Town of Sturbridge Board of Health v. O'Leary

26 Mass. L. Rptr. 359
CourtMassachusetts Superior Court
DecidedDecember 8, 2009
DocketNo. 20081532
StatusPublished

This text of 26 Mass. L. Rptr. 359 (Town of Sturbridge Board of Health v. O'Leary) 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
Town of Sturbridge Board of Health v. O'Leary, 26 Mass. L. Rptr. 359 (Mass. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

Kenton-Walker, Janet, J.

Pursuant to G.L.c. 30A, §14, the plaintiffs, Twenty-Eight Ten-Citizen Groups formerly represented by Kirstie L. Pecci, Ann Fenwick-Beinema, Larry Beinema, Will Gallien, James Sottile, Lynne Simonds, and John Pulawski (“plaintiffs”), seek judicial review of a decision (“Decision”) of the Town of Southbridge Board of Health (“Board”) approving Southbridge Recycling and Disposal Park, Inc.’s (“SRDP”) request to make a minor modification to the site assignment under which it operates the landfill and processing facilities at 165 Barefoot Road in Southbridge, Massachusetts. The action is now before the court on the plaintiffs’ Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings, filed pursuant to Mass.RCiv.P. 12(c) and Superior Court Standing Order 1-96. For the following reasons, the plaintiffs’ motion is DENIED.

BACKGROUND

The SRDP is the operator of the Southbridge Sanitary Landfill at 165 Barefoot Road in Southbridge, MA (“Landfill”). SRDP also owns and operates a construction and demolition Processing Facility adjacent to the Landfill. Prior to these proceedings, SRDP operated the facilities under an existing site assignment decision issued on April 15, 1999.4 On February 27, 2008, pursuant to the provision of G.L.c. Ill and 310 Code of Mass. Regs. 16.00 et seq., SRDP submitted an application titled Request for Minor Site Assignment Modification (“application”). The application requested modifications to the existing site assignment so that SRDP could (1) accept a larger volume of waste at the Landfill Facility by reallocating waste from the Processing Facility, and (2) allow the Landfill Facility to accept waste from the Processing Facility regardless of geographic origin.5

In response to SRDP’s application, the Board held a series of eleven public hearings beginning on March 27, 2008, and ending at approximately 12:40 A.M. on May 21, 2008.6 The Hearing Officer admitted the Twenty-Eight Ten-Citizen Groups, represented on review by their attorneys, as interveners. In order to determine whether the proposed minor site assignment modification would result in a threat to public health, safety or the environment, the Board heard testimony from approximately sixty participants and received seventy-two exhibits and seven chalks. The Ten-Citizen Groups presented witnesses, cross-examined the Board’s witnesses, submitted and responded [360]*360to motions, presented opening statements and submitted closing arguments, as well as a proposed decision. On June 9, 2008, the Board issued a forty-eight-page decision granting the application for a minor site assignment modification subject to fifty-eight detailed and specific conditions.

Pursuant to G.L.c. 30A, §14, the plaintiffs filed a complaint for judicial review on July 8, 2008, and under Superior Court Standing Order 1-96 and Mass.R.Civ.P. 12(c), subsequently filed this motion for judgment on the pleadings seeking relief from the administrative decision of the Board.

DISCUSSION

I. Standard of Review

“In reviewing a board’s decision, we are required to ‘give due weight to the experience, technical competence, and specialized knowledge of the agency, as well as to the discretionary authority conferred upon it.’ ” Iodice v. Architectural Access Bd., 424 Mass. 370, 375-76 (1997), quoting G.L.c. 30A, §14(7). The Court is “not empowered to make a de novo determination of the facts, to make different credibility choices, or to draw different inferences from the facts found by the [boardl.” Pyramid Co. of Hadley v. Architectural Barriers Bd., 403 Mass. 126, 130 (1998).

The board’s decision must be upheld if it is supported by substantial evidence. Zoning Bd. of Appeals of Wellesley v. Housing Appeals Comm., 385 Mass. 651, 657 (1982). “Substantial evidence” is “such evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion.” G.L.c. 30A, §1(6). To determine if the Board’s decision is supported by substantial evidence, the court is obliged to “examine the entire administrative record and take into account whatever detracts from its weight.” Pyfrom v. Comm’r of the Dep’t of Pub. Welfare, 39 Mass.App.Ct. 621, 624-25 (1996).

