Links to Information about Massachusetts General Laws c. 40B

I have heard a lot of interest in the past two days about the proposed 40B development on West Street and the whole process under Massachusetts General Laws c. 40B, so this afternoon I put together materials that would assist people to understand the 40B process.  I gathered materials that I have access to as an attorney, and I also went through the materials I accumulated when I sat on the Medfield Zoning Board of Appeals and had to both hear the comprehensive permit application and write the decision for the over 55 project that exists now off of Dale Street, called, I believe The Village at Medfield.

These are my suggested selective Links to Information about Massachusetts General Laws c. 40B:

1.    The statute – http://www.malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleVII/Chapter40b

2.    Repeal 40B site – http://www.affordablehousingnow.org/

3.    Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development (EOHED) – 40B website –  http://www.mass.gov/hed/community/40b-plan/

4.    Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA) –  http://www.chapa.org/chapter-40b

5.    Massachusetts Housing Partnership’s  Local 40B Review and Decision Guidelines A Practical Guide for Zoning Boards of Appeal Reviewing Applications for Comprehensive Permits Pursuant to MGL Chapter 40B – https://www.masshousing.com/portal/server.pt/gateway/PTARGS_0_210_365_0_0_18/Local40B%20ReviewDecisionGuidelines.pdf

6.    Supreme Judicial Court case holding that the town’s taking of land via eminent domain after a 40B was announced was not done in good faith and would be voided – http://masscases.com/cases/sjc/399/399mass771.html

The familiar 10% affordable housing threshold is one of three in the statute.  The other two tests beyond the 10% affordable housing test, that allow towns to keep 40B’s out are:

1.  If 1.5% of developable land is already occupied by affordable housing,  or
2. If development of the proposed site would result in development of more than 0.3% of the town’s developable land that year

There was a 2009 Housing Appeals Commission case (Arbor Hill Holding Limited Partnership v. Weymouth Board of Appeals) which upheld Weymouth’s denying a permit to a proposed 40B project because the town exceeded one of those other standards.

Lastly, attorney Mark Bobrowski authored the excellent Handbook of Massachusetts Land Use and Planning Law, which has a chapter on comprehensive permits, which  is written for attorneys.