[Massplanners] Legal Advertisements for Planning Board and ZBA Hearings

Wed Mar 23 14:53:11 EDT 2022

Lynne,

Maybe affordable housing advocates could lead the change.  Affordable
housing advocates might have more power to beat back newspaper lobbyist.

Richard J. McCarthy, Jr.

Town Planner

1 Liberty Lane

Norfolk, MA 02056

508-440-2807

Office Hours- Monday through Thursday 9am to 6pm

Closed Fridays

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*From:* MassPlanners [mailto:massplanners-bounces at masscptc.org] *On Behalf
Of *Lynne D. Sweet via MassPlanners
*Sent:* Wednesday, March 23, 2022 12:41 PM
*To:* Valerie Massard; 'Rick Collins'; John Charbonneau
*Cc:* Massachusetts Planners
*Subject:* Re: [Massplanners] Legal Advertisements for Planning Board and
ZBA Hearings

This is such a timely and important discussion which is why I love this
group….and I am going to take it one more direction.

The current guidelines for housing lotteries not only require print
advertising, but local print advertising. And as noted, community
newspapers is pulling out in many locations.

It is a large cost burden for small developments to pay for print
advertising when most potential rents/owners learn of the opportunity
through social media.

I hope some of the state agencies are watching this thread and some
flexibility can be built into these guidelines.

Lynne

[image: LDS-logo]

Lynne D. Sweet
Principal
LDS Consulting Group, LLC

170 Worcester Street, Suite 206, Wellesley, MA  02481
781-943-3963
*Specialized Solutions for Housing*®

www.ldsconsultinggroup.com

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*From:* MassPlanners <massplanners-bounces at masscptc.org> *On Behalf Of *Valerie
Massard via MassPlanners
*Sent:* Wednesday, March 23, 2022 12:30 PM
*To:* 'Rick Collins' <rickcollins77 at gmail.com>; 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

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

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> 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> 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

*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

978-540-2460

*From:* MassPlanners <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
*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

*Acta non verba*

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