Welcome to Massachusetts.
State law keeps the approvals for a development alive and usable unless the zoning changes. It forces all cities and towns to "grandfather" uses and proposed developments that predate a zone change, and even requires that simply filing a plan to develop a property is enough to win those rights. State law requires towns to have a Master Plan, but does not require the zoning by laws or subdivision regulations in the town to reflect the plan, and does not impose any penalty if the town doesn't have a plan. State law mandates that land along any town or county road can legally be divided into building lots without any effective controls - and you'd be surprised what "roads" creative land owners have discovered in the woods.
In fact, the laws controlling land use and zoning in our Commonwealth are so antiquated that the American Planning Association listed us as one of the 28 worst states. We are officially in a mess.
There is an effort to solve this problem: Senate Bill 1174. Introduced by Senator Pam Resor, S1174 is a comprehensive revision of the laws governing land use in Massachusetts, the first in almost three decades. S1174 is widely supported by planning and environmental associations, as well as advocates for effective local government.
Here are some of the problems it would solve.
Our current Zoning Act (Chapter 40) does not state the purposes of zoning, which means courts have generally interpreted it very restrictively. Whereas in other states towns can zone to protect their rural character, for example, even to the extent of mandating 50 acre "lots," in Massachusetts the courts have limited zoning to protecting health and safety, and rarely allowed a by law to mandate lots larger than 2 acres. As we can tell by looking around, zoning for 2 acre lots does not protect a town's rural character, it only spreads out houses and makes them more expensive, contributing simultaneously to sprawl and a severe shortage of moderately-priced houses.
The law does not now allow municipalities to regulate the floor area in a single-family house. Although this prohibition was probably originally included to prevent towns from requiring too many square feet in a house, thus blocking low-income housing, this restriction now has the effect of permitting "mansionization": converting a regular-sized house into a mansion. These conversions are infamous in the Boston suburbs and are also beginning to happen here, too.
Except on Cape Cod, which has special authorization, communities in Massachusetts are currently not allowed to impose "impact fees" on a development to help cover the costs of increased services that will be needed by that development. S1174 would permit impact fees and set up implementation standards.
In Massachusetts - and no other state - a landowner may divide land into lots along existing roads without having to meet any of the standards required for new subdivisions. All the owner has to do is file an "approval not required" (ANR) plan. In rural towns this is the dominant form of land development - look at Hadley, Pelham, Leverett or Shutesbury. "Approval not required" encourages sprawl, dangerous driveway entrances, erosion and drainage problems on steep sites, and destroys the unique character of small towns. S1174 would treat all land being divided into lots the same way: as subdivisions, which must meet reasonable standards and be approved in the usual way.
The Subdivision Control Law, Chapter 41, currently prevents subdivision regulations from mandating that affordable housing be included in a subdivision plan. The proposed amendments would allow cities and towns to require provisions for up to 15% of the number of dwelling units to be affordable. The rule is flexible: the affordable housing would not have to be on the same property, and the requirement could be met by providing land or funds for the affordable units. Amendments to the Subdivision law would also allow communities to require amenities (such as playgrounds) in subdivision.
Municipalities would be required to make sure that subdivision regulations and zoning by laws conform to their Master Plans. Since the Master Plan would actually mean something, there would also have to be public hearings on the Plan before it was adopted (not required now).
Without these changes to the laws, all discussion of "Smart Growth" in Massachusetts is just that - talk. As you can imagine, there are plenty of people and organizations that prefer things to stay as they are. Those of us who want to be able to guide growth and protect the character of the regions we live in have to speak up and help pass these amendments.