Source: https://ecode360.com/6264070
Timestamp: 2018-05-24 18:00:07
Document Index: 258756844

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 255', '§ 255', '§ 255', '§ 255', '§ 255', '§ 81']

City of Haverhill, MA Miscellaneous
Ch 255 Art XIII Miscellaneous
§ 255-115 Amendment of chapter.
§ 255-116 Status of permits during amendment proceedings.
§ 255-117 Status of plans during amendment proceedings.
§ 255-118 Severability.
§ 255-119 When effective.
Chapter 255: Zoning Article XIII Miscellaneous
[Amended 5-24-1983 by Doc. 67-B; 5-24-1983 by Doc. 68-B]
A petition to amend the Zoning District Boundary Map shall require the filing of a fee of $150, sufficient to cover the costs of advertising the City Council and Planning Board public hearings and processing the petition. The required fee is to be paid to the City Clerk at the time of filing. All petitions for such action filed with the City Clerk shall be accompanied by a reproducible plan (and 16 copies) and a report including a metes and bounds description of said property. A petition to amend the Zoning Ordinance shall be accompanied by a report and filing fee in an amount of $150 as above noted. All plans and reports shall be the sole responsibility of the petitioner. Amendments filed by the City of Haverhill municipal government shall be exempt from the fee.
Amendment of this chapter may be initiated by submission to the City Council of a proposed ordinance amendment by the City Council, the Board of Appeals, the Planning Board, an owner of land which is to be affected by the amendment, by petition of 10 registered voters of the City or by the Merrimack Valley Planning Commission. The City Council shall, within 14 days of receipt of the amendment, submit it to the Planning Board for public hearing. The City Council shall hold a public hearing on the proposed amendment within 65 days after the amendment is submitted to the Planning Board by the Council.
The Planning Board shall hold a public hearing on the amendment within 65 days from the date the amendment is submitted to the Board. The recommendations of the Planning Board shall be transmitted to the City Council no later than 21 days from the closing of said hearing of the Board.
After the Planning Board hearing and report, or after 21 days shall have passed after the hearing without submission of a report by the Planning Board, the City Council may consider and act upon the amendment. The City Council may adopt, reject or amend the proposed amendments within 90 days of the Planning Board's hearing. The amendment shall receive at least 2/3 of all members of the City Council voting for its passage to be enacted, provided further that, if there is filed with the City Clerk, prior to the final action of the City Council, a written protest against the amendment stating the reasons and duly signed by owners of 20% or more of the area of land to be affected by such amendment or of the area of land immediately adjacent extending 300 feet therefrom, no amendment shall be enacted by the Council except by a three-fourths vote of all members. Upon failure of the Council to vote to adopt any proposed amendment within 90 days after such hearing, no action shall be taken thereon until after a subsequent public hearing is held with notice and report as above provided.
The effective date of the adoption of an amendment to the chapter shall be the date on which the amendment was voted upon by the City Council.
No proposed zoning amendment which has been unfavorably acted upon by the City Council shall be considered by the City Council within two years after the date of such unfavorable action unless the adoption of such proposed ordinance was recommended in the final report of the Planning Board.
No claim of invalidity of any zoning amendment arising out of any possible defect in the procedure of adoption or amendment shall be made in any legal proceeding, and no state, regional, county or municipal officer shall refuse, deny or revoke any permit, approval or certificate because of any such claim of invalidity unless within 120 days after adoption of an ordinance legal action is commenced and notice specifying the court, parties, invalidity claimed and date of filing is filed, together with a copy of the petition, with the City Clerk within seven days after commencement of the actions.
Any petition to amend this chapter which has been submitted to the City Council may be withdrawn without prejudice by the petitioner prior to the publication of the notice of a public hearing thereon before the City Council, but thereafter be withdrawn without prejudice only with the approval of the City Council. A petition withdrawn with prejudice shall be considered as unfavorably acted upon.
[Added 3-3-1992 by Doc. 170-B]
Except as hereinafter provided, a Zoning Ordinance amendment shall not apply to structures or uses lawfully in existence or lawfully begun or to a building or special permit issued before the first publication of notice of the public hearing on such ordinance by the Planning Board, but shall apply to any change or substantial extension of such use, to a building or special permit issued after the first notice of said public hearing, to any reconstruction, extension or structural change of such structure and to any alteration of a structure begun after the first notice of said public hearing to provide for its use for a substantially different purpose or for the same purpose in a substantially different manner or to a substantially greater extent except where alteration, reconstruction, extension or structural change to a single- or two-family residential structure does not increase the nonconforming nature of said structure.
Construction or operations authorized by a building or special permit issued prior to the first publication of notice of the public hearing on such ordinance amendment by the Planning Board shall conform to any subsequent amendment unless the use or construction is commenced within a period of not less than six months after the issuance of the permit and in cases involving construction, unless such construction is continued through to completion as continuously and expeditiously as is reasonable in the judgment of the Board of Appeals.
A definitive plan, or a preliminary plan followed within seven months by a definitive plan, when submitted to the Planning Board for approval under the Subdivision Control Law, and written notice of such submission has been given to the City Clerk before the effective date of amendment the land shown on such plan shall be governed by the applicable provisions of the Zoning Ordinance in effect at the time of the first such submission while such plan or plans are being processed under the Subdivision Control Law, and, if such definitive plan or an amendment thereof is finally approved, for five years from the date of the endorsement of such approval.
When a plan referred to in § 81P of Chapter 41 has been submitted to the Planning Board and written notice of such submission has been given to the City Clerk, the use of the land shown on such plan shall be governed by applicable provisions of the Zoning Ordinance in effect at the time of the submission of such plan while such plan is being processed under the Subdivision Control Law, including the time required to pursue or await the determination of an appeal referred to in said section and for a period of three years from the date of endorsement by the Planning Board that approval under the Subdivision Control Law, is not required, or words of similar import.
The invalidity, unconstitutionality or illegality of any provision of this chapter or boundary shown on the Zoning Map shall not have any effect upon the validity, constitutionality or legality of any other provision or boundary.
This chapter shall take effect as of January 1, 1972.