Andrews v. Town of Amherst

A substantial portion of the plaintiffs’ land (locus) in the town of Amherst (town) was rezoned from a light industrial zone to a flood prone conservancy (FPC) zone. A Land Court judge agreed with the plaintiffs’ position that the action of the town constituted reverse spot zoning and therefore was null and void. We conclude that the plaintiffs did not present evidence sufficient to sustain their heavy burden to overcome the legitimacy of the town’s action, and we reverse.

We first describe the locus in question, which was rezoned, *366and the surrounding area, which was not. We next review the…