Planning Board Members Overview

For New Planning Board Members

As a Citizen Planner you are looking forward to a rich, challenging, and rewarding experience! To help you get started, here is a short “job description” of a typical Planning Board Member in Massachusetts.

Section 1: Being a local official

Being an effective Planning Board member requires a willingness to get involved, put in the necessary time to learn all you can about the job, and to keep up with new developments as they occur. You will need to make common sense, fairness, and objectivity while making decisions on behalf of your community. You must be willing to try to balance the public good with private rights and interests.

All local officials are subject to certain rules of conduct since you have the trust of public invested in you:

  • You need to learn about the rules regarding conflict of interest and other points of ethics, and become familiar with the law that covers public ‘open’ meetings and hearings.
  • You will become conversant in “planning lingo”: new terms, acronyms, and legal citations such as RPA, SPGA, DHCD, ANR, or Chapter 40A will be rolling off your tongue. Never be afraid to ask for explanations of terns you don’t understand, you might be surprised to find out many other people are uncertain of the meaning.
  • You will form new relationships with other boards and commissions in town hall, work with the town clerk, your local media, town counsel, your regional planning agency, and legislators.
  • You will learn to write legally binding decisions; your decisions or your conduct may be challenged in court or written up in the local paper and you have to learn to deal with adversity.
  • You will attend training sessions offered by a variety of players in your region to learn about your job and keep up with new developments.

Section 2: Planning Board Members spend much of their time in meetings focused on:

  1. Reviewing development plans- Submitted to the Board by applicants who want to develop their land for residential, commercial, or other purposes. The procedures for reviewing and approving or disapproving such plans are spelled out in State laws (or statues) and your own local bylaws or ordinances. Your major tools here are the State Zoning Act and the Subdivision Control Act. It is your role to ensure that those plans and your process comply with them. The project may involve the need of a Site Plan Review, a Special Permit, or a Variance or a simple signing of the plan. You do not have the kind of discretion to change your town’s bylaws in the process of reviewing a specific project that residents often think you have.
  2. Guiding the process of making Zoning Amendments- Over time you may discover that your bylaws no longer serve the vision of how your town/city wants to grow. Either you or residents can initiate the process of amending your zoning. Zoning Amendments have to follow detailed procedures to make sure the public has sufficient opportunity to provide input and the final changes have to be voted on by town meeting and approved by the Attorney General.
  3. Maybe even planning- Your Planning Board actually does planning! Boards are responsible for the creation and updating of the town Master or Comprehensive plan. Involving other officials and citizens in the process is a good way to get consensus on the vision of the community’s future development. These plans must be approved by the Planning Board after a public hearing and should be also approved by town meeting or the city council to be effective. Having a Master Plan is helpful towards designing zoning amendments, identifying open space priorities, economic development goals, addressing housing and transportation issues and bringing all aspects of town government together under one coordinated plan.

Section 3: Administration

The Planning Board has certain organizational tasks: You may work with and supervise your staff if your planning board is fortunate enough to have one. Boards elect their own officers, set rules, and procedures, create and administer a budget, hire and supervise consultants, and form subcommittees. You may be handling grants or contracts with consultants etc. Clearly spelled out rules and procedures will save your Board from many disagreements and create time for planning.

Section 4: Who is there to help?

You primary pillars of support are:

  • More experienced board members, your regional planning agency staff, the MA Federation of Planning and Appeals Boards, the State Department of Housing and Community Boards, the State Department of Housing and Community Development and the Citizen Planner Training Collaboration.

Your involvement and service is a critical component in shaping your community’s future. Never forget that you are serving the common good of all the residents of your community.