MECHANICWILLOW, LLC, Plaintiff, v. TERRI EVANS, et al., as members of the Natick Planning Board; and TOWN OF NATICK, Defendants

Plaintiff MechanicWillow, LLC ("MW") filed this action on April 2, 2018. It appealed pursuant to M.G.L. c. 40A, § 17, a March 7, 2018 decision (the "Decision") of the defendant members of the Natick Planning Board (the "Board"), granting site-plan approval to defendant Town of Natick (the "Town") for renovation of a municipal park. The Board filed its Decision with the defendant Natick Town Clerk on March 12, 2018. In its complaint, MW named as defendants the Board, the Town, and the Town Clerk.

On May 2, 2018, MW supplemented and amended its original complaint in this action. MW's amended complaint contained six counts. On June 1, 2018, with MW's assent, the Court dismissed Count VI of the amended complaint. On July 3, 2018, with the assent of the parties, the Court dismissed Counts III-V of the amended complaint, and dismissed all claims against the Town Clerk. Those dismissals left MW's claims in Count I of its amended complaint, against solely the Board and the Town, for judicial review pursuant to § 17 of the Decision; and in Count II of the amended complaint, again against only the Board and the Town, for denial of due process in connection with the Board's issuance of the Decision.

In early 2020, the parties moved and cross-moved for summary judgment. On March 19, 2020, the Court granted the Board and the Town's cross-motion for summary judgment on the issue of whether MW received sufficient notice of the Town's application to the Board for site plan approval (MW did). On March 25, 2020, the Court granted the Board and the Town's cross-motion for summary judgment, and denied MW's motion for summary judgment, on the issue of whether the Court could invalidate the Decision on account of items that were missing from the Town's site-plan review application (the Court ruled it could not).

On October 30 and November 2-4, 2020, the parties appeared before this Court for trial on their remaining issues. For the reasons set forth in the Court's (a) order of June 1, 2018; (b) order of July 3, 2018; (c) order of March 19, 2020; (d) order of March 25, 2020; and (e) Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, issued this same date, it is hereby

ORDERED, ADJUDGED, and DECREED that judgment hereby enters in FAVOR of the defendant members of the Natick Planning Board (the "Board") and defendant Town of Natick (the "Town"), and AGAINST plaintiff MechanicWillow, LLC ("MW"), on Counts I-II of MW's amended complaint;

ORDERED, ADJUDGED, and DECREED that MW's claims in its amended complaint against the defendant Natick Town Clerk are DISMISSED;

ORDERED, ADJUDGED, and DECREED that MW's claims in Counts III-VI of MW's amended complaint against the Board and the Town are DISMISSED; and

ORDERED, ADJUDGED, and DECREED that the decision of the Board dated March 7, 2018, as filed with the Town Clerk on March 12, 2018, granting the Town site-plan approval for renovations of the Navy Yard Park, is AFFIRMED.

SO ORDERED.