[Massplanners] Legal Advertisements for Planning Board and ZBA Hearings
McKinnon, Anne
Anne.McKinnon at jacobs.com
Thu Mar 24 09:18:25 EDT 2022
Here's another view. We as a society believe that people should participate in matters of planning, zoning, infrastructure design, etc. We spend thousands of dollars holding meetings that 100 people on a good day attend. We send meeting notices to the select who have signed up and whom we've identified as stakeholders. A legal ad is like a belt with suspenders--maybe someone who's not in the "in crowd" sees it and learns that there is a proposal to do something on that lot and that's a good thing. Second, legal ads are a source of revenue for any paper, including the major dailies, and they need the money. The cost is not significant if you look at the big picture. It's the cost of doing business. Third, the Mass. Newspapers Publishers Assn. provides an invaluable service by posting on its website https://www.masspublishers.org/ public notices originally published in Massachusetts newspapers. The notices are available to be viewed for years.
Anne McKinnon
Jacobs
617-532-4234
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Today's Topics:
1. Re: Legal Advertisements for Planning Board and ZBA Hearings
(Alison Manugian)
2. Re: Legal Advertisements for Planning Board and ZBA Hearings
(John Charbonneau)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2022 12:32:34 +0000
From: Alison Manugian <amanugian at dracutma.gov>
To: 'Harry LaCortiglia' <hlacortiglia at comcast.net>,
"'massplanners at masscptc.org'" <massplanners at masscptc.org>
Subject: Re: [Massplanners] Legal Advertisements for Planning Board
and ZBA Hearings
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<BY3PR09MB87396BDFCD80D4B17A247323C4199 at BY3PR09MB8739.namprd09.prod.outlook.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
Unfortunately the MGL states for all that the notices must be in a printed newspaper of local circulation.
Thank you,
Alison
Alison Manugian
Community Development Director
amanugian at dracutma.gov<mailto:amanugian at dracutma.gov>
978-453-4557
From: MassPlanners <massplanners-bounces at masscptc.org> On Behalf Of Harry LaCortiglia via MassPlanners
Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2022 8:06 AM
To: massplanners at masscptc.org
Subject: Re: [Massplanners] Legal Advertisements for Planning Board and ZBA Hearings
[EXTERNAL] This message originated from outside the Town of Dracut. Use caution when opening attachments, clicking links or responding to requests for information.
Hi Everyone,
This is becoming a topic of concern for my community as well. Public Hearing Notice costs are rising with the near monopoly of the remaining newspapers that still serve the area.
Would it be adverse to law to advertise Notices only in a 100% on-line publication?
Not only would that save money, but it most likely would have the effect of increasing the distribution of the information. Subscriptions for paper versions of newspapers are falling every day, while more and more folks are reading their news on-line.
It almost leads one to question if the paper versions are truly any longer, "of general circulation".
Looking forward to the views of the Planning community!
H. LaCortiglia
Georgetown P.B. & CPC
On 3/23/2022 10:43 AM, Kristina Johnson via MassPlanners wrote:
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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Message: 2
Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2022 08:38:06 -0400
From: John Charbonneau <jcharbonneau at stoughton-ma.gov>
To: Harry LaCortiglia <hlacortiglia at comcast.net>
Cc: massplanners at masscptc.org
Subject: Re: [Massplanners] Legal Advertisements for Planning Board
and ZBA Hearings
Message-ID:
<CAKEkATH-LDvAve4SHhGK15=4mK3GK7OGY3aAWqU7bFX0n045ZA at mail.gmail.com>
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Everyone,
I don't think going to online legal ads would derogate from the law. Even with print newspapers, people can't get the papers unless they pay for them through delivery or at a store. So I don't see how online newspapers are any different. Our conservation commission recently had a legal ad cost them $1,400 to be published twice. That is outrageous. The law needs to catch up to what is happening and allow publication in online newspapers to satisfy the legal requirements.
John
*John M. Charbonneau*
Town Planner
10 Pearl Street
Stoughton, MA 02072
(781) 341-1300 x9201
On Thu, Mar 24, 2022 at 8:08 AM Harry LaCortiglia via MassPlanners < massplanners at masscptc.org> wrote:
> Hi Everyone,
>
> This is becoming a topic of concern for my community as well. Public
> Hearing Notice costs are rising with the near monopoly of the
> remaining newspapers that still serve the area.
>
> Would it be adverse to law to advertise Notices only in a 100% on-line
> publication?
>
> Not only would that save money, but it most likely would have the
> effect of increasing the distribution of the information.
> Subscriptions for paper versions of newspapers are falling every day,
> while more and more folks are reading their news on-line.
>
> It almost leads one to question if the paper versions are truly any
> longer, "of general circulation".
>
> Looking forward to the views of the Planning community!
> H. LaCortiglia
> Georgetown P.B. & CPC
>
>
> On 3/23/2022 10:43 AM, Kristina Johnson via MassPlanners wrote:
>
> 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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>
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