Land Use Boards

The Land Use Boards include the Planning Board, Board of Health, Conservation Commission, and the Zoning Board of Appeals. Use the following general guidelines to determine which board you need for your project or question:

  • Planning Board: site plan review, special permits, Approval Not Required (ANR) filings, preliminary and definitive subdivisions, scenic roads, shade trees, stone walls and fences, long range planning, and should be consulted for zoning bylaw amendments.
  • Board of Health: Air quality, beaver permits, disease reporting, investigation, and follow-up, drinking water, emergency management, emergency readiness, planning, and collaboration with local and regional departments, food safety, hazardous and medical/biological waste, health promotion and disease prevention, nuisance control and noisome trades, recreational camps for children, recreational waters (i.e.. bathing beaches and swimming pools), stable permits and manure management, share communications from MA Department of Public Health (DPH) and the MA Emergency Management Agency (MEMA), solid waste management, and subsurface wastewater disposal systems
  • Conservation Commission: responsible for administering the Wetland Protection Act (Ch.131 S40) and the Harvard Wetland Protection Bylaw; issues permits for activities in and near wetlands, floodplains, banks, river front areas, beaches, vernal pools and surface water; charged with the protection of the community’s natural resources and management of town owned conservation land; and advises other town boards and officials on conservation issues that relate to their area of responsibility.
  • Zoning Board of Appeals: Administrative appeals to Building Commissioner decisions, variances to provisions of the Protective Bylaw, Special Permits, and Comprehensive Permits for affordable housing proposals.

If you do not see your project type listed above, please call us at 978-456-4100 x. 323 and discuss the project or question with us.

Feed