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| Home > Statutes > USA Massachusetts |
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USA Statutes : massachusetts
Title : PART I. ADMINISTRATION OF THE GOVERNMENT
Chapter : TITLE VII. CITIES, TOWNS AND DISTRICTS
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Chapter 39: Section 1. Allocation of powers Section 1. Except as otherwise provided by law, city councils shall have the powers of towns; boards of aldermen shall have the powers, perform the duties and be subject to the liabilities of selectmen, except with respect to appointments, and the mayor shall have the powers, perform the duties and be subject to the liabilities of selectmen with respect to appointments, but all his appointments shall be subject to confirmation and rejection by the aldermen, and upon the rejection of a person so appointed the mayor shall within one month thereafter make another appointment. In cities having a single legislative board other than a board of aldermen, such board shall, so far as appropriate and not inconsistent with the express provisions of any general or special law, have the powers, perform the duties and be subject to the liabilities of the board of aldermen.
Chapter 39: Section 10. Warrant; issuance; contents Section 10. Every town meeting or town election, except as hereinafter provided, shall be called in pursuance of a warrant, under the hands of the selectmen, notice of which shall be given at least seven days before the annual meeting or an annual or special election and at least fourteen days before any special town meeting. The warrant shall be directed to the constables or to some other persons, who shall forthwith give notice of such meeting in the manner prescribed by the by-laws, or, if there are no by-laws, by a vote of the town, or in a manner approved by the attorney general. The warrant for all town meetings shall state the time and place of holding the meeting and the subjects to be acted upon thereat. The town meeting may be held in one or more places; provided, that if it is held in more than one place, the places are connected by means of a public address system and loud speakers so that the proceedings in all such places may be heard and participated in by all the voters present therein. Whenever the moderator determines that voters are being excluded from the town meeting because there is no room for them in the places provided or that voters in attendance are being deprived of the opportunity to participate therein for any reason whatsoever, he shall either, on his own motion recess the meeting for any period during the day of the meeting or, after consultation with the members of the board of selectmen then present, adjourn the same to another date, not later than fourteen days following the date of said meeting, when places and facilities sufficient to accommodate all voters attending and to enable them to participate therein shall be available. The selectmen shall insert in the warrant for the annual meeting all subjects the insertion of which shall be requested of them in writing by ten or more registered voters of the town and in the warrant for every special town meeting all subjects the insertion of which shall be requested of them in writing by one hundred registered voters or by ten per cent of the total number of registered voters of the town whichever number is the lesser. The selectmen shall call a special town meeting upon request in writing, of two hundred registered voters or of twenty per cent of the total number of registered voters of the town, whichever number is the lesser; such meeting to be held not later than forty-five days after the receipt of such request, and shall insert in the warrant therefor all subjects the insertion of which shall be requested by said petition. No action shall be valid unless the subject matter thereof is contained in the warrant. Two or more distinct town meetings for distinct purposes may be called by the same warrant.
The written requests of registered voters for the insertion of subjects in town meeting warrants shall not be valid unless the required number of registered voters not only sign their names but also state their residence, with street and number, if any. The selectmen shall submit such written requests to the board of registrars of voters or the board of election commissioners who shall check and forthwith certify the number of signatures so checked which are names of voters in the town, and only names so checked and certified shall be counted. A greater number of names than are required in each case need not be certified.
Chapter 39: Section 11. Persons authorized to call meetings upon resignation of selectmen Section 11. If a majority of the selectmen or any less number shall vacate their offices, or if the full number shall fail to be elected or qualified, the selectmen in office may call a town meeting. If there are no remaining selectmen, the town clerk may call it; and, if there is no town clerk, a justice of the peace may call it in the manner prescribed in the following section.
Chapter 39: Section 12. Persons authorized to call meetings upon refusal of selectmen Section 12. If the selectmen unreasonably refuse to call a town meeting, a justice of the peace, upon written application of one hundred registered voters or of ten per cent of the total number of registered voters of the town, may call a meeting by a warrant under his hand, stating the subjects to be acted upon, directed to the constables of the town if there are any, otherwise to any of the persons applying therefor, directing them to summon the inhabitants qualified to vote in town affairs to assemble at the time and place and for the purposes expressed in the warrant. In a town having a form of representative town meeting government a special town meeting called under this section shall be conducted as a representative town meeting, and notice thereof shall be given to the town meeting members as provided by law.
Chapter 39: Section 13. Quorum; application of section Section 13. Towns may prescribe by by-law the number of voters necessary to constitute a quorum at town meetings; provided, that a number less than a quorum may from time to time adjourn the same. This section shall not apply to such parts of meetings as are devoted exclusively to the election of town officers.
Chapter 39: Section 14. Moderators; election; tenure; vacancies; assistant moderators Section 14. At every town meeting when moderators are not elected for the term of one or three years, a moderator shall first be elected. The election of a moderator at a meeting for the choice of town officers shall be by ballot, and the voting list shall be used thereat.
Any town or district which has so voted or hereafter so votes may at any annual election of town or district officers elect from the registered voters thereof by ballot a moderator to preside at all town or district meetings. His term of office shall begin as soon as he is qualified, and shall continue until the next annual town or district meeting and until his successor is qualified. Any town or district which has elected a moderator for the term of one year shall thereafter elect a moderator at every annual election of town or district officers, unless the town or district votes to discontinue the electing of moderators for said term.
If a vacancy in the said office occurs during any term, it may be filled by the voters of the town or district. If a moderator so elected is absent, a temporary moderator may be elected.
In towns or districts where official ballots are used, the vote to elect a moderator for the term of one year shall be taken at a meeting held at least thirty days before the annual town or district meeting at which the vote is to become operative; and at the first annual meeting after the town or district has so voted a moderator shall be chosen as herein provided to serve at that meeting, and the moderator elected on the official ballot at that meeting shall act at subsequent town or district meetings until his successor is qualified.
At every town or district meeting until a moderator or temporary moderator is elected, the clerk of the town or district shall preside; but if he is absent or if there is no clerk, the chairman of the selectmen or prudential committee or body exercising similar powers, if present, otherwise the senior member present in point of continuous service, shall preside; but if no selectman or member of said committee or body is present, the justice of the peace calling such meeting, if the meeting is so called, shall preside. Such presiding officer shall have the powers and perform the duties of a moderator.
If, as provided for in section ten, a town meeting is held in separate places equipped with a public address system and loud speaker facilities, the moderator may appoint an assistant moderator to preside at each place of meeting whereat the moderator is not present. The assistant moderator shall have all the powers vested by law in the moderator to preside at and regulate the proceedings in the meeting at which he presides except that he shall not recognize any citizen desiring to address the meeting except after first obtaining permission of the moderator.
The word “district”, as used in this section, so far as apt, shall be construed as it is defined in section one A of chapter forty.
Chapter 39: Section 15. Moderators; powers and duties Section 15. The moderator shall preside and regulate the proceedings, decide all questions of order, and make public declaration of all votes, and may administer in open meeting the oath of office to any town officer chosen thereat. If a vote so declared is immediately questioned by seven or more voters, he shall verify it by polling the voters or by dividing the meeting unless the town has by a previous order or by-law provided another method. If a two thirds, four fifths or nine tenths vote of a town meeting is required by statute, the count shall be taken, and the vote shall be recorded in the records by the clerk; provided, however, that a town may decide by by-law or vote not to take a count and record the vote if a two-thirds vote of a town meeting is required by statute; and provided, further, that if the vote is unanimous, a count need not be taken, and the clerk shall record the vote as unanimous.
A town may pass by-laws, subject to this section, for the regulation of the proceedings at town meetings. Such by-laws shall be approved and published in the manner prescribed by section thirty-two of chapter forty.
In any town having a representative town meeting form of government the town meeting members shall not use the secret ballot when voting in the exercise of the corporate powers of said town or on any motion unless two thirds of the town meeting members present and voting thereon vote that a secret ballot be used.
Chapter 39: Section 16. Appropriation, advisory or finance committees; appointment; tenure; powers and duties Section 16. Every town whose valuation for the purpose of apportioning the state tax exceeds one million dollars shall, and any other town may, by by-law provide for the election or the appointment and duties of appropriation, advisory or finance committees, who shall consider any or all municipal questions for the purpose of making reports or recommendations to the town; and such by-laws may provide that committees so appointed or elected may continue in office for terms not exceeding three years from the date of appointment or election.
In every town having a committee appointed under authority of this section, such committee, or the selectmen if authorized by a by-law of the town, and, in any town not having such a committee, the selectmen, shall submit a budget at the annual town meeting.
Chapter 39: Section 17. Powers of moderator; preservation of order Section 17. No person shall address a town meeting without leave of the moderator, and all persons shall, at the request of the moderator, be silent. If a person, after warning from the moderator, persists in disorderly behavior, the moderator may order him to withdraw from the meeting, and, if he does not withdraw, may order a constable or any other person to remove him and confine him in some convenient place until the meeting is adjourned.
Chapter 39: Section 18. Duties of moderators; reception of votes Section 18. The moderator shall receive the vote of any person whose name is on the voting list or who presents a proper certificate from the registrars of voters.
Chapter 39: Section 19. Repealed, 1934, 39, Sec. 1 Chapter 39: Section 2. Presiding officer of board of aldermen; voting rights Section 2. If the mayor acts as presiding officer of the board of aldermen, he shall not vote in meetings of said board nor in conventions of the two branches of the city council. The board of aldermen may elect one of its number as president, who shall, in the absence of the mayor, preside at meetings of the board. This section shall apply to every city, notwithstanding any special law enacted prior to April twenty-ninth, eighteen hundred and eighty-two.
Chapter 39: Section 20. Precinct voting Section 20. Towns divided into voting precincts may, for their annual town election, establish precinct voting for all town officers to be chosen thereat, by accepting this section at a meeting held seventy days at least before the annual town meeting. The acceptance of this section or corresponding provisions of earlier laws may be revoked by the town at a meeting held seventy days at least before the annual town meeting; and if so revoked this section shall cease to be in force therein. Towns by vote or by-law may authorize voting precincts at special elections of town officers.
Chapter 39: Section 21. Canvass of returns Section 21. The town clerk and the board of registrars, upon receipt of the returns from the several precincts, shall forthwith canvass the same, and immediately declare the result.
Chapter 39: Section 22, 23. Repealed, 1974, 8, Sec. 4 Chapter 39: Section 23A. Definitions Section 23A. The following terms as used in sections twenty-three B and twenty-three C shall have the following meanings:—“Deliberation”, a verbal exchange between a quorum of members of a governmental body attempting to arrive at a decision on any public business within its jurisdiction.
“Emergency”, a sudden, generally unexpected occurrence or set of circumstances demanding immediate action.
“Executive session”, any meeting of a governmental body which is closed to certain persons for deliberation on certain matters.
“Governmental body”, every board, commission, committee or subcommittee of any district, city, region or town, however elected, appointed or otherwise constituted, and the governing board of a local housing, redevelopment or similar authority; provided, however, that this definition shall not include a town meeting.
“Made public”, when the records of an executive session have been approved by the members of the respective governmental body attending such session for release to the public and notice of such approval has been entered in the records of such body.
“Meeting”, any corporal convening and deliberation of a governmental body for which a quorum is required in order to make a decision at which any public business or public policy matter over which the governmental body has supervision, control, jurisdiction or advisory power is discussed or considered; but shall not include any on-site inspection of any project or program.
“Quorum”, a simple majority of a governmental body unless otherwise defined by constitution, charter, rule or law applicable to such governing body.
Chapter 39: Section 23B. Open meetings of governmental bodies Section 23B. All meetings of a governmental body shall be open to the public and any person shall be permitted to attend any meeting except as otherwise provided by this section.
No quorum of a governmental body shall meet in private for the purpose of deciding on or deliberating toward a decision on any matter except as provided by this section.
No executive session shall be held until the governmental body has first convened in an open session for which notice has been given, a majority of the members have voted to go into executive session and the vote of each member is recorded on a roll call vote and entered into the minutes, the presiding officer has cited the purpose for an executive session, and the presiding officer has stated before the executive session if the governmental body will reconvene after the executive session.
Nothing except the limitation contained in this section shall be construed to prevent the governmental body from holding an executive session after an open meeting has been convened and a recorded vote has been taken to hold an executive session. Executive sessions may be held only for the following purposes:(1) To discuss the reputation, character, physical condition or mental health rather than the professional competence of an individual, provided that the individual involved in such executive session has been notified in writing by the governmental body, at least forty-eight hours prior to the proposed executive session. Notification may be waived upon agreement of the parties. A governmental body shall hold an open meeting if the individual involved requests that the meeting be open. If an executive session is held, such individual shall have the following rights:(a) to be present at such executive session during discussions or considerations which involve that individual.
(b) to have counsel or a representative of his own choosing present and attending for the purpose of advising said individual and not for the purpose of active participation in said executive session.
(c) to speak in his own behalf.
(2) To consider the discipline or dismissal of, or to hear complaints or charges brought against, a public officer, employee, staff member, or individual, provided that the individual involved in such executive session pursuant to this clause has been notified in writing by the governmental body at least forty-eight hours prior to the proposed executive session. Notification may be waived upon agreement of the parties. A governmental body shall hold an open meeting if the individual involved requests that the meeting be open. If an executive session is held, such individual shall have the following rights:(a) to be present at such executive session during discussions or considerations which involve that individual.
(b) to have counsel or a representative of his own choosing present and attending for the purpose of advising said individual and not for the purpose of active participation.
