy concerns by dismissing the suit on standing grounds. EPIC, a privacy advocacy group, brought the suit against… READ MORE
image credit: Nick Roberts General Laws Chapter 40B was enacted nearly 50 years ago to overcome local obstacles to affordable housing. A powerful tool against parochial requirements and regulations, it authorizes the municipal zoning board to issue a “comprehensive permit” overriding all local requirements or regulations for an affordable housing… READ MORE
Image Credit: rulenumberone2 In the latest battle in the ongoing dispute over a proposed asphalt plant in Westford abutting the Chelmsford town line, the Superior Court recently held that Chelmsford has no standing to appeal special permits issued by the Westford Zoning Board of Appeals. The case is… READ MORE
image credit: Amy Fast-food coffee shops may look virtually the same from town to town, but as a recent Appeals Court decision reminds planners and local land use boards, what a town’s zoning by-law says—and local officials’ reasonable interpretations of that by-law—can dictate how they are characterized… READ MORE
Late last week, the Supreme Court decided an important case in regulatory takings law, Murr v. Wisconsin. Murr sets out a new test for defining the private property at issue in regulatory takings cases. Regulatory takings and the denominator problem. A regulatory taking may occur when the government regulates… READ MORE