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Petitioners urge Select Board to support reasonable‑accommodation bylaw after litigation; town counsel favors policy workup
Summary
Petitioners asked the Select Board on April 15 to back a new town bylaw to govern reasonable accommodation requests for people with disabilities, saying prior public processes and litigation chilled access to housing accommodations; town counsel said a revised administrative policy is under review by the Attorney General’s civil‑rights staff and state disability office.
A petition to create a town bylaw governing requests for ‘‘reasonable accommodation’’ under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the federal Fair Housing Act led to a prolonged and technical discussion at the Select Board meeting on April 15.
Petitioner Don Oates related his family’s years‑long effort to obtain a vertical lift for their house for their daughter and recounted court litigation and repeated procedural delays. Oates said Brookline’s current ad hoc process compels public disclosure, invites neighborhood opposition, chills participation and, in practice, forced his family to abandon a court battle when litigation risk would have exposed his child’s private medical records.
Oates presented a draft bylaw that would assign initial decision authority to the building commissioner, require a written decision within 30 days (pauses permitted while awaiting applicant responses), preserve confidentiality of…
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