(c) to speak in his own behalf.
(3) To discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position of the governmental body, to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with nonunion personnel, to conduct collective bargaining sessions or contract negotiations with nonunion personnel.
(4) To discuss the deployment of security personnel or devices.
(5) To investigate charges of criminal misconduct or to discuss the filing of criminal complaints.
(6) To consider the purchase, exchange, lease or value of real property, if such discussions may have a detrimental effect on the negotiating position of the governmental body and a person, firm or corporation.
(7) To comply with the provisions of any general or special law or federal grant-in-aid requirements.
(8) To consider and interview applicants for employment by a preliminary screening committee or a subcommittee appointed by a governmental body if an open meeting will have a detrimental effect in obtaining qualified applicants; provided, however, that this clause shall not apply to any meeting, including meetings of a preliminary screening committee or a subcommittee appointed by a governmental body, to consider and interview applicants who have passed a prior preliminary screening.
(9) To meet or confer with a mediator, as defined in section twenty-three C of chapter two hundred and thirty-three, with respect to any litigation or decision on any public business within its jurisdiction involving another party, group or body, provided that: (a) any decision to participate in mediation shall be made in open meeting session and the parties, issues involved and purpose of the mediation shall be disclosed; and (b) no action shall be taken by any governmental body with respect to those issues which are the subject of the mediation without deliberation and approval for such action at an open meeting after such notice as may be required in this section.
This section shall not apply to any chance meeting, or a social meeting at which matters relating to official business are discussed so long as no final agreement is reached. No chance meeting or social meeting shall be used in circumvention of the spirit or requirements of this section to discuss or act upon a matter over which the governmental body has supervision, control, jurisdiction or advisory power.
Except in an emergency, a notice of every meeting of any governmental body shall be filed with the clerk of the city or town in which the body acts, and the notice or a copy thereof shall, at least forty-eight hours, including Saturdays but not Sundays and legal holidays, prior to such meeting, be publicly posted in the office of such clerk or on the principal official bulletin board of such city or town. The secretary of a regional school district committee shall be considered to be its clerk and he shall file the notice of meetings of the committee with the clerk of each city or town within such district and each such clerk shall post the notice in his office or on the principal official bulletin board of the city or town and such secretary shall post such notice in his office or on the principal official bulletin board of the district. If the meeting shall be of a regional or district governmental body, the officer calling the meeting shall file the notice thereof with the clerk of each city and town within such region or district, and each such clerk shall post the notice in his office or on the principal official bulletin board of the city or town. The notice shall be printed in easily readable type and shall contain the date, time and place of such meeting. Such filing and posting shall be the responsibility of the officer calling such meeting.
A governmental body shall maintain accurate records of its meetings, setting forth the date, time, place, members present or absent and action taken at each meeting, including executive sessions. The records of each meeting shall become a public record and be available to the public; provided, however, that the records of any executive session may remain secret as long as publication may defeat the lawful purposes of the executive session, but no longer. All votes taken in executive sessions shall be recorded roll call votes and shall become a part of the record of said executive sessions. No votes taken in open session shall be by secret ballot.
A meeting of a governmental body may be recorded by any person in attendance by means of a tape recorder or any other means of sonic reproduction or by means of videotape equipment fixed in one or more designated locations determined by the governmental body except when a meeting is held in executive session; provided, that in such recording there is no active interference with the conduct of the meeting.
Upon qualification for office following an appointment or election to a governmental body, as defined in this section, the member shall be furnished by the city or town clerk with a copy of this section. Each such member shall sign a written acknowledgement that he has been provided with such a copy.
The district attorney of the county in which the violation occurred shall enforce the provisions of this section.
Upon proof of failure by any governmental body or by any member or officer thereof to carry out any of the provisions for public notice or meetings, for holding open meetings, or for maintaining public records thereof, any justice of the supreme judicial court or the superior court sitting within and for the county in which such governmental body acts shall issue an appropriate order requiring such governmental body or member or officer thereof to carry out such provisions at future meetings. Such order may be sought by complaint of three or more registered voters, by the attorney general, or by the district attorney of the county in which the city or town is located. The order of notice on the complaint shall be returnable no later than ten days after the filing thereof and the complaint shall be heard and determined on the return day or on such day thereafter as the court shall fix, having regard to the speediest possible determination of the cause consistent with the rights of the parties; provided, however, that orders with respect to any of the matters referred to in this section may be issued at any time on or after the filing of the complaint without notice when such order is necessary to fulfill the purposes of this section. In the hearing of such complaints the burden shall be on the respondent to show by a preponderance of the evidence that the action complained of in such complaint was in accordance with and authorized by section eleven A 1/2 of chapter thirty A, by section nine G of chapter thirty-four or by this section. All processes may be issued from the clerk’s office in the county in which the action is brought and, except as aforesaid, shall be returnable as the court orders.
Such order may invalidate any action taken at any meeting at which any provision of this section has been violated, provided that such complaint is filed within twenty-one days of the date when such action is made public.
Any such order may also, when appropriate, require the records of any such meeting to be made public, unless it shall have been determined by such justice that the maintenance of secrecy with respect to such records is authorized. The remedy created hereby is not exclusive, but shall be in addition to every other available remedy. Such order may also include reinstatement without loss of compensation, seniority, tenure or other benefits for any employee discharged at a meeting or hearing held in violation of the provisions of this section.
Such order may also include a civil fine against the governmental body in an amount no greater than one thousand dollars for each meeting held in violation of this section.
The rights of an individual set forth in this section relative to his appearance before a meeting in an executive or open session, are in addition to the rights that an individual may have from any other source, including, but not limited to, rights under any laws or collective bargaining agreements, and the exercise or nonexercise of the individual rights under this section shall not be construed as a waiver of any rights of the individual.
Chapter 39: Section 23C. Regulation of participation by public in open meetings Section 23C. No person shall address a public meeting of a governmental body without permission of the presiding officer at such meeting, and all persons shall, at the request of such presiding officer, be silent. If, after warning from the presiding officer, a person persists in disorderly behavior, said officer may order him to withdraw from the meeting, and, if he does not withdraw, may order a constable or any other person to remove him and confine him in some convenient place until the meeting is adjourned.
Chapter 39: Section 24. Application of chapter Section 24. The provisions of this chapter shall be in force only so far as they are not inconsistent with the express provisions of any general or special law; and, so far as apt, shall apply to districts as defined in section one A of chapter forty.
Chapter 39: Section 3. Elections of city officers by municipal bodies; manner of voting Section 3. No election of a city officer by a municipal body or board shall be valid unless made by a viva voce vote, each member present answering to his name when called by the clerk or other proper officer, stating the name of the person for whom he votes, or that he declines to vote. The clerk or other proper officer shall record every such vote.
Chapter 39: Section 4. Mayor to sign every ordinance; veto power; effect Section 4. Every ordinance, order, resolution or vote requiring the concurrence of the board of aldermen and of the common council, except the question of a convention of the two branches or of the election of an officer, shall be presented to the mayor. If he approves it, he shall sign it; if he disapproves it, he shall return it, with his written objections, to the branch wherein it originated, which shall enter such objections at large on its records and again consider it; and if two thirds of the members present and voting pass it, notwithstanding such objections, it shall, if not originally requiring concurrent action, be in force; but if originally requiring concurrent action, it shall be sent, with the objections of the mayor, to the other branch, where it shall be again considered, and if passed by two thirds of the members present and voting, it shall be in force; but in all cases the vote shall be by yeas and nays. Such ordinance, order, resolution or vote shall be in force if not returned by the mayor within ten days after it has been presented to him. This section shall not apply to budgets submitted under section thirty-two of chapter forty-four, or to appropriations by a city council under section thirty-three of said chapter.
Chapter 39: Section 5. Performance of mayoralty duties during vacancy Section 5. Except as otherwise provided by city charters, upon the death, resignation or absence of the mayor, or his inability to perform the duties of his office, the president of the board of aldermen shall perform them; and if there is no such officer, or if he also is absent or unable from any cause to perform them, they shall be performed by the president of the common council, or, if there is no such officer, or if he is absent or unable to perform such duties, by such alderman as the board of aldermen may from time to time elect, until the mayor or the president of the board of aldermen is able to attend to said duties or until the vacancy is filled. The person upon whom such duties devolve shall be called “acting mayor” and shall possess the powers of mayor only in matters not admitting of delay, and shall not make permanent appointments.
Chapter 39: Section 6. Election warrants; issuance; acceptance of provisions of section Section 6. If, at or after the time for the mayor and aldermen to enter upon the performance of their duties, it appears that the mayor or the full number of aldermen has not been elected, such of said officers as have been elected shall issue warrants for the election of a mayor or of aldermen as the case may be. If none of said officers has been elected, the president of the common council shall issue such warrants. If no mayor has been elected, the president of the board of aldermen shall perform the duties of the office until a mayor is chosen and sworn. If there is a vacancy in the board of aldermen, in the common council, or in a city or ward office which is to be filled by an election of the people, the board of aldermen shall issue their warrant for an election to fill such vacancy at a time and place designated by them. A city officer shall, notwithstanding his removal from one ward of the city to another, continue to perform his official duties during his term of office. This section shall not be in effect in any city unless the city council accepts it or has accepted corresponding provisions of earlier laws.
Chapter 39: Section 6A. Municipal salaries; increases and decreases; procedure Section 6A. Notwithstanding the provisions of any city charter to the contrary, the mayor and the members of the city council, or other legislative body of a city, shall receive for their services such salary as the city council or other legislative body of a city shall by ordinance determine, and shall receive no other compensation from such city, except that a member of a city council of said city may receive a salary for serving as an instructor in a municipal college of such city, except that a member of a city or town council in a municipality with a city or town council form of government may receive a salary for serving as a municipal employee of said municipality in lieu of receiving compensation for serving as a member of said council and except that, in accordance with the provision of the seventh paragraph of section twenty of chapter two hundred and sixty-eight A, any elected municipal official, other than a mayor, may choose to receive either the compensation for such service or compensation for service as an employee of a housing authority in such municipality, but may not receive both. No increase or reduction in such salaries shall take effect during the year in which such increase or reduction is voted, and no change in such ordinance shall be made between the election of a new council or other legislative body and the qualification of the new council or other legislative body. Such ordinance shall be subject to the provisions of sections forty-two, forty-three and forty-four of chapter forty-three.
Chapter 39: Section 7. Holding other offices Section 7. The mayor or an alderman or a member of the common council of a city which adopts this section or has adopted corresponding provisions of earlier laws, may at the same time hold any other office under the city government to which he may be chosen, except one of emolument.
Chapter 39: Section 8. Compatibility of offices Section 8. No member of the city council shall, during the term for which he was chosen, either by appointment or by election of the city council or of either branch thereof, be eligible to any office the salary of which is payable by the city.
Chapter 39: Section 8A. Removal of officers; procedure; exception Section 8A. Unless otherwise provided in any general law or in any special law relating to a city, any officer or official appointed or elected by the city council may be removed by said council for cause after a public hearing, written notice of which shall be given said officer or official fourteen days, at least, prior to the date thereof. This section shall not apply to any officer or official who is subject to the provisions of chapter thirty-one.
Chapter 39: Section 9. Annual meeting; other meetings; election of officers; times; adjournment; holidays Section 9. Except as otherwise provided by special law or a charter adopted or revised or amended under Sections two, three, or four of Article LXXXIX of the Amendments to the Constitution of the Commonwealth which may provide for a different time for the election of town officials and other matters to be determined by ballot, the annual meeting of each town shall be held in February, March, April or May; and other meetings may be held at such times as the selectmen may order or the charter or by-law prescribe; provided, however, that, notwithstanding the provisions of this section or of any other law, by-law, or charter to the contrary, a town, by the vote of its board of selectmen or town council may delay the annual town meeting; and provided, further, that such a delayed annual town meeting shall complete its business on or before June thirtieth. Town meetings shall be held within the geographic limits of the town unless a special law, charter or by-law provides otherwise; provided, however, that any meeting for the election by ballot of federal, state or other officers or the determination of other matters that are to be determined by ballot at an election shall be held within the geographic limits of the town. Meetings may be adjourned from time to time and meet and adjourn to any place authorized by law provided that officers shall be elected, and matters required by law to be elected or determined by ballot, shall be so elected or determined during the hours during which polls shall remain open as hereinafter provided. If the day set for a town meeting by by-law or otherwise falls on a legal holiday, such meetings shall be held on the day following. A town may by by-law designate the hour at which the annual town meeting shall be called and subject to section sixty-four of chapter fifty-four by vote or by-law designate the hours during which polls shall remain open in meetings for the election of officers and the determination of other matters that are required by law to be determined by ballot.
Chapter 39: Section 9A. Election of officers and other matters determined by ballot; meetings; time and place; warrants Section 9A. Except as otherwise provided by special law or a charter adopted or revised or amended under Sections two, three or four of Article LXXXIX of the Amendments to the Constitution of the Commonwealth, a town may provide by charter or by-law that the election of town officials and other matters to be determined by ballot shall take place in February, March, April or May before or after the annual meeting held for the transaction of other business, provided said annual meeting for the transaction of other business is also held or commences in February, March, April or May. The time and place of holding such election and vote and meeting for the transaction of other business may be stated in one warrant for the annual town meeting if called within thirty-five days of each other and such election and vote shall be deemed parts of the annual town meeting. If the election and other matters to be determined upon by ballot and the annual meeting for the transaction of other business are more than thirty-five days apart, separate warrants shall be used.
