[Massplanners] Legal Advertisements for Planning Board and ZBA Hearings

[Valerie Massard]

Great point - This was just announced in our area too – no more print for most of the local newspapers, at all – they are going digital and merging about a dozen or more papers that were once local for the south shore region.  Almost no local reporting is happening at this time, regrettably – only certain topics of interest.


Sincerely,

Valerie Massard, AICP, CFM
Town Planner, Kingston, MA
Town Offices|26 Evergreen St.|Kingston, MA 02364
office 781-585-0549
cell 781-588-7590
vmassard at kingstonma.gov<mailto:vmassard at kingstonma.gov>
https://www.kingstonma.gov/184/Planning

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From: MassPlanners <massplanners-bounces at masscptc.org> On Behalf Of Rick Collins via MassPlanners
Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2022 11:26 AM
To: John Charbonneau <jcharbonneau at stoughton-ma.gov>
Cc: Massachusetts Planners <massplanners at masscptc.org>
Subject: Re: [Massplanners] Legal Advertisements for Planning Board and ZBA Hearings

Is the requirement still print newspaper only?

There is a growing number of digital only outlets, such as the Bedford Citizen. Are they able to take legal ads?





On Wed, Mar 23, 2022, 11:14 AM John Charbonneau via MassPlanners <massplanners at masscptc.org<mailto:massplanners at masscptc.org>> wrote:
It is ridiculous to ask an applicant to pay upwards of $200-300 simply for a legal ad that runs twice!  Luckily the Patriot-Ledger agreed to allow Stoughton to continue to pay the previous rate for a period of 1 year, but it will come to an end soon enough.

John M. Charbonneau
Town Planner
10 Pearl Street
Stoughton, MA 02072
(781) 341-1300 x9201


On Wed, Mar 23, 2022 at 11:06 AM Matthew Benoit via MassPlanners <massplanners at masscptc.org<mailto:massplanners at masscptc.org>> wrote:
One major issue we all have for the Worcester T&G; even though billing for us has been OK, people can’t even view the legal ad online without paying for a membership.

Matthew C. Benoit, Notary Public
Director of Community Development
Town of Douglas
29 Depot Street
Douglas, MA 01516
508-476-4000  x206
www.douglas-ma.gov<http://www.douglas-ma.gov>

From: MassPlanners <massplanners-bounces at masscptc.org<mailto: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<mailto:kjohnson at townofhudson.org>>; massplanners at masscptc.org<mailto: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

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