For You: Highlights of Our Presentation on State and Local Wetlands Laws, Procedures, Principles, and Practical Tips

For You: Highlights of Our Presentation on State and Local Wetlands Laws, Procedures, Principles, and Practical Tips ^Featured

Written by Gregor I. McGregor, Esq.

font size decrease font size increase font size

For You: Highlights of Our Presentation on State and Local Wetlands Laws, Procedures, Principles, and Practical Tips

For the 30th CPTC Annual Conference for Massachusetts citizen and professional planners, held at Holy Cross College in Worcester in spring 2025, firm founder Gregor McGregor prepared a new presentation covering the procedures, principles, and practical tips for projects, lawyers and consultants before local Conservation Commissions. It is now available on our firm website in Archives under Slide Shows.

CPTC is the Citizen Planner Training Collaborative headquartered at UMass Boston. www.masscptc.org. It provides ongoing training with webinar series, on demand workshops for towns, groups, and regional planning agencies, authoritative publications on MA land use practice and law, and videos of select training sessions taught by professionals, all capped by its large annual conference.

CPTC is part of a strong network including the MassPlanners (an online forum), the Mass Housing Partnership (strengthening local boards and commissions to support affordable housing), and local regulatory and planning boards that touch the housing development process.

Mr. McGregor’s presentation comprehensively covers the application and hearing process for proposing work and activities in and near wetlands (as they are broadly defined as Resource Areas) and the associated Buffer Zone. Commissions have jurisdiction over these projects and enforcement under the state Wetlands Protection Act and city and town Wetlands Protection Bylaws (in about 215 municipalities).

Below are some useful highlights and diagrams from the presentation. You may watch the entire presentation by clicking the following link... Full Presentation >>

Read 14 times Last modified onMonday, 20 October 2025 14:38

Published in Wetlands & Floodplains

Tagged under

Gregor I. McGregor, Esq.

GREGOR I. McGREGOR, Esq. is the founder and principal of New England’s oldest environmental law firm, McGregor Legere & Stevens PC., formed in 1975.

The firm handles all aspects of environmental law, land use, real estate, energy, and related litigation. Mr. McGregor enjoys Martindale-Hubbell’s highest rating for attorneys (AV).

In over 50 years of legal practice, Mr. McGregor's court cases created precedents on Environmental Impact Statements under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA), wetland and floodplain law under the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act, hazardous waste cleanup liability and cost-recovery under the Massachusetts Superfund, reduced taxes for land conservation transactions, Article 97 open space and parkland protection, Home Rule environmental ordinances and bylaws of cities and towns, court enforcement remedies, and the constitutional doctrine of Regulatory Takings.

Before 1975, Mr. McGregor was an Assistant Attorney General of Massachusetts and the first chief of the Attorney General’s Division of Environmental Protection. In that capacity he advised and represented the Commonwealth during the formative years of Massachusetts environmental statutes, agencies, regulations, enforcement and cases in court.

Mr. McGregor is editor of the two-volume treatise on Massachusetts Environmental Law, published by Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, Inc. (MCLE). He is co-chair of MCLE’s annual Environmental, Land Use, and Energy Law Conference and MCLE’s Real Estate and Environmental Law Curriculum Advisory Committee. He received from MCLE in 2013 its Scholar-Mentor Award recognizing his dedication to legal scholarship and leadership.

Mr. McGregor co-chairs the Environmental and Renewable Energy Law Section of the Real Estate Bar Association for Massachusetts (REBA) and serves as a member of the REBA Board of Directors. He is an active member of the Massachusetts Municipal Lawyers Association (MMLA), which honored him for his career contributions and advocacy on the Home Rule Doctrine. At a National CLE Conference in Vail, CO, Mr. McGregor for many years co-chaired an annual seminar on Environmental Law, Land Use, Energy & Litigation for attorneys from across the United States.

The firm is a founding member of the Environmental Law Network (ELN), an alliance of specialty law firms, in the United States and abroad, sharing legal expertise and practical experience for the benefit of their clients.

Mr. McGregor is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School.

View Attorney McGregor's Case List >>