[Massplanners] Abandonment vs. Non Use

[Alexandra Lowder]

Hi all,

Staff has been discussing the abandonment clause in our Zoning Bylaw. Our new Building Commissioner is curious to know if any communities make a distinction between abandonment vs. non use. Our bylaw is written as follows:

[cid:image001.png at 01D8D8DB.1DA994C0]

The Building Commissioner noted Bartlett v. Lakeville Zoning Board of Appeals (1986) where the definitions of abandonment and non use were separated, each being defined with different thresholds. He feels that the way ours is currently written above, with a definition of abandonment in our definitions section and the lack of definition for non use, that they were probably meant to be interchangeable.

I am still doing some research into the genesis of this clause in our bylaw, but I was curious to know how other communities view this issue. Do you use the terms interchangeably or do you have separate definitions and thresholds for proof of both?

Any input is appreciated!

Thank you,
Alex

Alexandra Lowder
Community/Economic Development Planner
Town of Tewksbury
1009 Main Street
Tewksbury, MA 01876
Office Phone:  (978) 640-4370 Ext. 248
Mobile: (978) 866-4531

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://masscptc.org/pipermail/massplanners_masscptc.org/attachments/20221005/8b113c42/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 40419 bytes
Desc: image001.png
URL: <http://masscptc.org/pipermail/massplanners_masscptc.org/attachments/20221005/8b113c42/attachment.png>