Beginning construction, or even simply breaking ground, is no longer necessary to exercise rights under a use variance.  Last week, the Appeals Court clarified what qualifies as an “exercise” of…

The Cannabis Control Commission is coming out with new regulations and it appears that there are two significant potential changes of which municipalities should be aware. Home delivery will become…

The Supreme Judicial Court has held that a McLean Hospital program focused on developing the emotional and social skills of adolescents who exhibit extreme emotional dysregulation may, under the Dover…

Mina S. Makarious and Paul Kominers co-authored, “Spaulding v. Town of Natick School Committee: Allowing Free Speech while Accomplishing Municipal Work”, for the 2019 spring edition of the Boston Bar…

Just before 2018 ended, Governor Baker signed An Act Regulating and Insuring Short-Term Rentals into law.  The Act capped off years of public debate, Beacon Hill wrangling, and local regulation…

If a proposed activity is more therapeutic than educational, it not protected by the Dover Amendment and therefore may not be conducted in a zoning district where it is not…

The Supreme Judicial Court recently reaffirmed that a landowner whose property is damaged by a neighbor’s healthy tree cannot hold the neighbor responsible for damages. Shiel v. Rowell, SJC-12432 (July…

In Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) v. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA),–F.3d—(June 19, 2018), the DC Circuit left unaddressed the question of whether the FAA’s rules governing drone use must address…

In Hickey v. Zoning Board of Appeals of Dennis, a divided panel of the Massachusetts Appeals Court weakened and confused the requirement that a zoning appellant notify the Town Clerk…

Police officer not entitled to immunity under federal law, but school district shielded from suit under state statute. Two cases on municipal immunity were issued this month, one from a…