Appeals court questions use of GLAM guidelines, Devon Woods exclusion and fire-safety findings in Braintree 40B denial

An appeals-court panel questioned lawyers Friday about whether state GLAM guidelines and regulatory exceptions were properly applied when the Town of Braintree’s Zoning Board of Appeals denied a Chapter 40B comprehensive permit.

Roger Smaraj, counsel for the Town of Braintree Zoning Board of Appeals, told the panel that “Chapter 40 b allows a local zoning board to deny a comprehensive permit if doing so is reasonable and consistent with local needs,” and that one way a municipality establishes that consistency is by meeting the GLAM statutory minimum. Smaraj said the central disputes in the appeal are whether conservation-restricted land in Devon Woods should be included in the denominator used to calculate the GLAM threshold and whether the GLAM guidelines themselves were properly applied given administrative-procedure concerns.

Why it matters: The GLAM calculation—comparing existing low- and moderate-income housing to total land area zoned residential, commercial, or industrial—can create an irrebuttable presumption that a denial is “consistent with local needs” if a municipality meets the 1.5% threshold. If the town satisfied that floor, Smaraj argued, the Housing Appeals Committee (HAC) lacked jurisdiction to overturn the zoning board’s denial.

The appeals panel repeatedly pressed counsel on two types of questions: the textual scope of the statute and regulations, and whether administrative guidelines (the GLAM guidelines) can introduce substantive rules without the notice-and-comment procedures the Supreme Judicial Court has recently emphasized.

Denominator dispute: Devon Woods and regulatory exceptions

Smaraj urged the court to exclude the Devon Woods tract from the denominator because a perpetual conservation restriction prevents residential, commercial, or industrial development on that acreage.…