Section 1. Cities and towns shall be bodies corporate, and, except as otherwise expressly provided, shall have the powers, exercise the privileges and be subject to the duties and liabilities provided in the several acts establishing them and in the acts relating thereto. Except as otherwise expressly provided, cities shall have all the powers of towns and such additional powers as are granted to them by their charters or by general or special law, and all laws relative to towns shall apply to cities.
Chapter 40: Section 10. Public markets; establishment; conditions; regulation Section 10. A city, or a town having a population of not less than ten thousand, may provide and maintain one or more public markets, with suitable buildings and grounds, and for this purpose may acquire land by gift or purchase or lease the same, with or without buildings, and may make alterations in buildings and construct new buildings on land so acquired or leased. Any city or town which does not so maintain a public market shall upon a petition signed by not less than five per cent of its voters designate one or more streets or squares or other public places, suitably situated and approved by the department of agriculture, to be used by farmers as public market places. Such a petition shall be filed with the city or town clerk, and he shall determine whether it contains a sufficient number of signatures and whether such signatures are genuine, and when satisfied that the petition meets the requirements of this section, he shall so certify to the mayor or the chairman of the board of selectmen and shall also notify the commissioner of agriculture that the petition has been filed and state to him the date of filing. Any city or town which maintains a public market or market place in accordance with this section may, subject to the approval of the commissioner of agriculture, make rules and regulations for the management and use thereof, and may prescribe penalties for their violation, and may also designate a market master, who may be a police officer or other municipal officer or employee, and who shall have charge of such markets or market places and shall conduct them in the interest of the market men and their customers, shall enforce said rules and regulations, and shall maintain order within the market limits.
Chapter 40: Section 11. Prevention of forest fires Section 11. A town may appropriate money for the prevention of forest fires to an amount not exceeding one tenth of one per cent of its equalized valuation as defined in section one of chapter forty-four. Every such town with a valuation of one million seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars or less which appropriates and expends money, with the approval of the director of the division of forests and parks in the department of environmental management, for apparatus to be used in preventing or extinguishing forest fires, or for making protective belts or zones and building or maintaining water holes or cisterns for fire protection purposes as a defense against forest fires, shall, upon the recommendation of said director, approved by the governor, receive from the commonwealth a sum equal to one half of the said expenditure; but no town shall receive more than five hundred dollars. A sum not exceeding ten thousand dollars may annually be expended by the commonwealth for this purpose. Whenever it has been demonstrated to the satisfaction of said director that such equipment has been destroyed or has become unfit for use, the town shall be reimbursed by the commonwealth one half the cost of replacing the same; provided that the amount paid to any one town in any one year shall not exceed one hundred dollars. All equipment purchased under this section shall be in the custody and care of the town forest warden. Said director or his deputies may inspect such equipment at such times as they may deem necessary.
Chapter 40: Section 11A. Beach districts; formation Section 11A. For the purposes of clause (25A) of section five, any city may form a beach district, and the provisions of sections twelve B to twelve G, inclusive, shall, so far as pertinent, be applicable.
Chapter 40: Section 12. Public baths and wash houses Section 12. A town which accepts this section, or has accepted corresponding provisions of earlier laws, by a two thirds vote at an annual meeting, may purchase or lease land, and erect, alter, enlarge, repair and improve buildings for public baths and wash houses, either with or without open drying grounds, and may make open bathing places, provide them with the requisite furniture, fittings and conveniences and provide instruction in swimming. Such town may establish rates for the use of such baths and wash houses, and appoint officers therefor, and may make by-laws for the government of such officers, and authorize them to make regulations for the management thereof and for the use thereof by non-residents of said town.
Chapter 40: Section 12A. Repealed, 1941, 598, Sec. 5 Chapter 40: Section 12B. Authorization; membership of control commission; annual audit Section 12B. Two or more contiguous cities or towns may, in a city by vote of the city council thereof, and in a town by vote of the town at an annual meeting, form a district for the purpose of acquiring, whether by gift or otherwise, developing, maintaining and operating, within their territorial limits, beaches for public and recreational uses, and may pay over to the district treasurer, as provided in section twelve E, appropriations made for such purpose. Each of such districts shall be under the control of a commission which shall be appointed by, and the number and the terms of office of the members of which shall be determined by, a joint committee composed of the mayor and president of the city council, in each of such cities, and the chairman of the selectmen in each of such towns. In cities having both a city council and board of aldermen the president of the board of aldermen shall also be a member of such committee.
The director of accounts in the department of revenue shall cause an audit to be made annually of the accounts of all districts organized under the authority of this section, and for such purpose he and his duly accredited agents shall have access to all necessary papers, books and records. Said director shall apportion the cost of each audit among the several municipalities comprising the district on the basis of the taxable valuation of said municipalities as last established by the general court for state and county taxes, and submit the amounts of each apportionment to the state treasurer, who shall issue his warrant requiring the assessors of the cities and towns which comprise the district to assess a tax to the amount so apportioned, and such amount shall be collected and paid to the state treasurer as provided by section twenty of chapter fifty-nine.
Chapter 40: Section 12C. Construction of beach facilities; rules and regulations Section 12C. Said commission shall construct, equip and maintain at beaches under its control public bathhouses with dressing rooms, lockers and toilet facilities, as well as parking facilities, and other recreational facilities, may make reasonable rules and regulations for the care, maintenance, protection, policing and equal public use of said beaches, bathhouses, parking areas, and other recreational facilities, and may make reasonable charges for all facilities installed. At least one attested copy of such rules and regulations shall be posted at such beaches and any violation thereof shall be punished by a fine of not more than twenty dollars for each offence.
Chapter 40: Section 12D. Authority to incur indebtedness; limitation Section 12D. A city or town which is a member of a beach district may incur indebtedness within the limit of indebtedness prescribed in section ten of chapter forty-four for the purpose of acquiring beaches and paying an assessment for the construction of a bathhouse and appurtenances, including parking areas and other recreational facilities, in a beach district, and each district is authorized to make such assessments.
Chapter 40: Section 12E. Treasurer of district; appointment; bond; powers and duties Section 12E. The treasurer of one of the municipalities comprising such district, designated by the commission, shall be treasurer of the district and shall give to the district a bond, with a surety company authorized to transact business in the commonwealth as surety, for the faithful performance of his duties as treasurer of the district in such sum and upon such conditions as the commissioner of revenue may require. The district treasurer shall disburse the money received under the provisions of section twelve B upon warrants.
Chapter 40: Section 12F. Employees Section 12F. Persons employed at such beaches shall be employees of the cities and towns in the district where they reside and not employees of the district, and shall retain all their retirement and civil service rights.
Chapter 40: Section 12G. Leasing of concessions; procedure Section 12G. Said commission may at any time in its discretion lease or let out upon such terms and conditions as it sees fit, concessions or grants to operate any bathhouse, parking area or any recreational facility to any persons or corporations, such concessions or grants, however, to be leased or let out after public hearing and then to the highest responsible bidder therefor.
Chapter 40: Section 13. Municipal buildings insurance fund; management; use Section 13. A town which at a meeting, or a city which by its city council accepts this section, or has in like manner accepted corresponding provisions of earlier laws, may appropriate an amount not exceeding in any one year one twentieth of one per cent of its equalized valuation as defined in section one of chapter forty-four to establish and maintain a municipal buildings insurance fund from which any municipal buildings or other municipal property damaged or destroyed or lost by fire, lightning, vandalism, burglary, theft or otherwise, may be repaired, rebuilt or replaced by other buildings or property to be used in place thereof; but no money shall be appropriated for such purpose while the fund equals or exceeds one per cent of such equalized valuation. Such fund shall be managed and administered by the sinking fund commissioners of the town, if any, otherwise by the commissioners of trust funds of the town.
If a city or town which has established such a fund in accordance with this section has neglected or failed for a period of five consecutive years to appropriate for such fund, for any reason other than that the maximum amount authorized by this section has been accumulated, it may vote appropriations from such fund and the income therefrom for the purpose of paying a proper charge for effecting fire insurance on municipal buildings or other municipal property against loss or damage by fire, lightning or otherwise; provided, that nothing in this paragraph shall prevent any city or town from appropriating money for effecting fire insurance under authority of any other general or special law applicable thereto.
Chapter 40: Section 13A. Workers’ compensation insurance funds; management Section 13A. Any city or town which has accepted chapter eight hundred and seven of the acts of nineteen hundred and thirteen and which accepts this section, by vote of the city council or of the voters in town meeting, may appropriate an amount not exceeding in any one year one twentieth of one per cent of its equalized valuation as defined in section one of chapter forty-four, to establish and maintain an insurance fund to pay workers’ compensation, from which any compensation payable under the provisions of sections sixty-nine to seventy-five, inclusive, of chapter one hundred and fifty-two shall be paid; but no money shall be appropriated for such purpose while the fund equals or exceeds one per cent of such equalized valuation. Such fund shall be managed and administered by the sinking fund commissioners of the city or town, if any, otherwise by the commissioners of trust funds of said city or town. If any city or town has such an insurance fund, it may appropriate from such fund, including the income thereof, such sums as may be necessary for the purpose of paying a proper charge for effecting insurance to cover its liability to pay workers’ compensation.
Chapter 40: Section 13B. Residence quarters for school physicians Section 13B. A town of not exceeding three thousand inhabitants which accepts this section by vote in town meeting may appropriate for free residence quarters for a school physician a sum not exceeding five hundred dollars.
Chapter 40: Section 13C. Workers’ compensation claims reserve funds Section 13C. Any city or town which accepts the provisions of this section and has elected to self insure its worker’s compensation may establish reserves to pay worker’s compensation claims until said claims are fully paid. Said claims reserves shall be segregated by fiscal year and all funds so reserved shall be managed by a designated fiscal officer of such city or town. Any funds remaining after all claims are paid for a particular year, may be placed in another fiscal year’s claim reserve fund, if needed, or returned to general funds. Costs of reinsurance, if used, and outside claims and safety services may be disbursed from said funds.
Chapter 40: Section 14. Purchase of land; conditions; limitations; definition Section 14. The aldermen of any city, except Boston, or the selectmen of a town may purchase, or take by eminent domain under chapter seventy-nine, any land, easement or right therein within the city or town not already appropriated to public use, for any municipal purpose for which the purchase or taking of land, easement or right therein is not otherwise authorized or directed by statute; but no land, easement or right therein shall be taken or purchased under this section unless the taking or purchase thereof has previously been authorized by the city council or by vote of the town, nor until an appropriation of money, to be raised by loan or otherwise, has been made for the purpose by a two thirds vote of the city council or by a two thirds vote of the town, and no lot of land shall be purchased for any municipal purpose by any city subject to this section for a price more than twenty-five per cent in excess of its average assessed valuation during the previous three years.
The words “municipal purpose”, as used in this section, shall include any such land, easement or right therein within the city or town, so purchased or taken by eminent domain for the purpose of conveying or granting the same to the commonwealth for the use of a regional community college.
Chapter 40: Section 15. Abandonment of rights in realty; conditions Section 15. If any officer of a city or town having charge of any land, easement or right taken for such city or town, otherwise than by purchase, notifies the city council or the selectmen that, in his opinion, such land, easement or right, or part thereof, is no longer required for public purposes, and if thereafter the city council or the inhabitants of the town by a two thirds vote authorize the conveyance of such land, or of part thereof, or the abandonment of such easement or right, or part thereof, and specify the minimum amount to be paid for such conveyance or abandonment, the mayor or the selectmen may, for such amount or a larger amount, and upon such other terms as the mayor or selectmen shall consider proper, convey said land, or part thereof, by deed, or declare said easement or right, or part thereof, to be abandoned. Such declaration, being recorded in the registry of deeds for the district where the land is situated, shall extinguish the easement or right, or part thereof.
No land heretofore or hereafter acquired by eminent domain by one city or town within the limits of another city or town shall be conveyed under this section unless the mayor or selectmen authorized to convey such land offer to convey such land to the city or town wherein such land lies for the minimum amount specified as aforesaid, nor unless such offer is not accepted within six months after notice thereof is given to the mayor or selectmen of the city or town wherein such land lies by the mayor or selectmen authorized to convey, nor unless such conveyance is made within three months after the expiration of said six months. Land so offered to a city or town wherein it lies may be purchased by such city or town whether or not needed for the municipal purposes of such city or town, and, if so purchased and if such land is not needed for municipal purposes, it shall be disposed of as such city or town shall determine.
Chapter 40: Section 15A. Transfer of land; procedure Section 15A. Whenever a board or officer having charge of land, including land acquired for playground purposes pursuant to the provisions of section fourteen of chapter forty-five, but excluding land acquired for park purposes, constituting the whole or any part of an estate held by a city or town within its limits for a specific purpose shall determine that such land is no longer needed for such purpose, whether such land was acquired before or after the effective date of this section and whether acquired by eminent domain, purchase, gift, devise or otherwise, such board or officer shall forthwith give notice of such determination to the city council of the city or the board of selectmen of the town. At any time after the receipt of such notice, the city council of the city by a two thirds vote of all its members, in the case of a city having a city manager, with the approval of said city manager, and in the case of other cities, with the approval of the mayor, or the town by a two thirds vote at a regular or special town meeting, may transfer the care, custody, management and control of such land to the same or another board or officer of the city or town for another specific municipal purpose, any provision of general or special law to the contrary notwithstanding; provided, that no such transfer shall be valid if it is in violation of any term or condition of the title of the city or town to such land.
