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Beveridge & Diamond is a leading environmental, land use and litigation law firm based in Washington, DC, with offices in California, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Texas.
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- Peter C. Anderson
- James M. Auslander
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- Daniel M. Brian
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- Nadira Clarke
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- Russell N. Fraker
- Bethany S. French
- David M. Friedland
- Aaron H. Goldberg
- Marc J. Goldstein
- Jeanine L.G. Grachuk
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- Paul E. Hagen
- Karen M. Hansen
- Lauren A. Hopkins
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- Aladdine D. Joroff
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- Heidi P. Knight
- Daniel M. Krainin
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- Kari L. Twaite
- Nicholas W. van Aelstyn
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- Graham C. Zorn
Topics
- Land Use
Recent Posts
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Showing 13 posts in Land Use. View our practice description for Land Use.
Comprehensive Permit Decisions from Massachusetts Top Court Side With Developers, Fending Off Technical Arguments by Local Boards
After a deciding a paucity of cases under the Anti-Snob Zoning Act, M.G.L. c. 40B, §§ 20-23, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court handed down two cases within one week reaffirming the broad authority of local boards of appeal and the Housing Appeals Committee to issue Comprehensive Permits authorizing affordable housing projects. Read More ›
Massachusetts Introduces Compact Neighborhoods Policy
The Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) offered an additional incentive to municipalities similar to Chapter 40R, to adopt zoning districts promoting housing for working families of all incomes called the “Compact Neighborhoods Policy.” Read More ›
Appellate Courts Toughen Standard for Developers Obtaining Summary Dismissal of Zoning Appeals
Two recent cases, 81 Spooner Road, LLC v. Zoning Board of Appeals of Brookline, 461 Mass. 692 (2012) and O’Connell v. Vainisi, 82 Mass. App. Ct. 688 (2012), recalibrate the evidence that the defendant/developer must produce in order to rebut successfully the presumption of standing of the project opponent and secure a summary judgment dismissing a zoning appeal. Read More ›
Massachusetts High Court Set to Review Decision Whether Untimely Recorded Variance Saved by Substantial Reliance
A previous edition of the Massachusetts Environmental & Land Use Alert reported on Grady v. Langone, et al., 2011 Mass. LCR Lexis 77, in which the Land Court held that a variance is effective even if it is recorded outside the statutory one-year period so long as there has been substantial reliance on the variance. In Grady, the trial court rejected drawing a "hard and fast ‘one year’ rule" similar to that adopted for the 20-day appeal period from the decisions of permit- or special-permit granting authorities under Chapter 40A, § 17. Instead, even though the permittee recorded the variance a few days outside the one-year statutory period, the trial court upheld the validity of the variance where the developer had hired a general contractor, applied for and received a building permit, hired an architect to review the work progress and prepare reports, obtained a construction loan and granted a mortgage to a credit union, drew substantial funds from the loan, and began clearing the site, all within one year of the grant of the variance. Read More ›
Automatic Extension of Development Permits Increased From Two to Four Years Under Latest Economic Development Law
On August 7, 2012, Governor Deval Patrick signed into law a sweeping amendment to the Permit Extension Act enacted in 2010. The law affords owners and developers a broader class of automatic permit extensions than ever before in two distinct ways. First, the new law doubles the length of the automatic extension of most local, regional, and state land use permits from two (2) to four (4) years. This extension is completely self-executing and requires no action by either the permit-granting authority or developer. Second, the new law also doubles the time period to which the automatic extension applies: The 4-year extension applies to permits and approvals obtained anytime during the four-year period of August 15, 2008 through August 15, 2012, two years longer than the original law. Read More ›
Check Massachusetts Land Court Rules on your iPad or Kindle
Practitioners and litigants anxious to check how much time they have to file an opposition or how to serve a complaint can consult their Kindle or iPad now that various Massachusetts rules of court are available for free for those and other devices. The Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries web site has made the Massachusetts Rules of Civil Procedure and Appellate Procedure and the Land Court and Superior Court Rules available as e-books in EPUB or Kindle format. The web page has step-by-step instructions for installation on Apple, Android, and Nook devices. Read More ›
Municipal Regulation Limiting Options Under the State Building Code Found Unconstitutional
Finding a local ordinance in violation of the Home Rule Amendment, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has struck down a municipal mandate limiting owners to installing a single type of fire protective signaling system notwithstanding the State Building Code’s (the “Code”) approval of four such systems. In St. George Greek Orthodox Cathedral of Western Massachusetts, Inc. v. Fire Department of Springfield, SJC-10973, May 4, 2012, the Court found that the Code “preempts [this] inconsistent local regulation[].” Read More ›
House "Jobs Bill" Seeks to Amend Permit Extension Act
Sections 31 and 32 of House Bill 4093, An Act Relative to Infrastructure Investment, Enhanced Competitiveness and Economic Growth in the Commonwealth, proposes an expansion of the 2010 Permit Extension Act (the “Act”) by further extending local and state permits. Read More ›
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Issues Final Land-Based Wind Energy Guidelines for Wildlife Protection
On March 23, 2012, the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Service (“FWS”) released the “U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Land-Based Wind Energy Guidelines.” The new voluntary Guidelines provide a tiered, scientific process for addressing potential wildlife impacts during the various stages of land-based wind energy project development. The Guidelines take effect immediately, replacing the interim guidance that had been in place since 2003. Read More ›
Massachusetts Land Court Dockets Finally Available Online
The Massachusetts Land Court has joined most other Massachusetts state courts in finally offering access to its dockets online. Read More ›