Sullivan was pleased to file an amicus brief on behalf of NAIOP Massachusetts – The Commercial Real Estate Development Association (NAIOP) in the case of Attorney General v. Town of Milton. The case involves the Town’s failure to comply with Section 3A of the Zoning Act (otherwise known as the MBTA Communities Law). The brief addresses the issue of whether or not Section 3A provides the sole remedy for noncompliance, and whether, and to what extent, the Attorney General’s office is authorized and has standing to enforce compliance. The brief urges the Supreme Judicial Court to affirm that the Attorney General may elect to enforce the MBTA Communities Law through requests for declaratory and injunctive remedies.
“Excessive discretion in local zoning is a significant barrier to housing production. The legislature recognized this by imposing a requirement for MBTA communities to adopt zoning that permits multi-family zoning as-of-right,” said Gregory Sampson, leader of the firm’s Permitting & Land Use practice group. “Communities cannot be allowed to ignore this requirement if we hope to address our housing issues. The enforcement of the MBTA Communities Law is a matter of public interest and, therefore, it is NAIOP’s belief that it is within the authority of the Attorney General to pursue enforcement of the law.”
The brief was written by a Sullivan team consisting of Gregory Sampson, Victor Baltera, Natasha Varyani, and Erika Dennery. The full text of the brief can be found here.
