Permitting Reform

After much wrangling over amendments and versions, the legislature finally passed an act relative to streamlining and expediting the permitting process in the Commonwealth. HB 4968, signed into law on August 2, 2006, mandates [for a municipality that designates a priority development site] that the state must review applications for environmental permits within 120 days and requires state law judges to rule on development disputes, including wetlands and other state permit appeals, within 90 days of a hearing.

Key provisions of the bill will do the following:

• Changes the Expedited Permitting Act, Chapter 43D, encouraging more communities to opt-in to a 180 day, site specific (rather than the whole municipality) expedited permitting process with technical assistance;
• provides funding for the Division of Administrative Law Appeals (DALA) to streamline their appeals process with 90 day decisions and remove the significant backlog of environmental appeals;
• allows for developers to continue at their own risk in the face of an appeal once a Special Permit is granted;
• creates the Massachusetts Permit Regulatory Office led by a Permit Ombudsman who will serve as the primary contact to new and expanding businesses;
• requires at least 5 of 10 citizens appealing a Chapter 91 license to reside in the municipality where the license is located and requires the Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection to change the current regulations to be consistent with the Chapter 91 statute;
• creates enforceable regulations for expediting the curb cut process within MassHighway; and
• creates a new session of the Land Court, focused solely on speedily hearing and deciding land use and environmental permitting appeals, drawing on those judges with the skill set to hear and decide permitting cases promptly.

For more detailed information on the changes to Chapter 43D, click “Chapter 43 D"