Code of Massachusetts Regulations
321 CMR - DIVISION OF FISHERIES AND WILDLIFE
Title 321 CMR 10.00 - Massachusetts Endangered Species Act
Part II - Delineation of Priority Habitat and Review of Projects or Activities within Priority Habitat
Section 10.16 - Project Segmentation and the Availability of Comprehensive MESA Reviews and Permits for Certain Municipalities

(1) Project Segmentation. Projects shall not be segmented or phased to evade or defer the review requirements of 321 CMR 10.13 and 10.18 through 10.23 or the eligibility requirements for an exemption under 321 CMR 10.14. For the purposes of 321 CMR 10.13, 10.14 and 10.18 through 10.23, the entirety of a proposed Project subject to review, including likely future expansions, shall be considered, and not separate phases or segments thereof In determining whether two or more segments or components are in fact parts of one Project, all circumstances shall be considered, including but not limited to time interval between phases, whether the segments or components, taken together, constitute a part of a common plan or scheme, whether there is a commonality of ownership interests across two or more separate legal entities, and whether environmental impacts are separable. Ownership by different entities does not necessarily indicate that two segments or components are separate. The Division may, based on the above considerations, require that two or more projects be reviewed as a common project under 321 CMR 10.18.

(2) Comprehensive MESA Reviews and Permits for Municipalities.