AccessMyLibrary provides FREE access to over 30 million articles from top publications available through your library.
Create a link to this page
Copy and paste this link tag into your Web page or blog:
State housing appeals board cannot order town to convey easements for the creation of affordable housing.(Recent Court Decisions)(Zoning Board of Appeals of Groton v. Housing Appeals Committee Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts)
When a town denied a permit to build affordable housing because of valid safety concerns, the state housing appeals committee could not require the town to eliminate the safety hazards by granting easements to use town property, according to the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts.
In 2004, Washington Green Development, LLC (Washington) applied for a permit to build an affordable housing complex in the town of Groton. The development plans included the construction of several buildings along a single access road that would intersect with a busy highway. The zoning appeals board denied the permit, citing two primary safety concerns: first, that the road provided insufficient access to the complex; second, that vehicles on the highway would have inadequate sight distance to stop for obstacles at the intersection. Washington appealed to the state housing appeals committee, which reviews the denial of applications to build affordable housing and has the same power to issue permits "as any local board or official who would otherwise act with respect to such application," including the power to override local regulations. Recognizing the safety issues to be valid, the committee first found that the access problem could be remedied by an easement to use a road on adjacent property owned by the town. The committee also found that the stopping sight hazard could be eliminated by a second easement to clear vegetation on another portion of the town's property. The committee ordered the town to grant both easements and the building permit to Washington, asserting that it had the power to remove any municipally-created barriers to the construction of affordable housing. The trial court dismissed the town's challenges to the orders, and the town appealed.
On appeal, the state supreme court held ...
- Housing Alert: Supreme Judicial Court To Hear Seven Housing Cases In...
- News wire article from: Mondaq Business Briefing January 31, 2008 700+ words
...issues the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) will consider...City of Woburn v. Housing Appeals CommitteeThe issue...SJC is whether the Housing Appeals Committee (HAC...courts. Taylor v. Housing Appeals CommitteeIn the...
- Supreme Judicial Court Decision Protects The New England Fund, As Well As Other...
- News wire article from: Mondaq Business Briefing Levin, Mintz August 20, 2007 700+ words
...2007) the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) rejected a frontal attack...appeal in the case Middleborough vs. Housing Appeals Committee. By asking the SJC to invalidate...Instead, the SJC explicitly adopted the Housing Appeals Committee's (HAC) established...
- Housing Advisory: Supreme Judicial Court Issues Two Decisions About When Towns...
- News wire article from: Mondaq Business Briefing June 16, 2008 700+ words
On May 27, 2008, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) issued two decisions, both involving a town...ruling from the agency's adjudicative body, the Housing Appeals Committee (HAC), on the question. In the Hingham...
- Housing Advisory: SJC Issues Two Decisions Concerning When To Count To 10%...
- News wire article from: Mondaq Business Briefing May 7, 2008 700+ words
...the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) has...Canton v. Housing Appeals Committee...because the Housing Appeals Committee...Taylor v. Housing Appeals Committee...the Supreme Judicial Court. On April...
- Shipping up to Boston: the voting of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court...
- Magazine article from: Albany Law Review Blackwell, Kevin June 22, 2009 700+ words
...majority on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in 2001. (1) During his four years...of the seven justices of the Supreme Judicial Court. (3) While not every one of Governor...justices to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. (5) Two of those justices remained...
- Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Requires Employers To Meet Higher Standard...
- News wire article from: Mondaq Business Briefing September 8, 2009 700+ words
...arbitration clauses, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held on July 27, 2009 that employers wishing...filed an interlocutory appeal to the Supreme Judicial Court. The Supreme Judicial Court's Decision The Supreme Judicial Court granted...
- Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Upholds Use Of Work Product Doctrine To...
- News wire article from: Mondaq Business Briefing March 11, 2009 700+ words
...2009, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court upheld the trial court's determination...reconsideration, appealed to the Supreme Judicial Court. The dispute arose out of the Massachusetts...Massachusetts Department of Revenue. Supreme Judicial Court rejects attorney-client ...
- Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Deploys StarBak's Video Communications...
- Press release article from: Business Wire November 7, 2005 700+ words
...today announced that the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) of Massachusetts has deployed...public and legal community, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts and Suffolk University...of oral arguments before the Supreme Judicial Court, held in session at the John Adams...
