Bill > H2284

This bill aims to streamline the judicial review of local land use decisions. The key provisions include: 1. Establishing a more efficient process for filing and serving complaints, requiring the plaintiff to provide written notice to all defendants within 14 days and file an affidavit of such notice within 21 days, or else the complaint will be dismissed. 2. Mandating that the board of appeals or special permit granting authority transmit the full record of its proceedings to the reviewing court, which will then only examine whether the decision was arbitrary, capricious, or illegal based on the evidence in the record. 3. Requiring a non-municipal plaintiff seeking to reverse a project approval to post a bond covering the estimated annual carrying costs of the property owner and the defendants' attorney's fees, which will be forfeited to the property owner if the plaintiff does not substantially prevail on the appeal. These changes aim to expedite the judicial review process and discourage frivolous appeals that delay the start of construction.

Justice

https://malegislature.gov/Bills/190/H2284