malegislature.gov
The link above if for the actual legislation that is now law. There is no mention of penalties but I did read that the effective date for the ADUs amendments and legislation changes are 180 days from the day the legislation was signed which was August of thus year. To me it sounds like no towns can deny a zoning compliant ADU after February 2025.
Yow!!! I thought my state's legislature wrote opaque legislation. This puts my state's efforts to obfuscate the meaning of laws to shame.
It looks like to find the pertinent part we have to scroll down about halfway, to Section 8. The opening portion of that says:
No zoning ordinance or by-law shall prohibit, unreasonably restrict or require a special permit or other discretionary zoning approval for the use of land or structures for a single accessory dwelling unit, or the rental thereof, in a single-family residential zoning district; provided, that the use of land or structures for such accessory dwelling unit under this paragraph may be subject to reasonable regulations, including, but not limited to, 310 CMR 15.000 et seq., if applicable, site plan review, regulations concerning dimensional setbacks and the bulk and height of structures and may be subject to restrictions and prohibitions on short-term rental, as defined in section 1 of chapter 64G.
Key point: it does NOT say that a municipality must revise or amend its zoning regulations. It just says their zoning ordinances may not prohibit ADUs. I am not a lawyer but, to my layman's mind, that says once the effective date of this law has arrived, any existing zoning regulation prohibiting (or
unreasonably restricting) ADUs is simply null and void. So what's the recourse if a municipality simply digs in and refuses to issue a permit?
Section 11 adds to an existing statute, so to see the complete, newly amended provision, you'll have to look up the statute referenced and edit in the new text. From the new legislation, we see that the new language is:
SECTION 11. The first paragraph of section 17 of said chapter 40A, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the fourth sentence the following sentence:- If the complaint is filed by someone other than the original applicant, appellant or petitioner, then each plaintiff, whether or not previously constituting parties in interest for notice purposes, shall also sufficiently allege and must plausibly demonstrate that measurable injury, which is special and different to such plaintiff, to a private legal interest that will likely flow from the decision through credible evidence.
So section 17 of chapter 40A os the statutes must establish the procedure for making complaints. You'll need to look up that statute to determine what your administrative remedies are. Based on the next section, it appears the next step is court.
SECTION 12. Said section 17 of said chapter 40A, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by striking out the third paragraph and inserting in place thereof the following paragraph:-
The court, in its discretion, may require a plaintiff in an action under this section appealing a decision to approve a special permit, variance or site plan to post a surety or cash bond in an amount of not more than $250,000 to secure the payment of and to indemnify and reimburse damages and costs and expenses incurred in such an action if the court finds that the harm to the defendant or to the public interest resulting from delays caused by the appeal outweighs the financial burden of the surety or cash bond on the plaintiffs. The court shall consider the relative merits of the appeal and the relative financial means of the plaintiff and the defendant. Nothing in this section shall require bad faith or malice of a plaintiff for the court to issue a bond under this section.
That's a word salad. Without seeing the entire (amended) section, I don't know who would be the plaintiff and who would be the defendant.
The bottom lines is that, IMHO, the new law does not require any municipality to adopt new zoning regulations for ADUs, but after the effective date any pre-existing zoning regulations prohibiting ADUs become null and void.
You wrote ". . . if we apply for a permit it will be denied." So you haven't yet applied, therefore you have no "standing" under which to file a lawsuit. To set the wheels in motion, you should submit a zoning application, just as you would for a new single-family residence on a conforming lot. If the zoning board denies the application, then you have a basis for a lawsuit. If they refuse to accept the application -- get it in writing, or on video, because in the eyes of the law that's considered a "constructive denial." A constructive denial will also give you standing to file a lawsuit to compel them to issue your permit.
