Efforts to promote affordable housing in Boston are starting to sound like potato chip marketing, boasting “40% less fat” for a bag of chips that’s actually 40% smaller. The Boston Redevelopment Authority is now authorizing apartment units as small as 450 square feet
Rackemann, Sawyer & Brewster
Rackemann, Sawyer & Brewster is a law firm that publishes blogs focused on legal issues primarily related to real estate, property law, and related transactional and litigation matters. Their content includes analysis of court decisions, explanations of legal concepts such as easements, joint ownership, and foreclosure duties, as well as updates on regulatory and permitting developments affecting property owners and developers. The firm provides detailed discussions of case law and statutory changes, aiming to inform clients and the public about practical legal implications in real estate and property management contexts.
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House In Spooner Road Case Goes Up In Smoke
By Donald Pinto
The Brookline house at the center of a zoning controversy that resulted in an important 2010 Appeals Court decision (pdf) on nonconforming uses, “infectious invalidity” and standing, which in another important decision (pdf) was partiallly reversed by the Supreme Judicial Court, has been destroyed…
Regis College Pulls Plug On “Educational” Senior Housing
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…
SJC Upholds Exercise Of Variance Past One-Year Limit
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…
Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant: Local Zoning Board Causes A Reaction
Proponents of a smaller federal government probably didn’t have this in mind – a local zoning board deciding the fate of a nuclear power plant. That’s what just happened in Plymouth, where the Zoning Board of Appeals last week…
Supreme Court’s Koontz Decision May Help Landowners Fighting Mitigation Payments
Yesterday the United States Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decision in Koontz v. St. Johns River Water Management District (pdf). The court split 5-4 along the usual lines. According to the dissent, this decision may have a significant impact on real estate developers and…
Full Text of Massachusetts Land Use Reform Bill
By Donald Pinto
Here’s the full text of Massachusetts House Bill H.1859, entitled “An Act Promoting the Planning and Development of Sustainable Communities,” which is presently before the Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government. I’ll be digging into this jam-packed bill over the…
ALERT: Near End Of Session, Mass. Legislators Pushing Complex Bill That Would Change Zoning And Land Use Law As We Know It
By Donald Pinto
A summary of what this bill would do is here. A few things jump right out: (1) the bill’s title, “An Act Promoting the Planning and Development of Sustainable Communities,” gives me the willies; (2) sayonara, ANR plans; (3) allows town…
SJC Decision May Result In Haircut For Broker Who Misrepresented Zoning to Salon Owner
The Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) yesterday issued its decision in the closely-watched case of DeWolfe v. Hingham Centre, Ltd. The SJC has concluded that a broker can be liable for a written misrepresentation regarding zoning, despite language in a commonly-used form purchase and…
Spring Training for Real Estate Lawyers
By Donald Pinto
Educational opportunities abound this spring! Next Tuesday, April 2, 2013, at the Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) headquarters in Downtown Crossing, my current Rackemann colleague and fellow MLUM contributor Gordie Orloff, and my former Rackemann colleague, Land Court Justice Robert B. Foster, will be among the panelists in…