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Defendant owned property surrounded by plaintiff’s property.  Defendant notified the plaintiff that he planned to knock down the two-family house on his property and replace it with a new, bigger, two-family house, and he filed applications for a building permit on July 28^th.  While visiting the building department, plaintiff found out that defendant had filed his applications.  Consequently, on August 20^th, plaintiff sent a letter to the building commissioner, opposing the issuance.  The building permits were issued on September 15^th.  Although plaintiff was not given notice of the issuance, he discovered it while visiting the building department on September 25^th. 

Thirty-five days after the issuance of the building permits, on October 20^th, plaintiff filed an appeal with the board.  The board held that plaintiff lacked jurisdiction because the statute requires an appeal within thirty days.  This decision was upheld by the land court and then affirmed by the Appeals Court.

Although plaintiff argues he had six years to file a request to enforce a zoning ordinance under Section 7 of the Zoning Act, the court disagreed, explaining that the six year limit in that Section is only available when the aggrieved person does not have notice of the issuance of the permit.  Here, plaintiff knew within ten days that the permit had been issued, and that Section 8 of the Zoning Act is clear that an aggrieved person must seek an appeal within thirty days of the issuance of the permit.  

Finally, plaintiff purports that his August 20^th letter was an enforcement request.  The court denied this contention.  An enforcement request, explains the court, must be made after the violation has occurred.  Since the letter pre-dated the issuance of the permit, there was not yet a potential violation of plaintiff’s rights.  The claim is thus properly dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.

Connors v. Annino, 460 Mass. 790 (10/26/2011)

This opinion can be accessed at: http://massachusettssupremecourtopinions.justia.com/2011/10/26/connors-jr-v-annino 

For more information about this decision see the Massachusetts Land Use Monitor Blog at:  http://www.massachusettslandusemonitor.com/add-category/sjc-confirms-30-day-appeal-period-for-building-permits-where-abutter-has-adequate-notice