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Zoning Bulletin November 25, 2013 I Volume 7 I Issue 22 <br />posed to health care and educational institutions." The court found that <br />IMPs were intentionally distinct from the special permit in an effort to <br />lessen the burden of the land use development process for institutions <br />that often seek development of multiple projects over noncontiguous <br />parcels of land. Further, the court found that"[a]n adjudicatory or quasi <br />judicial foiiiiat would not have been well adapted functionally to the <br />type of determination" that the Zoning Commission was to make, as <br />"[a] substantial overlap of responsibilities between the Zoning Com- <br />mission and BRA renders an adjudicatory format impracticable." <br />Accordingly, the court concluded that the IMP approval process <br />under the City's zoning code was not quasi adjudicatory, and that sum- <br />mary judgment for the BRA, Zoning Commission and BC was properly <br />entered on that basis. <br />See also: Mullin v. Planning Bd. of Brewster, 17 Mass. App. Ct. 139, <br />456 N.E.2d 780 (1983). <br />Case Note: <br />The Abutters had also alleged that the decision of Zoning Commission and <br />BRA, approving BC's IMP, was arbitrary and capricious. The appellate court <br />disagreed. It found that the decision was "made through a process that <br />required communication and input from multiple sectors of :state and local <br />government and private parties in an effort to ensure that the amendment <br />comport[ed] to the standards of the [City's] zoning code." <br />Zoning News from Around the Nation <br />CALIFORNIA <br />Under new law, local municipalities now have "the freedom to lower <br />the assessed value of and offer tax breaks for landowners who can com- <br />mit to using the land for agricultural purposes for a set time." Under <br />the law, aimed at "urban agriculture," "if landowners [of lots of three <br />acres or less] will pledge to grow crops of food on the land for a period <br />of five years, their property will be assessed at a lower rate, thus giving <br />them significant tax benefits." <br />Source: EINNews Desk; http://world.einnews.com <br />MASSACHUSETTS <br />Pending in the state House of Representatives is a bill —An Act <br />Promoting the Planning & Development of Sustainable Communi- <br />ties —which would reportedly give "much more control to communi- <br />©2013 Thomson Reuters 11 <br />