Zoning Affordable housing Safe harbor.

Byline: Mass. Lawyers Weekly Staff

Where the Department of Housing and Community Development found that the town of North Reading did not meet the general land area minimum safe harbor under G.L.c. 40B, 20, that finding should be upheld because the North Reading Zoning Board of Appeals has failed to meet its burden of proof that the town has met the statutory general land area minimum of 1.5 percent.

"This is an interlocutory appeal to the Housing Appeals Committee brought by the North Reading Zoning Board of Appeals (Board), pursuant to 760 CMR 56.03(8), appealing a determination by the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) that the Town of North Reading has not met the general land area minimum, one of the three statutory safe harbors that establishes that requirements and regulations imposed by a zoning board's decision, after hearing, are consistent with local needs under the Comprehensive Permit Law, G.L.c. 40B, 20. ...

"NY Ventures, LLC (NY Ventures) filed a comprehensive permit application with the Board on or about July 9, 2019, to build a 200-unit rental housing project at 20 Elm Street in North Reading.

"The general land area minimum safe harbor is met if low or moderate-income housing exists on sites comprising 1.5 percent or more of all land zoned for residential, commercial, or industrial use in a municipality. G.L.c. 40B, 20; 760 CMR 56.03(3)(b).

"The comprehensive permit regulations set out the requirements for calculating the percentage of land area with eligible housing. 760 CMR 56.03(3)(b). This percentage is calculated...