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