Zoning audit
Town of Holliston
5 things worth a decision in
the Zoning By-Laws: places where it does not agree with something else in it, with
the contents, with the zoning map or with the Town's own record of what it has amended, and places where it would be easier to administer written another
way. Each names the evidence, and says whose decision it is.
None of them are corrected in the published text. The
bylaw on this site reads exactly as Holliston prints it, and
changing any of this is an amendment rather than a correction.
Against the text current through October 21, 2025
Between the bylaw and the map 2
The bylaw and the zoning map are one instrument, and these are the places where they do not agree.
1 district code(s) the text establishes are not on the map layer
[Automated statute and consistency scan, low confidence.] The bylaw names these districts with a code in parentheses and the map layer we hold has no polygon carrying that code. Overlay districts commonly sit on a separate layer; a base district missing from the map is a gap.
- Text names (MCMOD); map has no MCMOD
Check whether each is an overlay on another layer or a base district the map should carry.
read from the Town's materials
1 map district code(s) never appear in the bylaw text
[Automated statute and consistency scan, medium confidence.] The zoning map layer carries these district codes, and the converted bylaw text never writes them. Either the map uses abbreviations the bylaw does not (the bylaw may name the district in words), the layer is not the map of record, or the text is stale.
- Map code C-1: no match in text
Match each code to the district the bylaw establishes by name, in districts.yaml, or replace the layer.
read from the Town's materials
Against the enabling statute 2
Where the ordinance appears to require, permit or prohibit something the state act it is adopted under does not allow it to. These are readings of two published texts side by side, not legal advice, and each names the provision on both sides so counsel can check it rather than take our word.
§ V-G(A) 5An accessory dwelling provision appears to require a special permit
[Automated statute and consistency scan, medium confidence.] MGL c. 40A, § 3 forbids a bylaw to "require a special permit or other discretionary zoning approval for the use of land or structures for a single accessory dwelling unit" in a single-family residential district. This provision mentions a special permit in the same breath as the accessory dwelling.
- § V-G(A) 5.: “…ion of an attached Accessory Dwelling Unit within or to a pre-existing non-conforming structure may require a Special Permit per Section I-C(3), provided that no Special Permit may consider the ADU use or impose conditions specific to…”
- MGL c. 40A, § 3: "shall not ... require a special permit or other discretionary zoning approval for the use of land or structures for a single accessory dwelling unit"
Read the provision: a special permit for a second ADU, or for an ADU larger than the statute protects, is allowed; one for the first protected ADU is not.
read from the Town's materials
§ V-G(A) 9An accessory dwelling provision appears to require a special permit
[Automated statute and consistency scan, medium confidence.] MGL c. 40A, § 3 forbids a bylaw to "require a special permit or other discretionary zoning approval for the use of land or structures for a single accessory dwelling unit" in a single-family residential district. This provision mentions a special permit in the same breath as the accessory dwelling.
- § V-G(A) 9.: “An ADU that does not meet the definition of Protected Use ADU and more than one ADU may be allowed by Special Permit. No Special Permit shall be issued unless the Special Permit Granting Authority finds that the exterior appea…”
- MGL c. 40A, § 3: "shall not ... require a special permit or other discretionary zoning approval for the use of land or structures for a single accessory dwelling unit"
Read the provision: a special permit for a second ADU, or for an ADU larger than the statute protects, is allowed; one for the first protected ADU is not.
read from the Town's materials
Not published here yet 1
Ours, not Holliston's: things this site does not carry yet.
The zoning map is not published here yet
The district pages read from the code alone. Until the layers are built, a reader cannot go from a place to the rules that govern it, which is half of what this site is for.
Ours.
found by comparison