Batchelder v. Planning Bd. of Yarmouth (1991)

In Batchelder v. Planning Bd. of Yarmouth, 31 Mass. App. Ct. 104, 107-08, 575 N.E.2d 366 (1991), the Appeals Court looked to the policy behind subdivision control law in its analysis of a planning board regulation that required the record owner to be an applicant for subdivision plan approval. Id. at 108-09. The court looked to the purpose behind the enactment of Subdivision Control Law (including adequate drainage, sewerage, and water facilities) and noted that one method to achieve such goals is to obtain a covenant from the record owner providing for municipal services. Id. See G. L. c. 41, 81M, 81U. In this context, an absence of record ownership places the public at risk for the municipality "would be unable to ensure that it would receive a properly executed covenant, or in the event of a modification or amendment of a plan approval, a properly executed consent." Batchelder, 31 Mass. App. Ct. at 109. As such, the court concluded, a waiver of such regulation (requiring an applicant to be a record owner) would "undermine one of the principal aims of the statute." Id.