In any city or town which accepts the provisions of this paragraph, when land is being transferred for the purpose of constructing low and moderate income housing, the vote required of the city council or the town meeting shall be by a majority vote.
Chapter 40: Section 15B. Water supply works; sale or exchange of property Section 15B. A town, city, or district authorized to furnish water for domestic purposes, may, with the advice and approval of the state department of environmental protection, sell at public or private sale, or may exchange any real property, or any easements, whether taken by eminent domain or otherwise, no longer needed for public water supply works under its charge, or may from time to time lease any property not then so needed, or may permit the use thereof by the public for recreational purposes; and may in its discretion, by lease, license or other agreement, permit the construction and maintenance on any land under its control of towers, poles, wires, and other structures for the purpose of transmitting electric power over lands and water held for water supply purposes; provided, that such lease, license or agreement will not, in the opinion of the said department, affect or interfere with the water supply; and provided, further, that said city, town or district may, with the approval of said department, revoke said lease, license or agreement for cause to be determined by it.
No land acquired by eminent domain by a city or town within the limits of another city or town, and no land of a district so acquired, may be sold or exchanged pursuant to this section unless it is offered to be conveyed to the city or town wherein it lies for a minimum amount, specified by vote of the city council or a town or district meeting, for which the city, town or district owning it is willing to sell it, nor unless such offer is not accepted within six months after notice thereof is given to the mayor or selectman of the city or town wherein such land lies, nor unless such conveyance is made within three months after the expiration of such six months.
Chapter 40: Section 15C. Scenic road designations; improvements; fines Section 15C. Upon recommendation or request of the planning board, conservation commission or historical commission of any city or town, such city or town may designate any road in said city or town, other than a numbered route or state highway as a scenic road; provided, however, that a numbered route may be designated by a city or town as a scenic road if its entire length is contained within the boundaries of said city or town, and no part of said route is owned or maintained by the commonwealth.
After a road has been designated as a scenic road any repair, maintenance, reconstruction, or paving work done with respect thereto shall not involve or include the cutting or removal of trees, or the tearing down or destruction of stone walls, or portions thereof, except with the prior written consent of the planning board, or if there is no planning board, the selectmen of a town, or the city council of a city, after a public hearing duly advertised twice in a newspaper of general circulation in the area, as to time, date, place and purpose, the last publication to occur at least seven days prior to such hearing; provided, however, that when a public hearing must be held under the provisions of this section and under section three of chapter eighty-seven prior to the cutting or removal of a tree, such hearings shall be consolidated into a single public hearing before the tree warden and the planning board, or if there is no planning board, the selectmen of a town, or the city council of a city, and notice of such consolidated public hearing shall be given by the tree warden or his deputy as provided in said section three of chapter eighty-seven. Any city or town making said scenic road designation may make an ordinance or by-law establishing that a violation of this paragraph shall be punished by a fine not to exceed three hundred dollars.
Designation of a road as a scenic road shall not affect the eligibility of a city or town to receive construction or reconstruction aid for such road pursuant to the provisions of chapter ninety.
Chapter 40: Section 16. Authorization Section 16. A town may sprinkle or spread upon its public ways, or parts thereof, any liquid or material suitable for laying or preventing dust and preserving the surface of such ways or for sanitary purposes, may appropriate money therefor, and determine that with respect to the whole or any part of such ways the whole or any part of such expense shall be assessed upon the estates abutting thereon.
Chapter 40: Section 17. Assessment Section 17. If a city determines that the public ways or any portion thereof shall be sprinkled in whole or in part at the expense of the abutters, such expense for a municipal year, and the proportion thereof to be borne by abutters, and the rate to be assessed upon each linear foot of frontage upon such ways, shall be estimated and determined by the board of aldermen and assessed upon the estates abutting on such ways in proportion to the number of linear feet of each estate upon such ways or portion thereof sprinkled. The amount of such assessments upon each estate shall be determined by said board, or, if said board so designates, by the board of public works, board of street commissioners, superintendent of streets or other officer; and such board or officer shall, as soon as may be after the first day of January, cause a list of such ways or portions thereof to be made, specifying each estate and the number of linear feet thereof abutting thereon, the amount per linear foot, and the amount on each estate of such assessment, and certify and commit said list to the assessors of taxes. In a town such assessment shall be made by the assessors.
Chapter 40: Section 18. Collection of assessment Section 18. The assessors shall include such assessment in the tax list and warrant committed by them to the collector of taxes for that municipal year, and it shall be included in the next annual tax bill, or if the estate so assessed is otherwise exempt from taxation, it shall be rendered as a tax bill. Such assessment shall be a lien upon the estate, and shall be levied, collected, reassessed, paid, apportioned, and bear interest and become payable, in the same manner as, and shall be a part of, the tax for that year on such estate; but in cities the assessors shall make no abatement thereof except upon the recommendation of the board or officer by whom the list was certified to them.
Chapter 40: Section 19. Authorization; purposes; use of funds Section 19. For the purpose of maintaining, distributing and providing at reasonable rates during time of war, public exigency, emergency or distress a sufficient supply of food, other common necessaries of life and temporary shelter for their inhabitants, towns may raise and appropriate money outside of any limit imposed by law upon their tax rate or debt; but any bond, note or certificate of indebtedness issued therefor shall be payable in not more than two years from the date of its issue. The receipts from any undertaking or service authorized by this section shall not by applied to municipal purposes, other than those herein described, so long as there are any obligations outstanding issued on account of any such undertaking or service. The expenditure of all money so appropriated shall be under the direction of the mayor, or of an officer appointed by the mayor, with the approval of the city council in cities other than Boston, and in towns shall be under the direction of the selectmen or of an officer appointed by them.
Section 1A. Except as otherwise expressly provided, the word “district” as used in this chapter shall mean a fire, water, sewer, water pollution abatement, refuse disposal, light, or improvement district, or any other district, howsoever named, formed for the purpose of carrying out any of the aforementioned functions, whether established under general law or special act.
defense of civil actions Section 1B. A district may sue and be sued by its name to the same extent and upon the same conditions as a city or town.
Districts shall have the power and authority to assess member cities and towns for the purpose of paying a proper charge to effect insurance for payment of damages or for the purpose of paying a proper charge for payment of damages incurred pursuant to chapter two hundred and fifty-eight, and shall have the power and authority to defend civil actions brought against them pursuant to said chapter.
Section 2. A town may in its corporate capacity sue and be sued by its name, and may appoint necessary agents therefor.
Chapter 40: Section 20. Selling price of necessities; accounting Section 20. Articles furnished or services rendered under the preceding section shall be charged for, so far as practicable, at rates calculated to cover all costs and charges connected with the particular undertaking or service, and shall be paid for in cash at the time of delivery or performance. Any town acting under said section shall keep accounts, in the form prescribed by the director of accounts, covering separately, so far as practicable, the cost of the particular undertaking or service in respect to each commodity included therein; and a report in detail of receipts and expenditures connected with such undertaking or service shall be included in the annual report of the town treasurer.
Chapter 40: Section 21. By-laws of towns; purposes Section 21. Towns may, for the purposes hereinafter named, make such ordinances and by-laws, not repugnant to law, as they may judge most conducive to their welfare, which shall be binding upon all inhabitants thereof and all persons within their limits. They may, except as herein provided, affix penalties for breaches thereof not exceeding three hundred dollars for each offense, which shall enure to the town or to such uses as it may direct. Notwithstanding the provisions of any special law to the contrary, fines shall be recovered by indictment or on complaint before a district court, or by noncriminal disposition in accordance with section twenty-one D.
(1) For directing and managing their prudential affairs, preserving peace and good order, and maintaining their internal police.
(2) For preventing the fall of snow and ice from roofs and securing the removal thereof in such portions of their limits and to such extent as they deem expedient. The penalty for violation of such by-laws shall apply to the owner of such building or to his agent having the care thereof.
(3) For providing for the removal of snow and ice from the sidewalks, within the limits of the public ways therein to such extent as they deem expedient. The penalty for the violation of such by-laws shall apply to the owner of abutting property or his agent having charge thereof.
(4) For requiring owners of buildings near the line of public ways to erect barriers, or to take other suitable measures to prevent the fall of snow and ice therefrom upon persons traveling on such ways, and to protect such persons from other dangers incident to the maintenance, occupation or use thereof.
(5) For declaring any sewer or drain laid in any land or way, public or private, opened or proposed to be opened for public travel, to be a common sewer, and that it shall not be laid or connected with any existing common sewer except by the board or officers authorized to lay and maintain common sewers.
(6) For regulating, under a penalty not exceeding fifty dollars for each offence, the use of the common sewers and the connections which may be made therewith.
(7) For regulating throughout the town or within a limited portion thereof, by any designated board or commission, the inspection, materials, construction, alteration or use of pipes and fixtures through which water is supplied by public water works; and to prohibit the use of such water by persons neglecting or refusing to comply with such by-laws.
(8) For regulating, under a penalty not exceeding fifty dollars for each offence, the use of reservoirs connected with its water supply and land and driveways appurtenant thereto.
(9) For regulating the width of tires of vehicles owned in such town and used on the highways thereof.
(10) For requiring and regulating the numbering of buildings on or near the line of public or private ways and prescribing by whom and the method in which it shall be done.
(11) For regulating the disposal by town boards, officers or departments of personal property belonging to the town.
(12) For regulating the making of annual reports by boards, officers or departments not required by law to make such reports.
(13) For requiring all town officers to pay all fees received by them by virtue of their office into the town treasury, or to report the amount thereof from time to time to the selectmen, who shall publish the same in the annual town report.
(14) For prohibiting or regulating the leaving of vehicles unattended within the limits of private ways furnishing means of access for fire apparatus to any building.
(15) For regulating the use, occupation and maintenance, by clubs or associations, whether or not incorporated, of dwelling houses used in common by any or all of their members. In addition to any other remedy provided by law for violation of any ordinance or by-law made under authority of this paragraph, the superior court shall have jurisdiction in equity to restrain any such violation.
(16) For authorizing the superintendent of streets or other officer having charge of ways, for the purpose of removing or plowing snow, or removing ice, from any way, to remove, or cause to be removed, to some convenient place, including in such term a public garage, any vehicle interfering with such work, and for imposing liability for the cost of such removal, and of the storage charges, if any, resulting therefrom, upon the owner of such vehicle.
(16A) For authorizing the board or officer having charge of the collection of garbage and refuse, for the purpose of facilitating such collection, to remove, or cause to be removed, to some convenient place in the city or town, including in such term a public garage, from any portion of a public way therein or from any private way therein open to public use any vehicle parked contrary to a sign within one hundred feet banning parking at such time and place, and for imposing liability for the cost of such removal, and of the storage charges, if any, resulting therefrom, upon the owner of such vehicle.
(16B) For designating areas upon public streets to be used as bicycle lanes and for establishing a noncriminal ticketing procedure against violations of bicycle laws, and a schedule of fines for breaches thereof, not to exceed twenty dollars for each offense.
(17) For prohibiting or regulating the removal of soil, loam, sand or gravel from land not in public use in the whole or in specified districts of the town, and for requiring the erection of a fence or barrier around such area and the finished grading of the same. The superior court shall have jurisdiction in equity to compel compliance with any ordinance or by-law made hereunder. The penalty for violation of any ordinance or by-law made hereunder shall be as follows:—for the first offence, fifty dollars; for the second offence, one hundred dollars; and for each subsequent offence, two hundred dollars. Any order or by-law prohibiting such removal hereunder shall not apply to any soil, loam, sand or gravel which is the subject of a permit or license issued under the authority of the town or by the appropriate licensing board of such town or by the board of appeal, or which is to be removed in compliance with the requirements of a subdivision plan approved by the town planning board.
(18) For regulating the inspection, materials, construction, installation, alteration or use of pipes, fittings and fixtures through which gas is supplied within buildings and other structures.
(19) For requiring any person excavating land or any person in charge of such excavation and for requiring any owner of land which has been excavated to erect barriers or take other suitable measures within two days after such person has been notified in writing by the mayor or city manager and the city council, the selectmen or the building inspector, of the city or town in which the land is located that in their opinion such excavation constitutes a hazard to public safety. The penalty for violation of any ordinance or by-law made hereunder shall not exceed two hundred dollars per day for every day such person is in violation of such notice commencing with the fourth day thereof. The superior court shall have jurisdiction in equity to compel compliance with any ordinance or by-law made under the provisions of this clause. Notwithstanding the foregoing, no person shall be found guilty of a violation of such an ordinance or by-law, nor shall a person be compelled in equity to comply therewith unless, in the opinion of the court, such excavation constitutes a hazard.
(20) For requiring owners of land whereon is located an abandoned well or a well in use, to either provide a covering for such well capable of sustaining a weight of three hundred pounds or to fill same to the level of the ground. The penalty for violation of any ordinance or by-law made hereunder shall be a fine of not less than one hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars.
(21) For prohibiting or regulating the parking of any motor vehicle in front of any dwelling house except by the occupants of said dwelling house, provided that notice of said prohibition or regulation is given by the use of portable or permanent signs.
(22) For controlling and abating noise from whatever source, including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the right to restrict or limit the use of automobile horns and the operation of motor vehicles in such a manner as to cause excessive noise.
