55-429 - Applicability of local ordinances, regulations and building codes; county and municipal authority.
§ 55-429. Applicability of local ordinances, regulations and building codes;county and municipal authority.
A. No zoning or other land use ordinance shall prohibit cooperatives as suchby reason of the form of ownership inherent therein. Neither shall anycooperative be treated differently by any zoning or other land use ordinancewhich would permit a physically identical project or development under adifferent form of ownership.
B. Subdivision and site plan ordinances in any county, city or town in theCommonwealth shall apply to any cooperative in the same manner as suchordinances would apply to a physically identical project or development undera different form of ownership. Nevertheless, the declarant need not apply foror obtain subdivision approval to record cooperative instruments against aportion of the land that may be submitted to the cooperative if the site planapproval for the land being submitted to the cooperative has first beenobtained.
C. During development of a cooperative containing additional land orwithdrawable land, phase lines created by the cooperative instruments shallnot be considered property lines for purposes of subdivision. If thecooperative may no longer be expanded by the addition of additional land,then the owner of the land not part of the cooperative shall subdivide suchland prior to its conveyance, unless such land is subject to an approved siteplan as provided in subsection B, or prior to modification of such approvedsite plan. In the event of any conveyance of land within phase lines of thecooperative, the cooperative and any lot created by such conveyance shall bedeemed to comply with the local subdivision ordinance, provided such land issubject to an approved site plan.
D. Counties, cities and towns may provide by ordinance that proposedcooperatives comprised of conversion buildings and the use thereof, which donot conform to the zoning, land use and site plan regulations of therespective county or city in which the property is located, shall secure aspecial use permit, a special exception or variance, as the case may be,prior to such property becoming a cooperative. A request for such a specialuse permit, special exception or variance filed on or after July 1, 1982,shall be granted if the applicant can demonstrate to the reasonablesatisfaction of the local authority that the nonconformities are not likelyto be adversely affected by the proposed conversion. No action on any suchrequest shall be unreasonably delayed. In the event of an approvedconversion, counties, cities, towns, sanitary districts or other politicalsubdivisions may impose such charges and fees as are lawfully imposed by suchpolitical subdivisions as a result of construction of new structures to theextent that such charges and fees, or portions of such charges and fees,imposed upon property subject to such conversions may be reasonably relatedto greater or additional services provided by the political subdivision as aresult of the conversion.
E. Nothing in this section shall be construed to permit application of anyprovision of the Uniform Statewide Building Code (§ 36-97 et seq.) or anylocal ordinances regulating the design and construction of roads, sewer andwater lines, stormwater management facilities, or other publicinfrastructure, which is not expressly applicable to cooperatives by reasonof the form of ownership inherent therein to a cooperative in a mannerdifferent from the manner in which such provision is applied to otherbuildings of similar physical form and nature of occupancy.
(1982, c. 277; 2004, c. 242.)