With a shortage of vacant land available for construction of new school buildings, municipalities are frequently pressured to convert parkland to school uses. More often than not, such conversions implicate Article 97.
Article 97 of the Amendments to the Massachusetts Constitution “provides that land and easements taken or acquired for conservation purposes shall not be
In a decision that brought cheers from thirsty beachgoers, the Appeals 
Court in Almeida v. Arruda, 89 Mass. App. Ct. 241 (2016) affirmed a lower court finding that the sale of beer and wine at a pre-existing, nonconforming convenience store was neither a substantial change in use nor a detriment to the neighborhood.
Pursuant
In its recent rescript opinion in Pelullo v. Croft, the Appeals Court affirmed a Land Court decision that overturned a building inspector’s interpretation of an undefined term in the Natick Zoning Bylaw. The Appeals Court found that the building inspector’s interpretation was unreasonable and therefore not entitled to deference.
At issue was the meaning
In a case of first impression, the Appeals Court recently ruled that a dimensionally conforming structure used for a nonconforming use can’t be considered a nonconforming structure under M.G. L. c. 40A, § 6 (Section 6), first paragraph. The case is Welch-Philippino v. Zoning Board of Appeals of Newburyport (pdf).
Under Section 6, the alteration
In a previous post we discussed Gale v. Zoning Board of Appeals of Gloucester (pdf) and the “difficult and infelicitous” language of the first two sentences of M.G.L. c. 40A, § 6 governing nonconforming uses and structures. In Gale, the Appeals Court upheld the grant of a special permit authorizing the reconstruction of a single-family house
Last week the Appeals Court decided Miles-Matthias v. Zoning Board of Appeals of Seekonk (pdf), the latest opinion to address the 30-day window under M.G.L. c. 40A, § 15 for appealing the issuance of a building permit.
In Miles-Matthias, the plaintiffs were aware that the defendants planned to build three single-family homes that would share a common driveway.
In our continuing look at the Legislature’s proposed land use reform bill, “An Act Promoting the Planning and Development of Sustainable Communities” (the Act), we turn to the subject of zoning freezes and Approval Not Required (ANR) plans. The Act proposes significant changes to existing law governing the zoning freezes triggered by building permits, special permits, and subdivisions. These changes are in Sections 6-12 of the
In a decision that re-affirms its 2001 ruling in Preston v. Board of Appeals of Hull, the Appeals Court last week held that the grandfathered status of a lawful pre-existing nonconforming lot is not perpetual, and can be lost if the lot later comes into common ownership with adjoining land. In such circumstances, the adjoining lots merge to the extent necessary to
In May 2012 we reported on Regis College’s effort to shoehorn into the Dover Amendment an eight-building, 766,000 square-foot residential facility for senior citizens. See our prior post here. Having lost in the Land Court, Regis filed a further appeal, and the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) took the case on direct appellate review. In Regis College v.
To be effective, a variance granted under M.G. L. c. 40A, § 10 must be recorded and exercised within one year of issuance. In its 2009 decision in Cornell v. Board of Appeals of Dracut, the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) left open the question of whether substantial reliance could validate an otherwise lapsed variance. In its decision earlier this month in