Agenda - Planning Commission - 06/03/2010

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April 25, 2010 ~ Volume 4 ~ No. 8 Zoning Bulletin permit application. Attainment of the 10% minimum did not necessar- ily demonstrate that a locality's need for affordable housing-had been satisfied. Here, since the town did not meet the 10% minimum by the prescribed date, HAC had jurisdiction over the appeal and there was a rebuttable presumption that there was a "substantial regional housing need which outweighs local concerns." Thus, here, where HAC vacated the Board's denial of the CPH's comprehensive permit, the court said that the Board had a "heavy bur- - den" of proving there was a specific health or safety concern of suf- ficient gravity to outweigh the regional housing need. The court further noted that it was Yequired to give "due weight to the experience, tech- nical competence and specialized knowledge of [HAC], as well as the discretionary authority conferred upon [HAC] by starute." Here, the court found that substantial evidence supported HAC's decision that there was no specific health or safety concern of sufficient gravity to outweigh the regional need for low or moderate income housingrthe intersection at which traffic levels allegedly would increase was two miles from CPH's project entrance;;some of the Board's evi- dente of safety concerns relied primarily on projections of Board's ex- perts regarding traffic; the credibility of which projections was open to .serious doubts; and traffic projections merely showed inconvenience, in contrast to a safety concern. See also:-Board of Appeals of Hanover v. Housing Appeals Commit- tee iri Dept. of Community Affairs, 363 Mass. 339,. 294 N.E.2d 393 (1973). See also: Zoning Bd: of Appeals of Greenfield v. Housing Appeals Committee, IS Mass. App. Ct. 553, 446 N.E.2d 748 (1983). Zoning News from Around the Nation ILLINOIS Chicago City Council's zoning committee recently "endorsed a pro- . posed ordinance meant to deter new massage parlors near residential neighborhoods." The ordinance would limit businesses offering mas- sages to commercially zoned areas. The ordinance stfll needs approval from the City Council. Opponents of the proposed ordinance say it would "negatively affect legitimate businesses." Source: Chicago News Cooperative, The New York Times; www.nv- times.com KANSAS The State House of Representatives has "endorsed" a bill that '- would prohibit sexually oriented businesses "from being within 1,000 10 ©2010~Thomson Reuters 64.