Barberry Homes, Inc. v. Rodenhiser

25 Mass. L. Rptr. 254
CourtMassachusetts Superior Court
DecidedDecember 20, 2008
DocketNo. NOCV20071059
StatusPublished

This text of 25 Mass. L. Rptr. 254 (Barberry Homes, Inc. v. Rodenhiser) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Superior Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Barberry Homes, Inc. v. Rodenhiser, 25 Mass. L. Rptr. 254 (Mass. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

Garsh, E. Susan, J.

This is an appeal, pursuant to G.L.c. 40A, § 17, from a decision of the Planning Board (the “Board”) for the Town of Medway (the “Town”) to grant a special permit with conditions to Barberry Homes, Inc. (“Barberry”), the plaintiff. Barberry objects to the requirement that it make a mitigation payment to the Town to be used to support construction of an addition to the Town’s Senior Center. For the reasons that follow, the Board’s decision is vacated and the matter is remanded to the Board.

FINDINGS OF FACT

Based on all the credible evidence, which includes oral testimony at an evidentiary hearing, exhibits, and stipulations of fact, and the reasonable inferences drawn from that evidence, the court finds the following facts.

On September 1, 2006, Barberry, a duly organized Massachusetts corporation, filed an application for an Adult Retirement Community Planned Unit Development (“ARCPUD”) under the Town’s Zoning Bylaw, Section V, Subsection U (the “Bylaw”). Barberry sought a special permit to construct an ARCPUD on a fifty-one-acre parcel of land located in an Agricultural Residential I Zone at 61-83 Winthrop Street (the “Property”). The application requested a special permit under the ARCPUD Bylaw to construct eighty-six units, consisting of fifty-two single-family homes and thirty-four attached town houses, as well as a community center with an attached retail store. The development was referred to as Daniels Village. Ten percent of the proposed units were to be affordable units pursuant to the Bylaw.

In January of 2006, several months before filing its application, Barberry had an informal pre-application meeting with the Planning Board. At that time, it showed the Board a plan for the design of an adult retirement community that had one hundred and eighteen units. The Board appeared generally receptive. The number of units and layout differed from the plan ultimately submitted to the Board for approval.

On June 12,2006, over two months before Barberry filed its application for a special permit, the Town voted to amend the Medway Zoning Bylaw, Section V, Use Regulations, Sub-Section U, Adult Retirement Community Overlay District, Section 4(c), ARCPUD General Standards, by adding the following provision:

At least 10% of the total number of ARCPUD residential dwelling units, rounded up to the next higher integer, shall be designated and made available as Affordable Housing Units as defined in this Zoning Bylaw.

The addition of the affordable housing requirement adversely impacted Barberry’s profit projections.

According to the Bylaw, the purpose of the Adult Retirement Community Overlay District is “to advance the public health, safety and welfare by specifically providing for the development of retirement commu[255]*255nities within Medway that provide a choice of housing opportunities to senior residents and accommodate the long-term social, cultural, recreational and continuing care needs of these citizens.” The Bylaw provides that ARCPUDs will be authorized only by Special Adult Retirement Community Overlay District Permit granted by the Board. It states that “(i]t is intended that an ARCPUD development provide a range of housing types and facilities that are responsive to the socio-cultural, healthcare and recreational needs of senior residents.” The age restriction limits the dwelling units to occupancy by seniors, age fifty-five or older, and their spouses of any age.

Nothing in the Bylaw requires an ARCPUD to have a community center. The Bylaw’s ARCPUD General Standards provide, however, that the ARCPUD, upon approval by the Board, may include a community center or community buildings intended for use and benefit of the ARCPUD residents provided that 1) such uses do not occupy more than ten percent of the gross building floor area constructed within the approved ARCPUD; 2) in the opinion of the Board, “such use enhances the general purpose of this ARCPUD and enhances better site and community planning”; and 3) the Board finds that adequate assurances and covenants exist to ensure proper maintenance of such facilities by the residents, owners or their agents, who must bear all expenses related thereto. The General Standards also contains a formula for determining the maximum number of permitted housing units in an ARCPUD, but an applicant or developer of an ARCPUD is not entitled to the maximum number of housing units. Rather, the allowance of increased density, up to the calculated maximum number of housing units for the given ARCPUD site, is at the discretion of the Board based on evaluation of the proposed development plan, its impacts, and its benefits to the commu-niiy.

Pursuant to the Bylaw, in order to allow a special permit for an ARCPUD, the Board must review and make findings that certain specified requirements and features of an ARCPUD are satisfied in the proposed development. Those specified requirements and features include “that the ARCPUD is consistent with all ARCPUD general standards” and that the ARCPUD is consistent with the goals and objectives of the Town’s Master Plan.

The Bylaw specifies certain conditions that, depending on the nature of the particular ARCPUD and its uses, the Planning Board may require as a condition of any special permit. Nothing in the Bylaw expressly authorizes the Board to identify and assess mitigation fees.

The Board has Rules and Regulations governing issuance of special permits for an ARCPUD. The General Criteria for approval or denial states that the granting of an ARCPUD Special Permit is discretionary and that the Board, as a condition of granting approval of an ARCPUD Special Permit application, may impose reasonable requirements to promote the health, convenience, safety and general welfare of the community and to benefit the Town. If the Board chooses to impose such a condition, it is required to endorse it on the ARCPUD plan to which it relates or set forth a separate instrument to be attached thereto, to which reference is made on such plan and which shall be deemed to be a part of the plan. The Board’s Rules and Regulations also provide that the Board may “grant, grant with conditions, deny, or grant leave to withdraw an application for an ARCPUD Special Permit...” There is no express authority to require a mitigation payment to fund expansion of town structures.

The Planning Board opened the public hearing on the application on September 26, 2006. Additional public hearings were held on October 10, 2006, November 2, 2006, November 28, 2006, December 5, 2006, January 9, 2207, February 13, 2007, March 13, 2007, and March 27, 2007, at which time the Board voted to close the public hearing.

James Williamson (“Williamson”) acted as the agent for Barberry during the public hearings before the Board. He oversees Barberry’s permitting process. Williamson attended all the public hearings on the application. He had authority to and did make various agreements on behalf of Barberry with respect to matters requested by the Board.

During the course of the public hearings, a number of changes were made to the proposal. At the initial public hearing sessions, Board members commented on issues such as massing and density, circulation, preserving natural features, preserving open space, and providing a central open area. The Board had some concerns about the layout, density and integration of open space with abutting land expected in the future to be Town open space, and the Fire Department was concerned with the level of access afforded.

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Bluebook (online)
25 Mass. L. Rptr. 254, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/barberry-homes-inc-v-rodenhiser-masssuperct-2008.