[Massplanners] Legal Advertisements for Planning Board and ZBA Hearings

[Eric Rumsey]

A few years ago (when I worked for a municipality in CT), we asked everyone who participated in our public hearings how they had heard about the hearing.  There wasn’t a single person who had seen the legal notice in the paper.  CCAPA, CAZEO (Connecticut Association of Zoning Enforcement Officers), and others lobbied for a change to the statutes to allow posting on websites, etc.  Sadly, the newspaper lobbyists have/had deeper pockets so no change was made.

Hopefully here in Massachusetts will have better luck.

Eric Rumsey
Town Planner & Conservation Agent
Economic Development and Planning Department
Town of Southbridge
41 Elm Street | Southbridge, MA 01550
p: 508.764.5402
e: erumsey at southbridgemass.org<mailto:erumsey at southbridgemass.org>
w: ci.southbridge.ma.us

From: MassPlanners <massplanners-bounces at masscptc.org> On Behalf Of Joseph Laydon via MassPlanners
Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2022 10:56 AM
To: Kristina Johnson <kjohnson at townofhudson.org>; massplanners at masscptc.org
Subject: Re: [Massplanners] Legal Advertisements for Planning Board and ZBA Hearings

Kristina,

You forgot one important point; these consolidated media entities can’t figure out billing.  So not only are the costs high, but we are constantly calling to straighten out billing issues.

We may be at a tipping point where planners and towns start asking our legislatures to remove the newspaper requirements and to rely on posting on town websites.  Even moving from planning to administration, I continue to be frustrated by the changing costs and billing errors.

Joe

_________________________________
Joseph Laydon
Town of Littleton
Assistant Town Administrator
37 Shattuck Street
Littleton, MA 01460
jlaydon at littletonma.org<mailto:jlaydon at littletonma.org>
978-540-2460



From: MassPlanners <massplanners-bounces at masscptc.org<mailto:massplanners-bounces at masscptc.org>> On Behalf Of Kristina Johnson via MassPlanners
Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2022 10:44 AM
To: massplanners at masscptc.org<mailto:massplanners at masscptc.org>
Subject: [Massplanners] Legal Advertisements for Planning Board and ZBA Hearings



**THIS EMAIL WAS SENT BY AN EXTERNAL SENDER**
Hello Friends and Colleagues,

I am curious to know if any of you are having an issue with legal advertisements, as many local and regional newspapers either being consolidated by large corporate media entities,  have a completely online presence, or have changed their billing policies. Both in Hudson and in Framingham (where I serve on the PB), the regional newspaper, the MetroWest Daily News is requiring “pre-payment” for all legal advertisements instead of the traditional third-party billing method.  Thankfully in Hudson we have another newspaper that publishes locally, although their deadlines completely changed our submission deadlines for PB ZBA, as they only publish once a week.  In Framingham, the only other local newspaper is 100% online,  so Framingham will most likely have to raise fees for application filings to cover the pre-payment in order to ensure the provisions of 40A Section 11 are met. I should note that legal advertisements are not cheap!

What a headache!  Anyone else facing this issue?

Best,
Kristina






Kristina Johnson, AICP
Director of Planning & Community Development
Town of Hudson,  MA
President, Mass. Association of Planning Directors
Tel: 978-562-2989
Cell:  857-939-3427
Email: kjohnson at townofhudson.org<mailto:kjohnson at townofhudson.org>
Acta non verba




________________________________

This email has been scanned for spam and viruses by Proofpoint Essentials. Click here<https://gdsprotect.cloud-protect.net/index01.php?mod_id=11&mod_option=logitem&mail_id=1648047421-e_FLJje6uHs8&r_address=erumsey%40southbridgemass.org&report=1> to report this email as spam.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://masscptc.org/pipermail/massplanners_masscptc.org/attachments/20220323/eabf9ac3/attachment.htm>