Prepared by the Zoning Reform Working Group*

Massachusetts was recently listed by the American Planning Association as one of the 28 states with the most outdated state land-use laws. While famous for its strong environmental laws and policies, our state is infamous for having some of the weakest land use and planning laws.

Although technically a "home-rule" state, the statutes that govern planning and land use regulation are so restrictive to local authority as to make home-rule more an illusion than a reality in Massachusetts.

While the term "Growing Smart" was coined in Massachusetts in 1987, the last fifteen years have seen almost no progress toward achieving that goal. Despite an auspicious start, many other states have eclipsed our Commonwealth in this regard.

Two-thirds of the states require consistency between local planning and land use regulations; Massachusetts does not.

Massachusetts is the only state that allows the unlimited creation of building lots along roadsides without review as a subdivision.

Massachusetts provides extensive grandfathering protections in the form of "zoning freezes" that are unprecedented in other states. These include the three-year freeze on zoning use changes for roadside building lots, the eight-year freeze on all aspects of zoning for the land shown on subdivision plans (the longest in the nation), and perpetual building rights for single substandard lots.

Massachusetts provides exemptions from zoning beyond what are available in most other states. Special provisions for religious, educational and day care uses have been added piecemeal by special interests over the years.

Because of the state courts’ narrow interpretation of the purposes of Massachusetts’ zoning statutes, lower-density zoning for meaningful farmland preservation or environmental protection is all but impossible. Massachusetts is one of the few states where two or three acres is considered the largest lot a community can require, even in our most rural areas.