Since I am undertaking a review of this proposal, I felt out of fairness, I should provide the full text of the proposal for your consumption. I have not found this version of the proposal posted anywhere on the internet.
I A Sections 1 - 6
I. modifications to local LAND USE REGULATION Affecting all municipalities
A) Modifications to Chapter 40A (zoning)
1) Definitions
Insert the following new definitions into Section 1A of Chapter 40A:
“Declaration of development intent” shall mean a written notice that describes the land on which proposed development will be located, states whether the proposed development is residential, commercial/industrial or institutional, and sets forth the total gross square footage of proposed buildings (or the number of proposed housing units, in the case of residential development).
“Development impact fee” shall mean a fee imposed by city zoning ordinance or town zoning by-law for the purpose of offsetting the impacts of a development, and in accordance with the provisions of section 9D of this chapter.
“Site plan review” shall have the meaning set forth in Section 7A of this chapter.
2) Ability to regulate maximum interior floor area
The beginning of the second paragraph of Section 3 of Chapter 40A is modified as follows:
No zoning ordinance or by-law shall regulate or restrict the minimum interior area of a single family residential building . . .
3) Form-based zoning
Add the following to the end of Section 3 of Chapter 40A:
The text and diagrams in a zoning ordinance or by-law that address the location and extent of land uses, may also express community intentions regarding urban form and design. These expressions may differentiate neighborhoods, districts, and corridors, provide for a mixture of land uses and housing types within each, and provide specific measures for regulating relationships between buildings, and between buildings and outdoor public areas, including streets.[1]
4) Majority enactment of zoning
Modify the fifth paragraph of Section 5 of Chapter 40A to read as follows:
No zoning ordinance or by-law or amendment thereto shall be adopted or changed except by a majoritytwo-thirds vote of all the members of the town council, or of the city council where there is a commission form of government or a single branch, or of each branch where there are two branches, or by a majoritytwo-thirds vote of a town meeting; except in each case if a two-thirds vote has been prescribed in an ordinance or by-law adopted by a two-thirds vote of the local legislative body.; provided, however, that if in a city or town with a council of fewer than twenty-five members there is filed with the clerk prior to final action by the council a written protest against such change, stating the reasons duly signed by owners of twenty per cent or more of the area of the land proposed to be included in such change or of the area of the land immediately adjacent extending three hundred feet therefrom, no such change of any such ordinance shall be adopted except by a three-fourths vote of all members.
5) Expansion of permit freezes.
The second paragraph of Section 6 of Chapter 40A is hereby amended to provide as follows:
A zoning ordinance or by-law shall provide that construction or operations under a building permit shall conform to any subsequent amendment of the ordinance or by-law unless the use or construction is commenced within a period of not more than six months after the issuance of the permit and in cases involving construction, unless such construction is continued through to completion as continuously and expeditiously as is reasonable. Construction or operations under a special permit or site plan approval shall conform to any subsequent amendment of the zoning ordinance or by-law or of any other local land use regulations unless the use or construction is commenced within a period of two years after the issuance of the permit and in cases involving construction, unless such construction is continued through to completion as continuously and expeditiously as is reasonable. For the purpose of the prior sentence, construction involving the redevelopment of previously disturbed land shall be deemed to have commenced upon substantial investment in site preparation and/or infrastructure construction, and construction of development intended to proceed in phases shall proceed expeditiously, but not continuously, among phases.
6) Zoning plan freezes
Replace the fifth paragraph of Section 6 of Chapter 40A with the following:
Subject to the transition rules set forth below, within a municipality that is not a certified plan community, if a declaration of development intent is submitted to a planning board, and written notice of such submission has been given to the city or town clerk, the development described in such declaration shall be governed by the applicable provisions of the zoning ordinance or by-law, if any, in effect at the time of such declaration, for a vesting period that ends eight years from the date of such written notice of submission; provided that: (i) the development described in such declaration shall be subject to subsequent amendment of the zoning ordinance or by-law, if the first notice thereof was posted prior to such written notice of submission, and (ii) the development described in such declaration shall be subject to subsequent amendment of the zoning ordinance or by-law, unless a definitive plan, or a preliminary plan followed within seven months by a definitive plan, is submitted to a planning board for approval under the subdivision control law prior to such amendment, and, if such definitive plan or an amendment thereof is thereafter finally approved. The length of such vesting period shall be extended by a period equal to the time which a city or town imposes or has imposed upon it by a state, a federal agency or a court, a moratorium on construction, the issuance of permits or utility connections. The provisions of this paragraph shall not apply to development substantially different in use or substantially greater in extent from the development described in the declaration of development intent.
The provisions of the foregoing paragraph are subject to the following transition rules:
(A) If a definitive plan, or a preliminary plan followed within seven months by a definitive plan, is submitted to a planning board for approval under the subdivision control law and written notice of such submission has been given to the city or town clerk on or before December 1, 2008 and before the effective date of the zoning ordinance or by-law, the land shown on such plan shall be governed by the applicable provisions of the zoning ordinance or by-law, if any, in effect at the time of the first such submission while such plan or plans are being processed under the subdivision control law, and, if such definitive plan or an amendment thereof is finally approved, for eight years from the date of the endorsement of such approval. Such period shall be extended by a period equal to the time which a city or town imposes or has imposed upon it by a state, a federal agency or a court, a moratorium on construction, the issuance of permits or utility connections.
(B) If a definitive plan, or preliminary plan followed within seven months by a definitive plan, is submitted to a planning board for approval under the subdivision control law after December 1, 2008 and on or before the date six months after the effective date of this act, then: (i) a declaration of development intent must be submitted to a planning board, and written notice of such submission be given to the city or town clerk, on or before the date six months after the effective date in order to obtain the benefit of the foregoing paragraph; (ii) the vesting period ends eight years from the date of the submission of the plan first submitted; (iii) the development described in such declaration shall not be subject to subsequent amendment of the zoning ordinance or by-law for the duration of the vesting period, so long as such definitive plan or an amendment thereof is thereafter finally approved; and (iv) the benefits of the foregoing paragraph may be obtained whether or not the declaration of development intent is consistent with the contents of the plans submitted for approval.
(C) If the municipality thereafter becomes a certified plan community, the vesting periods otherwise provided in the foregoing paragraph and in clause (B) above shall not be eight years, but shall instead be the latest of: (a) three years; or (b) to the extent the land shown on the plan has been previously been disturbed, and if there has been substantial investment in site preparation and/or infrastructure construction within such three years, five years; or (c) until the municipality’s effective date, as that term is defined in Section [2] of Chapter 41, if and only if the latest of such dates is less than eight years. Whatever the length of such vesting period, it shall be extended by a period equal to the time which a city or town imposes or has imposed upon it by a state, a federal agency or a court, a moratorium on construction, the issuance of permits or utility connections.
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