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High Court Asked to Define Standing Test for Zoning Use Variances
Summary
At oral argument in the Supreme Judicial Court, attorneys disputed whether courts should assess standing by a project’s ordinary category of use or by the developer’s specific, limited proposed use in a Northborough 20,000-square-foot warehouse variance challenge.
Attorneys argued before the Supreme Judicial Court over whether a court assessing a rebuttal of presumptive standing should consider the ordinary uses of a project category or the developer’s more limited, proposed use.
The question arises in an appeal from the Zoning Board of Appeals of Northborough after the board granted a use variance for a 20,000-square-foot warehouse. "The application was for a 20,000 square foot warehouse with no specificity as to the type of warehouse uses," said Mark Lanza, attorney for the plaintiff-appellant, describing the board’s decision as lacking "limitations on traffic, no conditions."
The issue matters because the resolution determines who has standing to challenge land-use approvals and what evidence a challenger must produce. If courts assess standing by the broad category "warehouse," opponents say a municipality or future enforcement actions may not have…
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