(23) For requiring that designated parking spaces for vehicles either owned and operated by disabled veterans or by handicapped persons and bearing the distinctive number plates authorized by section two of chapter ninety, or for vehicles transporting handicapped persons and displaying the special parking identification plate authorized by said section two of said chapter ninety, or for vehicles bearing the official identification of a handicapped person issued by any other state, or any Canadian Province, be provided in public and private off-street parking areas.
(a) Any ordinance or by-law made hereunder shall require any person or body that has lawful control of a public or private way or of improved or enclosed property used as off-street parking areas for businesses, shopping malls, theaters, auditoriums, sporting or recreational facilities, cultural centers, residential dwellings, or for any other place where the public has a right of access as invitees or licensees, to reserve parking spaces in said off-street parking areas for any vehicle owned and operated by a disabled veteran or handicapped person whose vehicle bears the distinguishing license plate authorized by said section two of said chapter ninety or for any vehicle transporting a handicapped person and displaying the special identification plate authorized by section two of chapter ninety or for any vehicle bearing the official identification of a handicapped person issued by any other state, or any Canadian Province, according to the following formula:—If the number of parking spaces in any such area is more than fifteen but not more than twenty-five, one parking space; more than twenty-five but not more than forty, five per cent of such spaces but not less than two; more than forty but not more than one hundred, four per cent of such spaces but not less than three; more than one hundred but not more than two hundred, three per cent of such spaces but not less than four; more than two hundred but not more than five hundred, two per cent of such spaces but not less than six; more than five hundred but not more than one thousand, one and one-half per cent of such spaces but not less than ten; more than one thousand but not more than two thousand, one per cent of such spaces but not less than fifteen; more than two thousand but less than five thousand, three-fourths of one per cent of such spaces but not less than twenty; and more than five thousand, one-half of one per cent of such spaces but not less than thirty.
(b) Parking spaces designated as reserved under the provisions of paragraph (a) shall be identified by the use of above grade signs with white lettering against a blue background and shall bear the words “Handicapped Parking: Special Plate Required. Unauthorized Vehicles May be Removed at Owner’s Expense”; shall be as near as possible to a building entrance or walkway; shall be adjacent to curb ramps or other unobstructed methods permitting sidewalk access to a handicapped person; and shall be twelve feet wide or two eight-foot wide areas with four feet of cross hatch between them. The cross hatch area abutting a handicapped parking space shall, for the purposes of this section, be considered a handicapped parking space.
(24) For prohibiting or regulating the leaving of vehicles unattended within parking spaces designated as reserved for vehicles owned and operated by disabled veterans or handicapped persons and within certain other areas.
An ordinance or by-law made under this section shall prohibit or regulate the leaving of unauthorized vehicles within parking spaces, including the cross hatch areas, designated for use by disabled veterans or handicapped persons as authorized by clause (23) or in such a manner as to obstruct a curb ramp designed for use by a handicapped person as a means of egress to a street or public way.
The penalty for a violation of an ordinance or by–law made under this section shall be not less than $100 nor more than $300 and shall provide for the removal of the vehicle in accordance with section 22D. This penalty shall not be a surchargeable offense under section 113B of chapter 175.
Chapter 40: Section 21A. Powers of cities and towns; regulation of working conditions of employees Section 21A. A town by by-law and a city by ordinance, unless repugnant to the charter of such city, may establish the hours, days and weeks of work and the hours, days and weeks of leave without loss of pay, including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, holiday leave, vacation leave and sick leave, for any or all employees of such town or city other than those appointed by the school committee; provided, that the number of working hours, days or weeks so established shall not exceed, and the number of hours, days or weeks of leave without loss of pay shall not be less than, the number prescribed by any general or special law applicable to such town or city on the first day of January, nineteen hundred and fifty-two.
Chapter 40: Section 21B. Personnel relations review board; establishment; purpose; “grievance”, defined Section 21B. Any town by by-law adopted at an annual town meeting, any city having a Plan D or Plan E charter by ordinance adopted in accordance with the provisions of its charter, and any other city by ordinance approved by its mayor may establish a personnel relations review board and may empower such board to adjust the grievances of all employees of such town or city other than those appointed by the school committee; provided, that such a board, by such an adjustment, shall not involve the city or town in an expenditure of money in excess of the appropriation made for the use of such board. As used in this section, the word “grievance” shall be construed to mean any dispute between an employee of a city or town and his appointing authority arising out of an exercise of administrative discretion by such authority under the contract of employment between the employee and the city or town, except a dispute concerning a change in one or more of the terms of such contract and except also a dispute which is, or upon proper appeal would be, within the jurisdiction of the civil service commission or the contributory retirement appeal board. No ordinance establishing in any city a personnel relations review board required by this section to be approved by the mayor of such city shall be amended except by ordinance likewise approved.
Chapter 40: Section 21C1/2. Employees who are veterans; participation in Veterans or Memorial Day exercises; time off granted; exceptions Section 21C1/2. An employee of a city or town which accepts the provisions of this section who is a veteran as defined in clause Forty-third of section seven of chapter four or is a member of a department of war veterans listed in section seventeen of chapter eight, and who desires to participate in a Veterans Day or Memorial Day exercise, parade or service, may be allowed and granted a reasonable and sufficient period of time off from his duties to attend and participate in such services or exercises. This section shall not apply to employees whose duties and services are critical and essential to the public safety as determined by ordinance or by-law, and the city or town may determine whether such time shall be with or without pay.
Chapter 40: Section 21C. Union conventions; leave of absence Section 21C. An employee of a city or town which accepts this section may be granted a leave of absence with pay while attending a convention of an employee union as an officer, delegate or alternate delegate.
Chapter 40: Section 21D. Noncriminal disposition of ordinance, by-law, rule or regulation violations Section 21D. Any city or town may by ordinance or by-law not inconsistent with this section provide for non-criminal disposition of violations of any ordinance or by-law or any rule or regulation of any municipal officer, board or department the violation of which is subject to a specific penalty.
Any such ordinance or by-law shall provide that any person taking cognizance of a violation of a specific ordinance, by-law, rule or regulation which he is empowered to enforce, hereinafter referred to as the enforcing person, as an alternative to initiating criminal proceedings shall, or, if so provided in such ordinance or by-law, may, give to the offender a written notice to appear before the clerk of the district court having jurisdiction thereof at any time during office hours, not later than twenty-one days after the date of such notice. Such notice shall be in triplicate and shall contain the name and address, if known, of the offender, the specific offense charged, and the time and place for his required appearance. Such notice shall be signed by the enforcing person, and shall be signed by the offender whenever practicable in acknowledgment that such notice has been received.
The enforcing person shall, if possible, deliver to the offender a copy of said notice at the time and place of the violation. If it is not possible to deliver a copy of said notice to the offender at the time and place of the violation, said copy shall be mailed or delivered by the enforcing person, or by his commanding officer or the head of his department or by any person authorized by such commanding officer, department or head to the offender’s last known address, within fifteen days after said violation. Such notice as so mailed shall be deemed a sufficient notice, and a certificate of the person so mailing such notice that it has been mailed in accordance with this section shall be prima facie evidence thereof.
At or before the completion of each tour of duty, or at the beginning of the first subsequent tour of duty, the enforcing person shall give to his commanding officer or department head those copies of each notice of such a violation he has taken cognizance of during such tour which have not already been delivered or mailed by him as aforesaid. Said commanding officer or department head shall retain and safely preserve one copy and shall, at a time not later than the next court day after such delivery or mailing, deliver the other copy to the clerk of the court before which the offender has been notified to appear. The clerk of each district court and of the Boston municipal court shall maintain a separate docket of such notices to appear.
Any person notified to appear before the clerk of a district court as hereinbefore provided may so appear and confess the offense charged, either personally or through a duly authorized agent or by mailing to the city or town clerk of the municipality within which the violation occurred together with the notice such specific sum of money not exceeding three hundred dollars as the town shall fix as penalty for violation of the ordinance, by-law, rule or regulation. Such payment shall if mailed be made only by postal note, money order or check. Upon receipt of such notice, the city or town clerk shall forthwith notify the district court clerk of such payment and the receipt by the district court clerk of such notification shall operate as a final disposition of the case. An appearance under this paragraph shall not be deemed to be a criminal proceeding. No person so notified to appear before the clerk of a district court shall be required to report to any probation officer, and no record of the case shall be entered in any probation records.
If any person so notified to appear desires to contest the violation alleged in the notice to appear and also to avail himself of the procedure established pursuant to this section, he may, within twenty-one days after the date of the notice, request a hearing in writing. Such hearing shall be held before a district court judge, clerk, or assistant clerk, as the court shall direct, and if the judge, clerk, or assistant clerk shall, after hearing, find that the violation occurred and that it was committed by the person so notified to appear, the person so notified shall be permitted to dispose of the case by paying the specific sum of money fixed as a penalty as aforesaid, or such lesser amount as the judge, clerk or assistant clerk shall order, which payment shall operate as a final disposition of the case. If the judge, clerk, or assistant clerk shall, after hearing, find that violation alleged did not occur or was not committed by the person notified to appear, that finding shall be entered in the docket, which shall operate as a final disposition of the case. Proceedings held pursuant to this paragraph shall not be deemed to be criminal proceedings. No person disposing of a case by payment of such a penalty shall be required to report to any probation office as a result of such violation, nor shall any record of the case be entered in the probation records.
If any person so notified to appear before the clerk of a district court fails to pay the fine provided hereunder within the time specified or, having appeared, does not confess the offense before the clerk or pay the sum of money fixed as a penalty after a hearing and finding as provided in the preceding paragraph, the clerk shall notify the enforcing person who issued the original notice, who shall determine whether to apply for the issuance of a complaint for the violation of the appropriate ordinance, by-law, rule or regulation.
As used in this section the term “district court” shall include, within the limits of their jurisdiction, the municipal court of the city of Boston and the divisions of the housing court department of the trial court.
The notice to appear provided for herein shall be printed in such form as the chief justice of the municipal court of the city of Boston shall prescribe for said court, and as the chief justice of the district courts shall prescribe for the district courts. Said notice may also include notice of violations pursuant to section eleven C of chapter eighty-five, section eighteen A of chapter ninety, section one hundred and seventy-three A of chapter one hundred and forty and section sixteen A of chapter two hundred and seventy. Any fines imposed under the provisions of this section shall enure to the city or town for such use as said city or town may direct. This procedure shall not be used for the enforcement of municipal traffic rules and regulations. Chapter ninety C shall be the exclusive method of enforcement of municipal traffic rules and regulations.
Chapter 40: Section 21E. Municipal charges and bills; due dates; interest Section 21E. Any city or town may, by ordinance or by-law, and any district by vote of the district meeting, establish due dates for the payment of municipal charges and bills, and may fix a rate at which interest shall accrue if such charges remain unpaid after such due dates; provided, however, that the rate of interest shall not exceed the rate at which interest may be charged on tax bills under the provisions of section fifty-seven of chapter fifty-nine.
Chapter 40: Section 22. Regulation of vehicles; penalties for violation; disabled veterans and handicapped persons excepted from parking violations; taxicab licenses Section 22. Except as otherwise provided in section eighteen of chapter ninety and subject, so far as applicable, to section two of chapter eighty-five and sections eight and nine of chapter eighty-nine, a city or town may make ordinances or bylaws, or the board of aldermen or the selectmen or the town council may make rules and orders, for the regulation of carriages and vehicles used therein, and may set penalties for the violation thereof; and may set and receive an annual fee for each license granted to a person to use any such carriage or vehicle therein. No such rule or order shall prohibit the use of passenger or station wagon type motor vehicles whose gross weight is less than five thousand pounds and which are registered for commercial use, on ways, parkways or boulevards where noncommercial passenger-type motor vehicles are permitted to operate. Such rules and orders shall not take effect until they have been published at least once in a newspaper published in the city, town or county.
No penalty shall be imposed upon any disabled veteran or handicapped person, whose vehicle bears the distinctive number plates, or displays the special parking identification plate authorized by section two of chapter ninety or bears the official identification of a handicapped person issued by any other state, or any Canadian Province, for parking such vehicle on any way for a longer period of time than permitted by said ordinances, by-laws, rules or orders.
Except in the counties of Dukes and Nantucket every metered taxicab licensed under this section shall have the name or the trade name of the owner and the name of the city or town in which it is licensed painted on the sides thereof in letters not less than four inches high and one half inch wide.
