COVID-19 Guidance
Calculate When Your Permits Expire If Issued Before or During the Covid Emergency: 462 Extra Days?
Effective June 15, 2021, Governor Baker rescinded the COVID-19 State of Emergency in Massachusetts which he issued 462 days earlier on March 10, 2020. This ending triggered the expiration of a number of COVID-19 measures, some in statutes, executive orders, guidelines, and regulations, affecting environmental, land use, and real estate permits, licenses and other approvals.
What the Lifting of the COVID-19 State of Emergency in Massachusetts Will Mean for Boards and Commissions
Governor Baker recently announced that, on June 15, 2021, he will lift the State of Emergency he declared on March 10, 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This State of Emergency is the basis for and the reference point for many orders, laws, policies, and provisions which gave local boards and commissions great flexibility in how they conducted business over the last year or so. A list of the Governor’s orders is available here.
Legislature Revises Local and Regional Permitting Deadlines as COVID-19 Pandemic Continues
Pulls Back Some COVID-19 Pandemic Relief for Local and Regional Permit Granting Authorities
With the enactment of Chapter 201 by the Massachusetts Legislature on November 10, 2020, municipal, district, county and regional permitting authorities (collectively, “permitting authorities”) now will have to take action sooner than they may have expected.
Firm Outlines the Emergency Laws on Land Use and Environmental Permits and Lawsuits
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the usual procedures, rules, and regulations for land use permitting. Since March 2020, Massachusetts lawyers and their clients have seen new legislation that says how municipalities can accept, review, grant, deny, and enforce their permits.
“To Apply or Not to Apply, that is the Question” For Permit Applicants Under COVID-19 Emergency Laws in Massachusetts
UPDATE (July 27, 2020): On July 1, 2020, the Governor issued COVID-19 Order No. 42, “Order Resuming State Permitting Deadlines and Continuing to Extend the Validity of Certain State Permits” which changes some of the deadlines discussed above. A summary of Order No. 42 can be found here. Order No. 42 replaces Order No. 19.
MassDEP Issues FAQs for Conservation Commissions and Applicants for Wetlands Permitting Under the COVID-19 State of Emergency
(Revised July 27, 2020)
UPDATE: On July 1, 2020, the Governor issued COVID-19 Order No. 42, “Order Resuming State Permitting Deadlines and Continuing to Extend the Validity of Certain State Permits” which changes some of the deadlines discussed above. A summary of Order No. 42 can be found here. In essence, Order No. 42 replaces Order No. 19 which was the underpinning of several of the answers provided by DEP in its FAQ. Most notably, MassDEP’s deadline to appeal to itself an Order or Determination will now end on August 10, 2020.
Firm Issues Guidance for Conservation Commissions Conducting Meetings and Hearings, and Deciding Wetland Matters, During COVID-19 Crisis
The Massachusetts Legislature has enacted a legal framework for municipal boards, including conservation commissions, to receive and process applications, conduct meetings and hearings, make and issue decisions, take enforcement actions, and otherwise function during the state of emergency declared by Governor Baker on March 10, 2020.1
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