<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto">Without having reviewed your zoning bylaw, I will offer this. Be aware that if this advisory process is NOT a special permit (and thus not governed by 40A:9), it could be a home rule aspect to your zoning bylaw not unlike site plan review. Here the town is free to lay out various zoning processes so long as they are: 1) constitutional; and 2) not contradicted by the state’s zoning act.<div><br></div><div>Jeff Lacy</div><div>Rural Planning Associates </div><div>(413) 230-9693<br><br><div dir="ltr">Sent from my iPhone</div><div dir="ltr"><br><blockquote type="cite">On Nov 18, 2022, at 10:58 PM, Daniel Fortier via MassPlanners <massplanners@masscptc.org> wrote:<br><br></blockquote></div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="auto">No, not at all. No informal meetings even, everything should be through proper notice. <div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Dan Fortier </div><div dir="auto">Retired </div><div dir="auto">Interim Dennis Town Planner </div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Fri, Nov 18, 2022, 10:53 PM robert leavens via MassPlanners <<a href="mailto:massplanners@masscptc.org">massplanners@masscptc.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">A late Friday question.............<div><br></div><div>I recently started working as interim town planner for a small town north of Boston.</div><div>I was recently contacted by an architect who wanted to go to the Planning Board for an "advisory determination" for a project within the water supply district. There is a provision that the impervious surface of a lot has to be lower than 15%. While the bylaw is oddly worded, this "advisory determination" of the Planning Board involves attending a Planning Board meeting, having the Planning Board review the plans, have someone else review the drainage calculations and then a "decision" would be issued and filed with the town clerk. No notice to abutters and the architect wanted to get on the next agenda, which is 12 days away.</div><div><br></div><div>I've been in this profession for over 30 years, with work mainly in Massachusetts and I have some concerns about this process. I don't believe that the Planning Board can make an "advisory determination" and then issue a decision that gets filed with the Town Clerk without due notice and a public hearing. The language throughout the bylaw implies special permit but that is not how it has been interpreted in the past years.</div><div><br></div><div>Do any of your Planning Boards issue "advisory determinations", with no public hearing or abutters notice, with an end result of a written decision that get filed with the Town Clerk?</div><div><br></div><div>Thanks for any insights I may have missed,</div><div><br></div><div>Betsy Ware</div><div>Interim Town Planner</div><div>Town of Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA.</div></div>
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