Chapter 40: Section 22A. Parking meters; fees; exemption from fees for disabled veterans and handicapped persons; bicycle locking devices; motorcycle parking; restricted parking areas for veterans and handicapped persons Section 22A. Any city or town, for the purpose of enforcing its ordinances, by-laws and orders, rules and regulations relating to the parking of vehicles on ways within its control and subject to the provisions of section two of chapter eighty-five, may appropriate money for the acquisition, installation, maintenance and operation of parking meters, or by vote of the city council or of the town may authorize a board or officer to enter into agreement for such acquisition, installation or maintenance of parking meters; provided, that the city of Boston, for the purpose of enforcing the rules and regulations adopted by its traffic and parking commission, or promulgated by its commissioner of traffic and parking, under chapter two hundred and sixty-three of the acts of nineteen hundred and twenty-nine, may appropriate money for the acquisition, installation, maintenance and operation of parking meters, or, by vote of the city council of said city, subject to the provisions of its charter, may authorize the traffic and parking commission of said city to enter into agreements for the acquisition, installation or maintenance of parking meters. An agreement for the acquisition or installation of parking meters may provide that payments thereunder shall be made over a period not exceeding five years without appropriation, from fees received for the use of such parking meters notwithstanding the provisions of section fifty-three of chapter forty-four. Such fees shall be established and charged at such rates that the revenue therefrom shall not exceed in the aggregate the necessary expenses incurred by such city or town for the acquisition, installation, maintenance and operation of parking meters and the regulation of parking and other traffic activities incident thereto. No fee shall be exacted and no penalty shall be imposed for the parking of any vehicle owned and driven by a disabled veteran or by a handicapped person and bearing the distinctive number plates authorized by section two of chapter ninety, or for any vehicle transporting a handicapped person and displaying the special parking identification plate authorized by said section two of said chapter ninety or for any vehicle bearing the official identification of a handicapped person issued by any other state or any Canadian Province. Any city or town may, in accordance with the provisions of this section, acquire and operate coin-operated locking devices for bicycle parking. A city or town may, in accordance with the provisions of this section, authorize the parking of more than one motorcycle in a single parking space and may impose a penalty for the full amount of a violation of an ordinance, by-law, order, rule or regulation related to the parking of vehicles on ways within its control and subject to section 2 of chapter 85 for each motorcycle so parked in violation of any such ordinance, by-law, order, rule or regulation. No motorcycle shall be parked in such a manner so as to inhibit the means of egress of another motorcycle currently parked in the same parking space.
Any city or town acting under this section shall further regulate the parking of vehicles on ways within its said control by restricting certain areas thereon for the parking of any vehicle owned and driven by a disabled veteran or handicapped person whose vehicle bears the distinctive number plates authorized by section two of chapter ninety or for any vehicle transporting a handicapped person and displaying the special parking identification plate authorized by said section two of said chapter ninety, or for any vehicle bearing the official identification of a handicapped person issued by any other state, or any Canadian Province, or by prohibiting the parking or standing of any vehicles in such a manner as to obstruct any curb ramp designed for use by handicapped persons. Parking spaces designated as reserved under the provisions of this paragraph shall be identified by the use of above grade blue signs with white lettering against a blue background and shall bear the words “Handicapped Parking: Special Plate Required Unauthorized Vehicles May Be Removed at Owner’s Expense”; shall be as near as possible to a building entrance or walkway; shall be adjacent to curb ramps or other unobstructed methods permitting sidewalk access to a handicapped person; and shall be twelve feet wide or two eight-foot wide areas with four feet of cross hatch between them. The cost of acquisition, installation and maintenance and operation of any signs or other regulatory devices used to designate such restricted areas shall be considered as a necessary expense for the regulation of parking and shall be paid from appropriations authorized by this section. Any such ordinance, by-law, order, rule or regulation promulgated pursuant to this paragraph shall contain a penalty of not less than $100 nor more than $300 and shall provide for the removal of a vehicle in accordance with section 22D. This penalty shall not be a surchargeable offense under section 113B of chapter 175.
Chapter 40: Section 22B. Acquisition and maintenance of off-street parking areas; conditions; exceptions Section 22B. Any city or town having installed parking meters or coin-operated locking devices for bicycle parking may acquire off-street parking areas and facilities by purchase, gift, eminent domain under chapter seventy-nine or chapter eighty A, by lease not to exceed five years, or otherwise, and may pay for such acquisition or lease, including the cost of policing, constructing or reconstructing, surfacing, operating and maintaining such areas and facilities, and including any debt together with interest thereon incurred for such acquisition, in whole or in part and pay for the removal of architectural barriers in public facilities in accordance with the provisions of section thirteen A of chapter twenty-two, from any receipts from said parking meters or such devices and may in each year transfer or pay into its general funds from said receipts a sum or sums in lieu of taxes for the year in question upon the average assessed valuation of said areas and facilities for the three years immediately prior to the date of said acquisition, determined by multiplying each one thousand dollars of such average valuation or fraction thereof by the tax rate set for said city or town for that year; provided, that the off-street parking areas and facilities are located not more than six hundred feet from a building in which the principal activity is business, commercial, manufacturing or industrial in character, and which building is in a business, commercial, manufacturing or industrial zone, but is not more than six hundred feet from the nearest parking meter of any group of not less than thirty parking meters approved by the department of highways, or are located not more than six hundred feet from a public beach area.
Chapter 40: Section 22C. Off-street parking lots; installation of parking meters and other devices Section 22C. Any city or town, having installed parking meters or coin-operated locking devices for bicycle parking under the provisions of section twenty-two A, may install parking meters in municipally owned or leased off-street parking lots and other devices for controlling such off-street parking lots, and may use any receipts from parking meters and other devices so installed for the purpose of purchase or lease of additional parking lots, the care and maintenance of the same, and in general for any traffic control or traffic safety purposes, including payment for public liability coverage in connection with the use of said municipally owned or leased parking lots.
Chapter 40: Section 22D. Vehicles parked in violation of law; removal Section 22D. In a city or town which accepts this section, as hereinafter provided, the city council or board of selectmen, or if, in any city or town, some other board or commission is empowered to establish traffic regulations, such other board or commission, may adopt, amend, alter or repeal rules and regulations, with such limitations, if any, as may be deemed proper, authorizing the chief officer of the police department or such sergeants or other officers of higher rank in the police department as he may from time to time designate, to remove, to some convenient place through the agency of a person or persons in the employ of the police department or by an independent contractor selected in accordance with law, by-law, or ordinance, on the basis of competitive bids, any vehicle parked or standing on any part of any way under the control of the municipality in such a manner as to obstruct any curb ramp designed for use by handicapped persons as means of egress to a street or public way, or to occupy or obstruct any parking space reserved for a vehicle used by a disabled veteran or handicapped person whose vehicle bears the distinguishing license plate, or displays the special parking identification plate authorized by section two of chapter ninety, or bears the official identification of a handicapped person issued by any other state, or any Canadian Province, or to impede in any way the removal or plowing of snow or ice or in violation of any rule or regulation which prohibits the parking or standing of all vehicles on such ways or portions thereof at such time and recites that whoever violates it shall be liable to charges for the removal and storage of the vehicles as well as subject to punishment by fine. Vehicles owned by the commonwealth or a political subdivision thereof or by the United States or any instrumentality thereof or registered by a member of a foreign diplomatic corps or by a foreign consular officer who is not a citizen of the United States and bearing a distinctive number plate or otherwise conspicuously marked as so owned or registered, shall not, however, be subject to such removal. Regulations and such signs as may be necessary shall be subject to the provisions of section two of chapter eighty-five. Liability may be imposed for the reasonable cost of such removal, and for the storage charges, if any, resulting therefrom, upon the owner of such vehicle; provided, however, that the liability so imposed for removal shall not exceed the maximum rate established by the department of telecommunications and energy under authority of section six B of chapter one hundred and fifty-nine B, and that the liability so imposed for storage shall not exceed the maximum rate established under the provisions of section six B of chapter one hundred and fifty-nine B. Neither the removal nor storage of a vehicle under the provisions of this section shall be deemed to be services rendered or work performed by the municipality or the police department of such municipality. The contractor shall be liable to the owner of such vehicle for any damage caused to it arising out of negligence in the course of such removal and storage. This section shall take effect in a city having a Plan D or Plan E charter by the affirmative vote of a majority of all the members of the city council, and, in the case of other cities by vote of the city council, subject to the provisions of the charter, and in a town by vote of a town meeting. Acceptance may be revoked in like manner at any time after the expiration of one year from the date of acceptance.
The provisions of this section shall not apply to the city of Boston.
Chapter 40: Section 22E. Lease of air space above structures and facilities Section 22E. Whenever the board or officer having charge of a structure or facility owned by a city or town, and not within the limits of playgrounds or lands held for park, conservation or similar purposes whether acquired under general or special law and irrespective of the date of acquisition, determines that the whole or any part of the airspace above such structure or facility is not required for the purposes thereof, such board or officer shall publish once a week for at least three consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in such city or town an advertisement of such determination, identifying the structure or facility involved. Such advertisement shall invite sealed proposals for the leasing of such airspace for a term not exceeding ninety-nine years and for the construction of a building therein pursuant to basic drawings and outline specifications to be submitted with such proposal. Such advertisement shall also fix a time, not less than three months after the first publication of such advertisement, and specify a place, at which time and place such board or officer shall publicly open and read such sealed proposals.
Any provision of general or special law to the contrary notwithstanding, the city manager in the case of a city having a Plan D or Plan E charter, when authorized thereto by an affirmative vote of a majority of the city council, the mayor in the case of any other city, when authorized thereto by majority vote of the city council, and the selectmen in the case of a town, when authorized thereto by vote of the town at a town meeting, may lease, in accordance with whichever of the proposals so submitted is deemed most advantageous to such city or town, the whole or any part of the airspace determined as aforesaid to be not required for the purposes of such structure or facility and such parts of such structure or facility or the site thereof as may be necessary for structural supports and means of ingress and egress to and from the building to be erected in such airspace. Buildings and other things erected or affixed pursuant to the lease of any such airspace shall be taxed to the lessee thereof or his assigns in the same manner and to the same extent as if such lessee or his assigns were the owners of the land in fee and the value of the land shall be included in any such assessment.
Chapter 40: Section 22F. License fees; service charges; acceptance of section Section 22F. Any municipal board or officer empowered to issue a license, permit, certificate, or to render a service or perform work for a person or class of persons, may, from time to time, fix reasonable fees for all such licenses, permits, or certificates issued pursuant to statutes or regulations wherein the entire proceeds of the fee remain with such issuing city or town, and may fix reasonable charges to be paid for any services rendered or work performed by the city or town or any department thereof, for any person or class of persons; provided, however, that in the case of a board or officer appointed by an elected board, the fixing of such fee shall be subject to the review and approval of such elected board.
A fee or charge imposed pursuant to this section shall supersede fees or charges already in effect, or any limitations on amounts placed thereon for the same service, work, license, permit or certificate; provided, however, that this section shall not supersede the provisions of sections 31 to 77, inclusive, of chapter 6A, chapter 80, chapter 83, chapter 138, sections 121 to 131N, inclusive, of chapter 140 or section 10A of chapter 148. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any certificate, service or work required by chapters fifty to fifty-six, inclusive, or by chapter sixty-six. The fee or charge being collected immediately prior to acceptance of this section for any license, permit, certificate service or work will be utilized until a new fee or charge is fixed under this section.
The provisions of this section may be accepted in a city by a vote of the city council, with the approval of the mayor if so required by law, and in a town by vote of the town meeting, or by vote of the town council in towns with no town meeting.
Chapter 40: Section 22G. Funds received from fines for handicap parking violations; deposits in account; expenditures Section 22G. Any city or town which has accepted the provisions of section eight J is hereby authorized to allocate all funds received from fines assessed for violations of handicap parking in said city or town to the commission on disabilities.
Funds so received shall be deposited by the city or town treasurer in a separate account and shall be used solely for the benefit of persons with disabilities. Said account shall be established by the city or town treasurer and shall be kept separate and apart from all other monies. Expenditures from said account, including accrued interest, if any, shall be made upon the recommendation of the commission on disabilities in accordance with the accepted procedures of the city or town for the disbursement of funds, including the approval of the mayor and city council or the town manager or board of selectmen. The city or town accountant shall submit annually a report of said account to the mayor and city council or the town manager and board of selectmen for review and a copy of said report shall be forwarded to the bureau of accounts.
Chapter 40: Section 23. Powers of cities; regulation of erection and maintenance of balustrades; penalty for violation Section 23. A city council may make rules and regulations for the erection and maintenance of balustrades or other projections upon the roofs or sides of buildings therein, with penalties for the violation thereof of not more than twenty dollars for each offence; but no such rule or regulation shall take effect until sixty days after its publication in a newspaper published in the city or in the county where the city is situated.
Chapter 40: Section 24. Powers of cities; regulation of the quality of ice; penalty for violation Section 24. A city may make ordinances to secure the inspection of ice sold therein and to prevent the sale of impure ice, and affix penalties of not more than twenty dollars for each violation thereof.
Chapter 40: Section 25 to 30B. Repealed, 1954, 368, Sec. 1 Section 3. A town may hold real estate for the public use of the inhabitants and may convey the same by a deed of its selectmen thereto duly authorized, or by a deed of a committee or agent thereto duly authorized; may by its selectmen let or lease for not more than ten years, on such terms as the selectmen determine, a public building or part thereof, except schoolhouses in actual use as such; may by its selectmen let or lease for not more than twenty-five years, real estate to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority for use by the authority as a parking lot for commuters; may hold personal estate for the public use of the inhabitants, and alienate and dispose of the same; may hold real and personal estate in trust for the support of schools, and for the promotion of education, within the limits of the town; may receive, hold and manage any devise, bequest or gift for the establishment or equipment of memorials for properly commemorating the services of the soldiers, sailors and marines who have served the country in war, and for the establishment or maintenance of any reading room for which it may grant money under the provisions of section five; and may make such orders as it may deem necessary or expedient for the disposal or use of its corporate property. All real estate or personal property of the town, not by law or by vote of the town placed in the charge of any particular board, officer or department, shall be under the control of the selectmen, except as is otherwise provided in this section or section nine.
Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, a city or town, with the approval of the school committee, may rent or lease any school building not in actual use and, with the approval of the commissioner of education, surplus space in a school building in actual use to any one or more public or private profit-making businesses or nonprofit organizations; provided, however, that joint occupancy of a school building in actual use as such shall not interfere with educational programs being conducted in said building. The terms of any such rental or lease shall be as approved by the school committee; provided, however, that no school building not in actual use shall be rented or leased for an initial term longer than ten years, but with renewal options if approved by the school committee.
