SECTION 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 such by reason of the form of ownership inherent therein. Neither shall any cooperative be treated differently by any zoning or other land use ordinance which would permit a physically identical project or development under a different form of ownership.

B. Subdivision and site plan ordinances in any county, city or town in the Commonwealth shall apply to any cooperative in the same manner as such ordinances would apply to a physically identical project or development under a different form of ownership. Nevertheless, the declarant need not apply for or obtain subdivision approval to record cooperative instruments against a portion of the land that may be submitted to the cooperative if the site plan approval for the land being submitted to the cooperative has first been obtained.

C. During development of a cooperative containing additional land or withdrawable land, phase lines created by the cooperative instruments shall not be considered property lines for purposes of subdivision. If the cooperative may no longer be expanded by the addition of additional land, then the owner of the land not part of the cooperative shall subdivide such land prior to its conveyance, unless such land is subject to an approved site plan as provided in subsection B, or prior to modification of such approved site plan. In the event of any conveyance of land within phase lines of the cooperative, the cooperative and any lot created by such conveyance shall be deemed to comply with the local subdivision ordinance, provided such land is subject to an approved site plan.

D. Counties, cities and towns may provide by ordinance that proposed cooperatives comprised of conversion buildings and the use thereof, which do not conform to the zoning, land use and site plan regulations of the respective county or city in which the property is located, shall secure a special use permit, a special exception or variance, as the case may be, prior to such property becoming a cooperative. A request for such a special use permit, special exception or variance filed on or after July 1, 1982, shall be granted if the applicant can demonstrate to the reasonable satisfaction of the local authority that the nonconformities are not likely to be adversely affected by the proposed conversion. No action on any such request shall be unreasonably delayed. In the event of an approved conversion, counties, cities, towns, sanitary districts or other political subdivisions may impose such charges and fees as are lawfully imposed by such political subdivisions as a result of construction of new structures to the extent that such charges and fees, or portions of such charges and fees, imposed upon property subject to such conversions may be reasonably related to greater or additional services provided by the political subdivision as a result of the conversion.

E. Nothing in this section shall be construed to permit application of any provision of the Uniform Statewide Building Code (§ 36-97 et seq.) or any local ordinances regulating the design and construction of roads, sewer and water lines, stormwater management facilities, or other public infrastructure, which is not expressly applicable to cooperatives by reason of the form of ownership inherent therein to a cooperative in a manner different from the manner in which such provision is applied to other buildings of similar physical form and nature of occupancy.

1982, c. 277; 2004, c. 36-97 .