Committee reviews legal question on zoning amendments and planning board timelines

The committee took up a law department memo about the legal process governing zoning ordinance amendments under MGL chapter 48. The chair read the relevant statutory requirements: the proposed amendment must be referred to the planning board within 14 days, the planning board then has 65 days to hold a public hearing and 21 days to issue a recommendation, and the council must act within six months of the planning board hearing. The chair read: "Before the adoption or amendment of such an ordinance by a city, there must be a public hearing before the planning board and then a second hearing before the city council."

Committee members noted the statute's mechanics and one councilor observed the state legislature recently amended some provisions to allow a simple majority for certain zoning changes in designated circumstances (statewide housing/density provisions), although that change does not broadly alter Holyoke's standard two‑thirds requirement for most amendments. The committee voted to receive the memorandum into the record.