The monies received from such rental or lease shall be kept separate and apart from other city or town funds in the city or town treasury and may be expended by the school committee without further appropriation for the upkeep of the facility so rented or surplus space which is so rented; provided, however, that any balance remaining in such account at the close of a fiscal year shall be paid into the General Fund of such city or town; and, provided further, that in any city or town that accepts this proviso, any such balance shall remain in said account and may be expended for the upkeep and maintenance of any facility under the control of the school committee.
Chapter 40: Section 31. Powers of towns; performance of duty imposed by by-laws Section 31. If a town by-law imposes a duty and affixes a penalty for the neglect or violation thereof, it may also provide that upon such neglect or violation the duty may be performed by officers therein named, at the expense of the person liable to perform the same; and such expense, to an amount not exceeding the penalty, may be recovered in contract by the town.
Chapter 40: Section 32. Validation of by-laws; procedure Section 32. Except to the extent that a zoning by-law may take effect as provided in section five of chapter forty A, before a by-law takes effect it shall be approved by the attorney general or ninety days shall have elapsed without action by the attorney general after the clerk of the town in which a by-law has been adopted has submitted to the attorney general a certified copy of such by-law with a request for its approval, a statement clearly explaining the proposed by-law, including maps and plans if necessary, and adequate proof that all of the procedural requirements for the adoption of such by-law have been complied with. Such request and proof shall be submitted by the town clerk within thirty days after final adjournment of the town meeting at which such by-law was adopted. If the town clerk fails to so submit such request and proof within such thirty days, the selectmen, within fifteen days thereafter, may submit a certified copy of such by-law with a request for its approval, a statement explaining the proposed by-law, including maps and plans, if necessary, and adequate proof that all procedural requirements for the adoption of such by-law has been complied with. If the attorney general does not, within said ninety days, request of such town clerk in writing further proof of such compliance stating specifically wherein such proof is inadequate, it shall be presumed that the proof submitted was adequate. If the attorney general disapproves a by-law he shall give notice to the town clerk of the town in which the by-law was adopted of his disapproval, with his reasons therefor. If a by-law of a town takes effect by reason of the failure of the attorney general to seasonably act upon a request for its approval, the clerk of such town shall enter in his records a statement that the by-law has become effective by reason of such failure of the attorney general to act. Before a by-law or an amendment thereto takes effect it shall also be published in a town bulletin or pamphlet, copies of which shall be posted in at least five public places in the town; and if the town is divided into precincts, copies shall be posted in one or more public places in each precinct of the town; or instead of such publishing in a town bulletin or pamphlet and such posting, copies thereof may be published at least twice at least one week apart in a newspaper of general circulation in the town. The publication of a zoning by-law shall include a statement that claims of invalidity by reason of any defect in the procedure of adoption or amendment may only be made within ninety days of such posting or of the second publication and a statement indicating where copies of such by-law may be examined and obtained. The requirements of publishing in a town bulletin or pamphlet and posting, or publishing in one or more newspapers, as above, may be dispensed with if notice of the by-laws is given by delivering a copy thereof at every occupied dwelling or apartment in the town, and affidavits of the persons delivering the said copies, filed with the town clerk, shall be conclusive evidence of proper notice hereunder. This section shall not apply to cities.
Notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding paragraph, if the attorney general finds there to be any defect in the procedure of adoption or amendment of any zoning by-law relating to form or content of the notice of the planning board hearing prescribed in section 5 of chapter 40A, or to the manner or dates on which said notice is mailed, posted or published as required by said section 5, then instead of disapproving the by-law or amendment because of any such defect, the attorney general may proceed under the provisions of this paragraph. If the attorney general so elects, written notice shall be sent to the town clerk within a reasonable time setting forth with specificity the procedural defect or defects found, including a form of notice thereof, whereupon the running of the 90-day period provided for the attorney general’s review pursuant to this section shall be suspended. The town clerk shall forthwith post the notice in a conspicuous place in the town hall for a period of not less than 14 days, and shall publish it once in a newspaper of general circulation in the town. The notice shall state that any resident, the owner of any real property in the town, or any other party entitled to notice of the planning board hearing, who claims that any such defect was misleading or was otherwise prejudicial may, within 21 days of the publication, file with the town clerk a written notice so stating and setting forth the reasons supporting that claim. Forthwith after the expiration of said 21 days, the town clerk shall submit to the attorney general either (a) a certificate stating that no claim was filed within the 21 day period, or (b) a certificate stating that one or more claims were filed together with copies thereof. Upon receipt of the town clerk’s certificate, the 90-day period provided for the attorney general’s review pursuant to this section shall resume; but if the expiration of the 90-day period is less than ten days from the date on which the town clerk’s certificate was received, then the review period shall be extended to the tenth day following such receipt. If no claim was made, the attorney general may waive any such defect; but, if any claim is made then the attorney general may not waive any such defect. However, by not filing a claim under this paragraph, a person shall not be deprived of the right to assert a claim of invalidity arising out of any possible defect in the procedure of adoption or amendment as provided in this section and in section 5 of chapter 40A.
Notwithstanding the provisions of the first paragraph of this section, the attorney general and the town counsel may, by an agreement in writing setting forth the reasons therefor and filed with the town clerk before the end of the 90-day period, extend the 90-day period provided for the attorney general’s review pursuant to this section for not more than an additional 90 days.
Chapter 40: Section 32A. Publication of ordinances Section 32A. The provisions in the charter of a city which accepts this section by vote of its city council, requiring newspaper advertising of certain ordinances and proposed ordinances shall, in case of any ordinance or proposed ordinance, or codification thereof, exceeding in length eight octavo pages of ordinary book print, be deemed to be complied with if the same is published by the city council in a municipal bulletin or printed pamphlet, but otherwise in conformity with said provisions, except for zoning ordinances or amendments thereto, a summary of which shall be published at least two times in a newspaper of general circulation in the city. The publication of such zoning summaries shall include a statement indicating where copies of the ordinance may be examined and obtained and a statement that claims of invalidity by reason of any defect in the procedure of adoption may only be made within ninety days after the posting or the second publication.
Chapter 40: Section 32B. Publication of compilations of zoning ordinances; supplements; distribution and sale Section 32B. A city or town may from time to time publish, distribute or sell compilations of zoning ordinances or by-laws and amendments thereto, certified by the city or town clerk, and effective as of a specified date. The compilations and supplements thereto may include zoning maps and subdivision control, public health, safety and other land use control and environmental quality laws, ordinances, by-laws, regulations, rules, and orders, notices of hearings on proposed and pending amendments which, if adopted, would affect construction begun after the notice of hearing, and claims of invalidity of ordinances or by-laws filed with the clerk, all in such manner as to permit public officials, owners, purchasers, mortgagees of property and others to ascertain the zoning pending or applicable to property at any time.
Zoning maps may, in addition to showing boundaries, also identify historic or architectural districts for which special certificates or permits may be required, certified historical landmarks or places, land publicly owned, designated as wetlands or subject to wetlands regulations, land subject to conservation or preservation restrictions under chapter one hundred and eighty-four, and other land use or environmental quality control information.
The city or town clerk may arrange for the distribution of such compilations and supplements thereto to city, town, county, regional and state public offices, and for the public sale of such compilations and supplements thereto at appropriate places, at a price not to exceed the estimated cost of preparation, publication, distribution and sale. The director of housing and community development and registers of deeds may assist the clerk in such distribution. Said director may suggest guidelines for such compilations and supplements thereto, procedures for verifying the text of zoning enactments and the accuracy of zoning maps, require a copy of each zoning compilation, supplement and map, and may also assist in the preparation, publication, distribution and sale of such compilations and supplements thereto.
Chapter 40: Section 33. Rules and regulations promulgated by town boards; filing Section 33. A copy of all rules and regulations made by town boards or officers for which a penalty is provided by law shall be filed with town clerk within ten days after they take effect.
Chapter 40: Section 34. Town; erection and maintenance of lockup; penalty for noncompliance Section 34. Each town containing more than five thousand inhabitants shall, and any town may, maintain a secure and convenient lockup to which persons arrested without a warrant may be committed; and a magistrate may commit, for further examination, a prisoner charged with a bailable offence and not recognizing, to the lockup in the town where the prisoner was arrested or to the lockup in a town where the court is held, if he considers it safe and commodious and that expense may be saved thereby. If a town neglects to provide and maintain a lockup as herein required, it shall forfeit ten dollars for each month during which such neglect continues.
For the purposes of this section, the word “maintain” shall include the provision of any prescribed medication and nutritionally adequate meals to a person committed to such lockup. Compliance with this section shall be enforced pursuant to section twenty-one of chapter one hundred and eleven.
Chapter 40: Section 35. Keeper; appointment; oath; penalty for failure to appoint keeper Section 35. The mayor of each city, except Boston, and in Boston the police commissioner, and the selectmen of each town required to maintain a lockup shall annually, by a writing recorded with the town clerk, appoint a keeper of the lockup, who shall have the care and custody thereof and of persons committed thereto. He shall accept the appointment within three days after notice thereof, shall be sworn and shall hold office for one year unless sooner removed. If the selectmen neglect to appoint a keeper, each selectman shall forfeit ten dollars for each month during which such neglect continues; and if the mayor, except in Boston, or in Boston the police commissioner, neglects for three months to appoint a keeper, he shall forfeit thirty dollars and ten dollars additional for each subsequent month of such neglect.
Chapter 40: Section 36. Keeper; powers; compensation; fees Section 36. Such keeper shall have the power of a police officer and shall receive the compensation to be fixed by the selectmen upon his appointment. For the expenses of detention and support of each person committed, shown by the officer’s return to have been actually detained in the lockup, there may be charged upon the precept, if any, and paid to the town, not more than fifty dollars for each day or fraction thereof.
Chapter 40: Section 36A. Report of death or suicide of lockup inmates; records of attempts at, or threats of, suicide Section 36A. Whenever a person is in police custody and commits suicide or dies at a lockup facility established pursuant to the provisions of section thirty-four of chapter forty, or under the jurisdiction of the metropolitan police, or whenever a person in police custody inflicts self-injury at a lockup facility which subsequently results in his death, the officer in charge of the lockup facility shall make a report of such incident, identifying the deceased and describing the circumstances of such death. One copy of said report shall be sent, within seven days of such death, together with copies of any incident pertaining thereto to the medical examiner’s office in the county wherein such incident occurred, and one copy of said report shall be retained in the lockup files. Said report shall be in addition to the requirement of notification pursuant to section six of chapter thirty-eight.
Upon receipt for said reports, the medical examiner may send a copy, together with a copy of each incident report, autopsy reports and medical examiner’s reports, upon request, to the next of kin of the deceased person. Upon request for said reports by the next of kin of the deceased, the medical examiner shall furnish said reports within fourteen days of the request. If an autopsy is performed, the next of kin may have a physician of his own choice present. The next of kin may waive this right in writing, or, if next of kin fails to designate a physician within forty-eight hours of the death, the right will be considered waived.
Whenever a person in police custody attempts or threatens suicide at a lockup facility, the officer in charge of the lockup shall, within twenty-four hours of such incident, record in the criminal history systems board computer the name, address, and the age of such person, the charge or reason for such detention and the nature and date of said attempt or threat. Such information shall be made part of the criminal offender record information system. It shall be disseminated only to those agencies and offices authorized under section one hundred and seventy-two of chapter six.
Whenever a person in police custody attempts or threatens suicide at a lockup facility and said person is transferred to another lockup facility, the officer in charge shall notify in writing the receiving lockup facility of the exact nature of said attempt or threat.
Chapter 40: Section 36B. Cells; protective coverings, electronic audio systems and electronic security devices Section 36B. Each cell utilized for the detention of persons within a city, town, or state lockup facility which is under the jurisdiction of a local police department or the state police shall have a protective covering of high-impact, transparent wall facing. Such protective covering shall cover all bar structures accessible to such detained persons. Adequate ventilation shall be provided to persons detained in the cell.
At least one such cell within such lockup facility shall have installed within it, but beyond the access of any person detained within such cell, an electronic audio system whereby a police officer or other lockup personnel at the duty desk within such lockup facility is brought within audible range of such cell; provided, however, that no such electronic audio system is required to be installed if at least one such cell within such lockup facility is within audible range of the duty desk without electronic assistance.
Each occupied cell within such a lockup facility should be physically or visibly checked by a law enforcement officer or other lockup personnel as often as is required by a reasonable standard of care of detainees.
Every lockup facility shall have installed within the cell area an electronic security device which will record the date and time of day of each cell check made by a law enforcement officer or other lockup personnel. All checks made shall be recorded on such electronic security device.
Chapter 40: Section 36C. Police; training in suicide detection, intervention and prevention Section 36C. All members of municipal police departments, and all uniformed members of the state police shall be trained in the detection, intervention and prevention of suicide. Said training shall include training in the nature and symptomatology of suicide, training in communicating with suicidal detainees, and training in appropriate suicide prevention techniques and emergency procedures. Said training shall be approved and coordinated by the municipal police training committee, and shall be included in the curriculum of all police training schools and academies, including the state police academy.
In-service training shall be provided for police officers having previous basic recruit training. Shift commanders shall complete such training within one year of the passage of this act, and all other officers shall complete such training within three years of the passage of this act. Completion of a refresher seminar in suicide prevention shall be a condition of promotion for all police officers affected by the provisions of this act.
