Governor Deval L. Patrick signed legislation yesterday that clears up months of legal uncertainty about new and existing real estate developments on filled tidelands around the Boston area.
The new legislation clarifies the status of exemptions state environmental officials have granted in the past to developments, and it exempts future projects on filled tidelands from the strict licensing that waterfront property must undergo. It also requires a "public benefits review" of land being developed on former tidelands, to be conducted under the secretary of energy and environmental affairs.
The law was passed in response to a Supreme Judicial Court ruling nine months ago that cast doubt on the legal title of holdings on more than 3,000 acres near harbors and waterways.
"This new law provides predictability for land development and protects the public interest," Patrick said, as representatives of the real estate industry and others looked on.
Patrick said the new law balances conflicting development and environmental priorities.
The issue arose after the Association of Cambridge Neighborhoods sued developers of NorthPoint, a huge mixed-use project in East Cambridge, saying state environmental officials had improperly exempted it from complying with the a law that regulates public access to land on waterways.
The SJC agreed, throwing uncertainty over many properties built on tidelands. But the court stayed the decision to give the Legislature time to fix a problem that boiled down to whether the regulatory process in the past was consistent with the state constitution and certain laws.
Yesterday, the lawyer for the plaintiffs in the NorthPoint case said they would ask the SJC for a rehearing. "It's our opinion that as related to NorthPoint the legislation does not do what the courts said it must do," said Thomas B. Bracken, the lawyer. "The whole issue of, does the land serve the public purpose was not addressed."
But the governor and legislators instrumental in writing the remedial legislation indicated the matter was done with.
Thomas C. Palmer Jr. can be reached at tpalmer@globe.com.
