Opinion ID: 2128364
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Adequacy of Sam Turner Road.

Text: North Landers attacks the board's and the judge's finding that Sam Turner Road is inadequate, on the ground that the Subdivision Control Law does not permit evaluation of ways outside a proposed subdivision. We do not find such a limitation in the statute. The language of § 81M exhorts a due regard for lessening congestion ... in the adjacent public ways and for coordinating the ways in a subdivision with... the public ways in the city or town in which it is located and with the ways in neighboring subdivisions. [5] The issue of whether a planning board has the power to disapprove a subdivision plan due to traffic problems and access problems caused not by any inadequacy of the ways set out on the subdivision plan, but rather by inadequacies in the public ways adjacent to or providing access to the proposed development has been explicitly left open. Canter v. Planning Bd. of Westborough, 4 Mass. App. Ct. 306, 309 (1976) ( Canter I ). Although the statute might be argued to be ambiguous in part, see Daley Constr. Co. v. Planning Bd. of Randolph, 340 Mass. 149, 153 (1959), we view the quoted language of the statute to be clear. See Chouinard, petitioner, 358 Mass. 780, 782 (1971); Davey Bros. v. Stop & Shop, Inc., 351 Mass. 59, 63 (1966). Section 81M imposes no such circumscription as North Landers urges. The adequacy of Sam Turner Road was properly considered by the judge. [6] Consideration by the judge of factors pertaining to safety, accessibility, or the increased traffic on Sam Turner Road comports with decisional law in this and other jurisdictions. Factors outside the subdivision may be considered where relevant to the requirements of the statute or of local regulations. See, e.g., Rounds v. Water & Sewer Comm'rs of Wilmington, 347 Mass. 40 (1964) (planning board may condition approval by requiring reasonable construction outside the subdivision to bring water service to it); Hamilton v. Planning Bd. of Lexington, 4 Mass. App. Ct. 802, 803 (1976) (where regulations purported to require adequate provision for drainage, board properly rejected plan after consideration of entire watershed area). Contrast G.L.c. 41, § 81Q (local regulation may not require dedication of land within subdivision to public use without just compensation) (emphasis added). Other jurisdictions having subdivision control statutes similar in intent to G.L.c. 41, § 81M, are in agreement that the condition of adjacent public ways must be considered in the board's deliberations. See, e.g., Buena Park v. Boyar, 186 Cal. App.2d 61 (1960); Nicoli v. Planning & Zoning Comm'n of Easton, 171 Conn. 89, 96 (1976); Arrowhead Dev. Co. v. Livingston County Rd. Comm'n, 92 Mich. App. 31 (1979); Pearson Kent Corp. v. Bear, 28 N.Y.2d 396, 399 (1971).