Greenscapes Model Bylaw Toolkit

About Greenscapes

Greenscapes North Shore Coalition is a group of three entities: The Merrimack Valley Planning Commission, Salem Sound Coastwatch, and the Ipswich River Watershed Association. Together these groups work with municipalities to provide education and resources on stormwater and watershed-related issues. Specifically, Greenscapes provides outreach and education to support municipal compliance with water-related regulatory requirements, including the MS4 permit and the Water Management Act permits. To learn more about Greenscapes, please check out our website!

Greenscapes Model Bylaw Toolkit

The Greenscapes model bylaw toolkit is an interactive web-based toolkit meant to assist municipalities in finding model language related to stormwater mitigation and climate resiliency for Zoning, Subdivision, Planning Board, and Stormwater codes. Model language options are output based on the user’s selections, including if you are a City or Town, your code of interest, and your main goal and subgoal interest. All goals and subgoals have been adapted from MassAudubon’s Bylaw Review Tool, and include protecting natural resources, promoting compact development, reducing impervious surfaces, promoting green infrastructure stormwater management, and encouraging efficient parking. All recommendations contribute to compliance with the Massachusetts MS4 Permit.

Unlike other model language resources, this toolkit pulls all model language from municipal codes within Northeast Massachusetts – you may even find your own municipality’s codes promoted here! This ensures the model language is relevant to Greenscapes service region communities, and has proven successful to implementation. To begin using the toolkit, please follow the directions below.