I’m no real estate expert. But I suspect that a 13-acre, 100-bay trucking warehouse might lower property values in a small town like East Longmeadow.
So I’m glad the Appeals Court allowed The Fields at Chestnut Condominium Trust, a senior living community, to intervene in a lawsuit between East Longmeadow Redevelopers, LLC and the Town of East Longmeadow.
The developer wants to build a massive warehouse on land abutting The Fields.
Town officials foolishly approved the developer’s plans in 2022.
In 2023 a series of public meetings took place with residents voicing their disapproval of the project.
After hearing from the public, the town reversed its plan approval, and the developer filed a lawsuit in Land Court.
The developer seeks, in part, a declaratory judgment pursuant to M.G.L. c. 240, Sec. 14A.
That statute allows a landowner to sue his city or town if the municipality has unlawfully restricted the landowner’s property use.
The Fields filed a motion to intervene in the lawsuit.
Intervention is permissible if
- the intervener has an interest in the lawsuit;
- the intervener’s ability to protect its interest may be impaired by the lawsuit; and
- the intervener’s interest is not adequately represented by the existing parties.
A Land Court judge denied The Fields’ motion to intervene, concluding that the town adequately represented the senior living community’s interest.
The Fields promptly appealed the decision.
Today the Appeals Court reversed the Land Court decision and gave The Fields permission to intervene.
According to the Appeals Court,
We conclude that the Fields Trust’s motion to intervene should have been allowed. At oral argument, counsel for the town conceded that the interests of the municipal defendants and the Fields Trust are not necessarily aligned. Indeed, before the motion judge, the town did not dispute the Fields Trust’s statement that the town is a small financially stressed municipality that lacks adequate financial resources to oppose the project. The Fields Trust’s concerns such as adverse impacts of traffic, noise, and deterioration of air quality caused by the developer’s proposed warehouse and particularly the solutions to those concerns are not necessarily the same for the town.
The full text of the slip opinion is attached below.