Bellingham Bylaw giving Veto Power to Town Meeting for “Major Developments” is Illegal.

The Land Court has struck down and invalidated a Bellingham Bylaw provision requiring approval of a Concept Plan by Town Meeting for large development proposals. 

According to the Court, the provision provided that “an applicant seeking the grant of a special permit for a Major Development (at least 50 dwelling units or 100 bedrooms) must, under the By-law, secure the approval of a comprehensive Concept Plan by means of a two-thirds vote of town meeting. Town meeting may approve the Concept Plan, may approve it with ‘conditions or limitations,’ or absent a two-thirds vote in favor, may presumably deny it outright.”

The traditional powers vested in Town Meeting, according to the Court, are the “the power to make laws (by-laws) and the power of the purse.”  An “adjudicatory or quasi-adjudicatory role . . . is a function for which [Town Meeting] is, at best, ill suited.”

While the Court did not agree that the Town Meeting was illegally acting as the special permit granting authority, it wields a veto power over any proposal which “is a function that is neither contemplated nor permitted under G.L. c. 40A.”

The case is Wright v. Town of Bellingham, 2007 WL 1884657 (Mass.Land Ct. July 2, 2007).  Click HERE for the full text of the opinion.