A legal doctrine established prior to Article 97 protects public lands dedicated to a public use from being used for other purposes without legislative authorization, meaning a bill in the General Court passed by majority vote. This is the doctrine of Prior Public Use. Although it pre-dates Article 97, the Prior Public Use doctrine continues to serve as a kind of traditional backup to Article 97 for public land dedicated to a public use.
Takings jurisprudence requires that courts know the extent of a regulation’s interference with property rights prior to making any adjudication on its validity. Williamson County Regional Planning Commission v. Hamilton Bank, 473 U.S. 172 (1985)
Property owners lack legal authority to use private litigation to enforce their public trust rights. Only the Commonwealth may enforce public trust rights in Commonwealth tidelands and other waterfront areas.
Governor Baker signed the Housing Choice Act of 2020, Chapter 358 of the Acts of 2020 (the “Housing Choice Act”) on January 14, 2021, as an emergency law, which made it effective immediately. It made significant procedural and substantive changes to the Massachusetts Zoning Act (Chapter 40A) and Smart Growth Districts (Chapter 40R), largely to facilitate multi-family housing near transportation facilities.
McGregor Legere & Stevens, PC is very pleased to announce that Nathaniel Stevens, Esq. has been named Partner of the firm.. We have elected to retain a shorter version of our firm name, McGregor Legere & Stevens, PC for the sake of simplicity. Thank you Nathaniel for your many years of excellent work!
We remind ourselves of the seminal decision in Mahajan v. DEP, 464 Mass. 604 (2013) – in which the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) reversed and remanded a Superior Court decision that Article 97 applied to Long Wharf in Boston – in light of the SJC’s more recent ruling in Smith v. City of Westfield, 478 Mass. 49 (2017).
On November 22, 2021, the United States Supreme Court issued a ruling on whether Tennessee is liable for damages and other relief related to the pumping of groundwater by the City of Memphis from the Middle Claiborne Aquifer which lies beneath eight states. The Supreme Court ruled in a precedent setting opinion that the waters of the Middle Claiborne Aquifer are subject to the judicial remedy of equitable apportionment and that Mississippi’s complaint is dismissed without leave to amend.
In a recent decision with far-reaching implications for owners of contaminated property, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA, often referred to as the federal Superfund law) does not preclude claims under state laws for further cleanup of contaminated sites.
In 2015 we won on behalf of client Scotty Thyng a million-dollar verdict in Norfolk Superior Court (Civil Action No. 2010-01449) against officials of the City of Quincy.
There was no shortage of important 2020 developments in federal, state and local environmental law, despite Covid-19. This MCLE annual offering, co-chaired by firm founder Gregor McGregor, Esq. and former MassDEP counsel Pamela Harvey, Esq, features well-known speakers.
The Firm’s newest PowerPoint updating wetlands and water law for those who are involved with applications, plans, permits and enforcement by Conservation Commissions is available to readers of this site. Gregor McGregor presented it to the Massachusetts Society of Municipal Conservation Professionals in a luncheon webcast January 27, 2021.
Three selected 2020 summary decisions of the Massachusetts Appeals Court illustrate, in short and sweet opinions, the implications of settlement negotiations by emails, tactical moves while challenging a local board’s decision, the ins and outs of getting permit extensions, what happens in court review of a tribunal’s decision, and how a well-maintained document record, well-run deliberation, and well-written decision can determine who wins or loses and why.
In its August 10, 2020, decision in the case of Wellesley Conservation Council, Inc. v. Pereira (AC 19-P-753), the Massachusetts Appeals Court addressed the scope of enforcement options available to the holder of a Conservation Restriction (CR), in particular whether injunctive relief (like restoration and replanting) is the holder’s sole remedy for violations of the CR’s terms, or does it include money damages, too. The answer is yes to damages.
The decision of the Appeals Court in Henry W. Comstock, Jr., Trustee and another v. Zoning Board of Appeals of Gloucester and others, authored by Justice James Milkey, illustrates the strong protections afforded by G.L. c. 40 A, section 6 to owners of single- or two-family preexisting nonconforming residences who want to renovate their residences. They are protected by significant obstacles to neighbor opponents of such projects on account of minor issues.
A June 15, 2020 opinion of the Massachusetts Appeals Court reminds building inspectors and other municipal officials of the trilogy of remedies to assess money penalties for zoning and building code violations and to be sure to follow the proper procedures. There are lessons as well for any local officials who have been given the power to issue citations using the non-criminal disposition procedures of G.L. c 40, § 21D. The Appeals Court’s decision is Michael J. Maroney, Trustee et al v. Planning Board of Haverhill et al, 19-P-566, 97 Mass. App. Ct. 678 (2020).
In a clear, well-reasoned opinion deciding the case of Stevens, Trustee v. Zoning Board of Appeals of Bourne, No. 19-P-248 (June 19, 2020), the Appeals Court (Green, C.J.) held that a settlement agreement between the Town’s selectmen and a property owner resolving a Land Court action did not bind an abutter who was not party to the litigation.
On April 23, 2020, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in County of Maui, Hawaii v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund et al., No. 18-260, 590 U.S. __ (April 23, 2020), ruling that the federal Clean Water Act (CWA) may require a permit when a point source discharges pollutants to navigable waters through groundwater. This decision has been eagerly awaited by industry, government, and the bar.
McGregor & Legere is fully operational and ready to help you with any and all of your environmental, land use, energy, litigation, and now Covid-19 related governmental matters. Attorneys and staff are hard at work-at-home, in touch and in sync.
We had won a judgment of $433,000 in 2015 in our client’s long-running and ultimately successful case, Scotty Thyng v. City of Quincy et al, Norfolk Superior Court, Civil Action No. 2010-01449. That was after a two-week jury trial for violation of civil rights against five City of Quincy public officials for delaying and blocking our client’s attempts to build a house for more than 10 years. With interest and attorneys’ fees, that judgment came to more than $1.3 million.
At its Annual Environmental Conference (AEC) at Holy Cross College in Worcester on February 29, 2020, attended by 800 people, the Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions (MACC) gave our founding partner Gregor McGregor recognition for his long service to environmental law in general, conservation law especially, and wetlands protection law most particularly.
In the case of Stockbridge Bowl Association, Inc. v. Town of Stockbridge Conservation Commission & others (Doc. No. 19-0032, December 3, 2019), the Berkshire County Superior Court reviewed the record behind the Stockbridge Conservation Commission’s Order of Conditions denying a lake management project, found the Commission’s justification based on error and lacking in science, and ordered the Commission to approve the Project.
Attorney Gregor I. McGregor will again will Co-chair the MCLE annual conference on Environmental Law, set for February 6, 2020, with a simulcast that same day and then a recorded podcast February 20. Mr. McGregor and his Co-chair Pamela Harvey, Esq. have led this seminal event for over two decades.
Calculate When Your Permits Expire If Issued Before or During the Covid Emergency: 462 Extra Days?
What the Lifting of the COVID-19 State of Emergency in Massachusetts Will Mean for Boards and Commissions
Legislature Revises Local and Regional Permitting Deadlines as COVID-19 Pandemic Continues
MassDEP and EPA Guidance on Waste Site Cleanups and Compliance during COVID-19 Emergency: Some Flexibility but Important Deadlines and On-Site Obligations Still Apply
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