“[A] local board of health must make an actual finding that the facility ‘would constitute a danger’ in order to deny the application.” Wood Waste of Boston, Inc. v. Board of Health of Everett, MICV1996-2642 (Mass.Super.Ct. Dec. 21, 1998) (Sosman, J.) [9 Mass. L. Rptr. 425], quoting G.L.c. 111, §150A.7 “The board may include in any decision to grant a site assignment such limitations with respect to the extent, character and nature of the facility or expansion thereof, as may be necessary to ensure that the facility or expansion thereof will not present a threat to the public health, safety or the environment.” 310 Code Mass. Regs. §16.20(12). The board, however, is not required to grant a conditional site assignment when the applicant has not produced any credible evidence that it would comply with applicable statutes, regulations, and policy requirements. TBI, Inc. v. Board of Health of North Andover, 431 Mass. 9, 15 n.7 (2000).

A person aggrieved by a board’s site assignment decision may appeal that decision under G.L.c. 30A, §14. See G.L.c. Ill, §150A (providing that a local board of health is a “state agency” for purposes of appellate review). Pursuant to the provisions of G.L.c. 30A, the court may then set aside the board’s decision if it determines that the substantial rights of any party have been prejudiced because the “decision is — (a) In violation of constitutional provisions; or (b) In excess of the statutory authority or jurisdiction of the agency; or (c) Based upon an error of law; or (d) Made upon unlawful procedure; or (e) Unsupported by substantial evidence; or (f) Unwarranted by facts . . . ; or (g) Arbitrary or capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with the law.” G.L.c. 30A, § 14(7). The party, appealing an administrative decision bears the burden of demonstrating its invalidity, Merisme v. Board of Appeals of Motor Vehicle Liab. Policies & Bonds, 27 Mass.App.Ct. 470, 474 (1989) (citations omitted), and judicial review is confined to the administrative record. G.L.c. 30A, §14(5).

Each of the plaintiffs’ numerous and well-articulated challenges to the Board’s Decision shall be considered in turn, in accordance with the foregoing standard of review.

II. Standing

The defendants assert that the plaintiffs have no standing to appeal the Board’s site assignment decision because the plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate “aggrievement.” The issue of standing has already been addressed by this court. Sturbridge Board of Health v. O’Leary, WOCV2008-1532, Memorandum of Decision and Order (Mass.Super.Ct. February4,2009) (Kern, J.) [25 Mass. L. Rptr. 171]. There, the court stated that “once a person is permitted to fully participate in the administrative proceeding as an inter-vener, he is aggrieved by an adverse decision and entitled to seek judicial review of the decision.” Id. at 5-6. See also Andover v. Energy Facilities Siting Bd., 435 Mass. 377, 378 n.3 (2001) (interveners granted full party status in administrative proceeding had standing to seek judicial review under statute analogous to G.L.c. 30A). Compare Robinson v. Dep’t of Pub. Utilities, 416 Mass.

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Related

Robinson v. Department of Public Utilities
624 N.E.2d 951 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1993)
Zoning Board of Appeals v. Housing Appeals Committee
433 N.E.2d 873 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1982)
Shaker Community, Inc. v. State Racing Commission
190 N.E.2d 897 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1963)
Duato v. Commissioner of Public Welfare
270 N.E.2d 782 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1971)
Pyramid Co. v. Architectural Barriers Board
403 Mass. 126 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1988)
Iodoce v. Architectural Access Board
424 Mass. 370 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1997)
TBI, Inc. v. Board of Health
725 N.E.2d 188 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 2000)
Town of Andover v. Energy Facilities Siting Board
435 Mass. 377 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 2001)
Merisme v. Board of Appeals on Motor Vehicle Liability Policies & Bonds
539 N.E.2d 1052 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 1989)
Pyfrom v. Commissioner of Public Welfare
659 N.E.2d 1206 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 1996)
David v. Commissioner of Insurance
757 N.E.2d 748 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 2001)
Wood Waste of Boston, Inc. v. Board of Health
9 Mass. L. Rptr. 425 (Massachusetts Superior Court, 1998)
Sturbridge Board of Health v. O'Leary
25 Mass. L. Rptr. 171 (Massachusetts Superior Court, 2009)

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Bluebook (online)
26 Mass. L. Rptr. 359, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/town-of-sturbridge-board-of-health-v-oleary-masssuperct-2009.