Recently in Zoning / Land Use in Boston:

The well-known New Balance shoe might be getting a new headquarters right here in Boston, reports The Boston Globe.

The New Balance HQ would be in Brighton, and would include new offices, track and field facility, a hockey rink, and a hotel. Amazing.

The developer is New Brighton Landing LLC and made its filing with the City of Boston. The New Balance HQ in Brighton should take up 14 acres, near the existing offices on Guest Street.

The well-known developer Arthur Winn was fined $100,000 but avoided going to jail after being accused of funneling campaign contributions to politicians to get support for the failed Columbus Center development, reports The Boston Globe.

Prosecutors had been seeking a $200,000 fine and six months in prison, but U.S. Magistrate Judge Judith G. Dein pointed out that many of Winn's alleged crimes were beyond the statute of limitations or could not be prosecuted in federal court because they were connected to state candidates. As for the donations made to U.S. Representatives Michael Capuano and Stephen Lynch, it turned out that Winn had only pleaded guilty to misdemeanors there.

A Mohegan Sun casino in Palmer might be in the making, as executives from the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority spoke to a forum at the Mass Mutual Center in Springfield, reports WWLP.

The aim of the talk by the executives was to convince people that Mohegan Sun in Palmer would be beneficial to local businesses. The executives did this by telling the gathering that between Mohegan Sun and Pocono Downs, they had helped to buy $500 million from local businesses.

Boston University may be able to open a controversial biocontainment lab by the end of the month after years of waiting and delay, reports the Chronicle of Higher Education.

The history of the Boston University Bio Lab is long and complicated. The university won a grant in 2003 to build what would be called the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratory, which was supposed to contain facilities that would possess the government's highest security rating, Biosafety Level 4. The lab would study dangerous germs and pathogens.

The controversial and oft-troublesome Copley Place's expansion was approved despite protests, reports South End Patch.

The expansion, costing $500 million approximately, will include 70,000 square feet of new retail space. There will also be a 47-story residential tower containing 318 units. The project will create 1,700 jobs in construction and 270 permanent jobs. It will also generate approximately $7.2 million in annual property tax revenue, reports Patch. Critics pointed out that the housing will only contain 10 affordable housing units.

Developers of the former Atlantic Lobster Company site in Saugus just got nailed with a $100,000 civil penalty for developing on the protected marshes and wetlands of Rumney Marsh.

The developers, Pamela Avedisian and Gary DeCicco, allegedly tore up and altered the wetlands without seeking permission from authorities and now have to restore the lands in addition to paying the monetary penalty, reports the Saugus Advertiser.

The NorthPoint development in Cambridge may finally break ground with a little Magic. After years of starts and stops, the developers of NorthPoint recruited help from basketball legend Magic Johnson to help push forward one of the largest developments in New England. Ironically, the bane of New England’s existence in the 1980s, may be the savior nearly three decades later.

Johnson’s Los-Angeles-based Canyon-Johnson Urban Funds have partnered up with the original NorthPoint developers to help the project move forward and perhaps break ground sometime in 2012, reports the Cambridge Chronicle.

Anyone who has ever thought of turning their home into a home office or small business has probably run across zoning regulations. Zoning laws are local regulations that say what you can, and cannot, do with your land.

On the most basic level, zoning laws divide land into residential, commercial, and industrial zones. This means that you usually can’t open a retail space in a residential neighborhood or have a factory in a strip mall.

It’s been two years since the Woodland Village affordable housing project has been proposed in the Town of Hanover. After much legal wrangling, it does not seem like the project is any closer to breaking ground as the town and project developers are engaged in a Chapter 40B fight.

The heart of the fight is that the town has zoning laws that would block the development of the affordable housing project creating 152 units, reports The Patriot Ledger. Towns generally have the right to control the land use within their borders through zoning regulations.

The Saugus Walmart construction looks like it is one step closer to becoming a reality. The town planning board unanimously voted to approve plans for a 114,000 square foot store along Route 1.

The patch of land for the proposed Walmart has previously been approved for a 82,000 square foot building, reports the Saugus Advertiser. However, because Walmart planned to construct a “super center” on the site, exceeding the size limitations, the company and the owners of the property needed the approval of the town.