On March 16 at 8:00 am in room 10 of the State House there will
be a meeting to compare H309 and H447. If you do not have this bill see
if you can get them. Below you will find the Statement of Purpose on each
bill not my wording.
        H 309 This bill proposes to require town clerks to file
"municipal land use permits" a term defined in the bill, in lieu of the
recently enacted list of local permits required to be filed, in the wake
of the Bianchi decision. It proposes to repeal the qualifications
recently enacted that limit the applicability of a new 10 year statute of
limitations on bringing actions to enforce violations of municipal
permits. These conditions proposed to be repealed allow suits
indefinitely: 1. against the original permit violator, or 2. if a notice
of violation was filed prior to the owner obtaining title, or 3. in
instances where the action is to abate or remove a hazard to human health
or public safety or to abate or remove an undue environmental impact. In
place of this limited 10 year statute of limitations, the bill proposes
to provide that these enforcement actions must be instituted within 20
years from  the date the violation first occurred, and not thereafter.
The bill proposes that no action may be filed, based on a permit approved
after July 1,1998,unless the permit was properly recorded. The bill
proposes explicitly to retain a municipality's authority to abate or
remove public health risks or hazards. The bill proposes to provide that
real estate title deficiencies will not be created by  failure to obtain
or comply with the terms or conditions of any required municipal land use
permit. If a purchaser of real property determines prior to closing that
land development has occurred without a local permit or in violation of
such a permit, the purchaser shall have the right to terminate the
closing prior to sale, if he or she may be subject to a municipal
enforcement action upon becoming the owner.
        H 447 This bill proposes to repeal most of the municipal
record-keeping requirements and municipal enforcement limitations enacted
in the wake of the Bianchi case, and to provide that failure to obtain or
comply with a municipal permit or certificate does not constitute an
encumbrance on record title.
        FUN TIME IN THE LEGISLATURE: LET ME KNOW YOUR FEELINGS


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