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State Index

Massachusetts

New information added on October 18, 2007

Additional Helpful Organizations
Additional Helpful
Organizations

New England Legal Foundation
address

Law Office of
David Grossack
Trains pro se activists
address

Websites
Websites

Massachusetts State
General Court

(Senate & House of Representatives)
link

 

State News

  • “Flying High without PILOTs: Town of Brookline’s Use of a Ground Lease to Thwart Property Tax Exemption for a Charitable Non-profit” - By Arshag A. Mazmanian, Esq. , October 1, 2007
    The Town of Brookline, Massachusetts, granted a re-zoning to accommodate a non-conforming structure proposed by a non-profit, while the Town concurrently acquired the property for ground-leaseback to a developer so that this entity could collect then rent on the sublet ground lease to the non-profit. The portion of the rent equivalent to the real estate taxes that would have been paid if the land were both owned and occupied by a non-charitable entity is paid by the developer to the Town. The Town thereby evades the situation of receiving minimal revenue through PILOTs (payment in lieu of taxes), at most, by a tax-exempt property owner.
    More on this topic: Zoning and Buliding Codes — National
  • Carol W. LaGrasse“New Wave of UNESCO World Heritage Sites Proposed” - By Carol W. LaGrasse (PRFA Position Brief, June 2007)
    This spring, the National Park Service announced that 36 locations in the United States have been proposed for UNESCO World Heritage Sites, adding to the twenty that already are designated in this country. Such international recognition potentially threatens private property rights because preservationists could exploit the designation to stop the use of land in the region just beyond a sites borders.
    More on this topic: Biosphere Reserves & World Heritage Sites
  • “Unjustified Privileges of Environmental Non-Profits” - By Carol W. LaGrasse, The Rhodes Real Estate Review, January 1999. Reprinted by permission.
    Marie and Joe Hill were destroyed by the results of an environmentalist campaign to preserve their Massachusetts farm to the groups tastes. Another land preservation group, Scenic Hudson, has tied up the future of a family-owned concrete block plant in New York, and cost the owner over $2 million on permits, in the name of protecting nearby rattlesnakes.
    More on this topic: Land Trusts
  • “Preservation Group Straps Massachusetts Farm Couple” — By Carol W. LaGrasse (Reprinted from the New York Property Rights Clearinghouse, Vol. 4, No. 2 (Spring-Summer 1997, PRFA)
    Bankruptcy court appeal may be the final chapter for Marie and Joseph Hill, an elderly couple who are being evicted from their scenic dairy farm in South Dartmouth on Buzzards Bay, after losing a battle with a local preservation group, FORM.
    More on this topic: Land Trusts

The front of the Hill Dairy Farm.

Hill Farm
Photo Gallery

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