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…

On April 5, 2018, in an important case of first impression, the Supreme Judicial Court found that a Town’s Board of Selectmen had violated the Massachusetts Open Meeting Law in…

Today, the SJC applied for the first time its Anti-Aid Amendment jurisprudence to public funding to an active church.  In a 5-1 decision in Caplan v. Town of Acton, SJC-12274,…

There are two draft Cannabis Regulations that may surprise local decision-makers, and affect their planning. Cities and towns have been primed to expect that the sale of marijuana products would…

General Laws Chapter 40B was enacted nearly 50 years ago to overcome local obstacles to affordable housing.  A powerful tool against parochial requirements and regulations, it authorizes the municipal zoning…