All lockup facilities established pursuant to section thirty-four of chapter forty, or under the jurisdiction of the state police, shall establish written procedures to be followed in any situation which threatens or may threaten the safety of persons detained therein.
Chapter 40: Section 37. Accessibility of lockup to police; penalty for refusing access Section 37. Such lockups shall at all reasonable hours be accessible to the state police, sheriffs, constables and police officers for any legal and proper use; and a keeper thereof neglecting to keep it so accessible, or refusing to said officers the use of the same, shall be punished by a fine of not less than five nor more than twenty dollars.
Chapter 40: Section 37A. Curfews; imposition; penalties Section 37A. The mayor of any city other than a city having a Plan D or Plan E form of charter, the city manager of a city having a Plan D or Plan E charter, and the selectmen of a town, hereinafter called the city or town official, may, if satisfied that a riot or other form of civil disorder is occurring or there is a danger that it may occur, and that a curfew is necessary for the public safety in such city or town, impose a curfew in all or part or parts of such city or town. Such curfew shall be imposed by a formal proclamation of the existence or threat of riot or other form of civil disturbance in the city or town and the need of a curfew to protect the public safety. Said proclamation shall be in writing and shall set forth all the conditions of such curfew. No curfew shall take effect until two hours after the issuance of the proclamation declaring the imposition of such curfew.
Such curfew may restrict or prohibit the movement or presence of persons, vehicles and animals in or on public ways and places, including areas to which the public has a right of access, and also places of amusement and entertainment, vacant lots and other open areas, provided that reasonable exceptions are made for all persons having business of an emergency nature which requires the use of public ways. When such curfew is imposed, the city or town official shall immediately use all reasonable and practicable means to inform all persons in such city or town of such curfew and its conditions, such as by the conspicuous posting of notices in public places, announcement by sound-powered voice or other such device, publication in newspapers of general circulation in such city or town and announcement over radio and television stations serving such city or town. While such curfew is in effect, its terms may be modified in any manner not inconsistent with this action by proclamation of said officials; provided, that two hours advance notice shall be given and that such modifications are publicized in the manner required in this section.
The city council or the town meeting, as the case may be, shall have the authority to revoke or modify and such curfew. Any curfew imposed by a city or town official under this section shall, unless sooner terminated by proclamation of said city or town official or by action of the city council or the town meeting or by the governor as hereinafter provided, terminate seventy-two hours from the hour it takes effect. Upon the termination of such curfew, additional curfews may be imposed in accordance with the provisions of this section.
The governor, acting under chapter six hundred and thirty-nine of the acts of nineteen hundred and fifty, as amended, or any other law granting him special powers during periods of emergency, may modify or revoke any curfew imposed under this section.
Any person knowing or having reason to know of such curfew who violates any conditions thereof shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than six months or a fine of not more than five hundred dollars, or both. Such person may be arrested without a warrant and kept in custody for not more than twenty-four hours, Sundays and holidays excepted, at or before the expiration of which time he shall be taken before a proper court or magistrate and proceeded against according to law.
Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit or supersede the power of cities and towns to impose curfews by appropriate ordinances or by-laws.
Chapter 40: Section 38. Purchase, development and use Section 38. A city, by a two thirds vote of its city council, ratified by a majority of the voters thereof at an election called for the purpose, or a town, by action of its selectmen, ratified by a majority of its voters present and voting thereon at a town meeting at which the voting list shall be used, may, for the purpose of supplying water to itself and its inhabitants, purchase of any municipal or other corporation the right to take water from its sources of supply or from its pipes; or may purchase its whole water rights, estates, franchises and privileges, and thereby become entitled to all its rights and privileges and subject to all its duties and liabilities; or, by its board of water commissioners or officers performing like duties, may contract with any such corporation for a supply of water. Any municipal corporation, by its water department, may make such a sale or enter into such a contract to supply water to a city or town.
A city or town having a water supply or water distributing system may develop and use any source of water supply within its limits, not already appropriated for purposes of public water supply, and for such purpose may proceed under any laws applicable to such system as though the authority granted hereby had been contained in such laws; provided, that no source of water supply and no lands necessary for protecting and preserving the purity of the water shall be taken or used without first obtaining the advice and approval of the department of environmental protection.
Nothing in this section shall be construed as authorizing any city, town, or political subdivision which derives any part of its water supply from the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, except in case of emergency, to use for water in contravention of any provision of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority Act, and no such city, town, political subdivision nor any water company therein shall purchase water, except in case of emergency, from any municipality without written permission to do so by the said Authority.
Chapter 40: Section 39. Conveying water through another town; liability for damages Section 39. If the water is conveyed through another town, pipes may be laid through any public ways therein which the board of aldermen or selectmen thereof may designate; and the town laying such pipes shall be liable for damages caused thereby.
Chapter 40: Section 39A. Water supply or distributing system; establishment; maintenance and operation; exception Section 39A. A town, by a majority of its voters present and voting thereon at a town meeting at which the voting list shall be used, may establish a water supply or water distributing system and maintain and operate the same, in accordance with sections thirty-nine B to thirty-nine G, inclusive; but no such system shall be established to supply water in any town while the inhabitants of any part thereof are being served directly by a water company or a water supply district, water district, or fire district supplying water to its inhabitants, except in accordance with section thirty-eight or with special law. Any town may vote to authorize its board of selectmen to act as water commissioners, with all the powers and duties of such commissioners, until water commissioners shall be elected as hereinafter provided. A town which has so voted may, at an annual town meeting, or at a special town meeting called for the purpose and held at least thirty days before the next annual town meeting, vote that at such next annual town meeting water commissioners shall be elected.
Chapter 40: Section 39B. Acquisition of land and water; conditions Section 39B. For the purpose of establishing a water supply or water distributing system as authorized by section thirty-nine A, any town, by its board of water commissioners or selectmen authorized to act as such, may take by eminent domain under chapter seventy-nine, or acquire by purchase or otherwise, and hold, the waters, or any portion thereof, of any pond, brook, spring, stream or ground water sources within its limits, not already appropriated for purposes of public water supply, and any water or flowage rights connected therewith; and also for said purpose may take by eminent domain under chapter seventy-nine, or acquire by purchase or otherwise, and hold, all lands, rights of way and other easements necessary for collecting, storing, holding, purifying and treating such water and protecting and preserving the purity thereof and for conveying the same to any part of the town; provided, that no source of water supply and no lands necessary for protecting and preserving the purity of the water shall be taken or used without first obtaining the advice and approval of the department of environmental protection, and that the location and arrangement of all dams, reservoirs, wells or filter galleries, filtration and pumping plants or other works necessary in carrying out the provisions of sections thirty-nine A to thirty-nine E, inclusive, shall be subject to the approval of said department.
Chapter 40: Section 39C. Construction and maintenance of dams, wells, reservoirs and other buildings; conditions Section 39C. A town may construct and maintain on the lands acquired and held by it under section thirty-nine B proper dams, wells, reservoirs, pumping and filtration plants, buildings, standpipes, tanks, fixtures and other structures, including also purification and treatment works, the construction and maintenance of which shall be subject to the approval of the department of environmental protection, and may make excavations, procure and operate machinery, and provide such other means and appliances and do such other things as may be necessary for the establishment and maintenance of complete and effective water works; and for that purpose may construct, lay and maintain aqueducts, conduits, pipes and other works, under or over any lands, water courses, railroads, railways and public or other ways, and along any such way in said town in such manner as not unnecessarily to obstruct the same; and for the purposes of constructing, laying, maintaining, operating and repairing such conduits, pipes and other works, and for all other proper purposes of sections thirty-nine A to thirty-nine E, inclusive, a town may dig up or raise and embank any such lands, highways or other ways in such manner as to cause the least hindrance to public travel thereon; provided, that all things done upon any such way shall be subject to the direction of the selectmen of the town or, in the case of a state highway, of the state department of highways; and provided, further, that no such town shall enter upon, or construct or lay any conduits, pipes or other works within, the location of any railroad corporation except at such time and in such manner as it may agree upon with such corporation or, in case of failure so to agree, as may be approved by the department of telecommunications and energy.
Chapter 40: Section 39D. Surveys Section 39D. Such a town may enter upon any lands for the purpose of making surveys, test pits and borings, and may take or otherwise acquire the right to occupy temporarily any lands necessary for the construction of any work or for any other purpose authorized by said sections thirty-nine A to thirty-nine E, inclusive.
Chapter 40: Section 39E. Management of water system Section 39E. The land, water rights and other property taken or acquired under section thirty-nine B, and all works, buildings and other structures erected or constructed under sections thirty-nine C and thirty-nine D, shall be managed, improved and controlled by a board of water commissioners to be elected as provided by section sixty-nine A of chapter forty-one, or by its selectmen authorized to act as such, in such manner as they shall deem for the best interests of the town.
Chapter 40: Section 39F. Damages Section 39F. Any person or corporation injured in his or its property by any action of a town under said sections thirty-nine A to thirty-nine E, inclusive, may recover damages from said town under chapter seventy-nine.
Chapter 40: Section 39G. Pollution of water; damage to property; penalties Section 39G. Whoever wilfully or wantonly corrupts, pollutes or diverts any of the waters taken or held under said sections thirty-nine A to thirty-nine E, inclusive, or injures any structure, work or other property owned, held or used by a town under the authority and for the purposes of said sections, shall forfeit and pay to said town three times the amount of damages assessed therefor, to be recovered in an action of tort; and upon conviction of any one of the above wilful or wanton acts shall be punished by a fine of not more than three hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than one year, or both.
Chapter 40: Section 39H. Right to aid other governmental units; compensation Section 39H. A city, town, commission or district through its water department, if any, if thereunto authorized by ordinance, or by-law or by vote of its governing body if a commission or district or a water company, as defined in section one of chapter one hundred and sixty-five, may make contracts with, or may go to aid any other city, town, commission, district or any other water company, as so defined, with regard to the operation, administration, repair and maintenance of its water supply system. Any such ordinance, by-law or vote may authorize the head of the department in charge of sewers and drains to enter into contracts or to extend such aid subject to such conditions and restrictions as may be prescribed therein. Members of such departments of cities, towns, commissions or districts while in the performance of their duties under such contracts or in extending such aid shall have the same immunities and privileges as if performing the same work in their respective cities, towns, commissions, and districts. Any city, town, commission, district or water company aided under this section shall compensate any city, town, commission, district or water company rendering aid as aforesaid, for such aid and for the whole or any part of any damage to its property sustained in the course of rendering such aid. Any contracts under this section may be for a period not exceeding twenty years.
Chapter 40: Section 39I. Water meters; testing Section 39I. Any person using water supplied by a city, town or district, measured by a meter, shall be entitled to an examination and test of such meter to determine the accuracy of the same in any quarter or period, upon written application therefor, which shall be made before the expiration of the time when the rate for such quarter or period is required to be paid, to the board, commissioner or officer in charge of the water works of the city, town or district. Such examination and test shall be made by a competent person employed by the city, town or district. A written report of the result of the examination and test shall be furnished to the person making the application, and if it appears that the meter has registered with substantial accuracy, the expense of the examination and test shall be paid by the person applying therefor, and in no case shall the expense so required to be paid exceed three dollars for each examination and test, but if it appears that the meter has not registered within two per cent of accuracy and that the person has been charged with, or has paid for, more water than he should have been charged with or should have paid for, the amount of such excess shall forthwith be credited to such person or remitted to him if he has paid the same, and the expense of the examination and test shall be borne by the city, town or district supplying the water; if, however, it appears that the person has been charged with, or has paid for, less water than he should have been charged with or should have paid for, he shall forthwith be charged with the proper additional amount and shall pay the same, together with the expense of the examination and test, to the city, town or district supplying the water.
Chapter 40: Section 39J1/2. Repealed, 1990, 177, Secs. 102, 103 Chapter 40: Section 39J. Pricing system; costs Section 39J. In any city or town which accepts the provisions of this section, either by a vote of the city council, board of selectmen, board of water commissioners, or by vote of said city or town in a general election or town meeting, said city or town shall for the purposes of water conservation, water resource management, water resource planning and comprehensive financial management, adopt a pricing system which includes the costs of the provision of water and sewer services to the residents and industrial and commercial users of said city or town receiving said services. The definition of costs as used in this section shall include, but not be limited to, costs of pipe and related appurtenances, replacement stock for water and sewer, costs relating to the replacement and repair thereof including street work, maintenance of all equipment and related appurtenances necessary for the provision of water or the removal of wastewater services, all costs relating to the metering of water, all related costs of police and fire protection, all administrative costs relating to the collection of said water and sewer fees, all costs of chemicals relating to the treatment of water and wastewater, all costs relating to the personnel of the departments, as well as any long term planning costs for the continued provision of said services, and any costs of land acquisition relating to long range planning and future water supply development or wastewater treatment facilities.
Chapter 40: Section 39K. Drinking water protection district; establishment; commission; pricing system; fund Section 39K. (a) Any city or town which accepts the provisions of this section either by a majority vote of the city or town council or by majority vote at an annual town meeting, may establish a drinking water protection district in conjunction with at least one other city or town sharing a common drinking water resource, including but not limited to an aquifer, a recharge area or a watershed. Said drinking water protection district shall be for the purposes of water conservation, resource management and protection, and resource planning of drinking water supplies in said district including public wells, reservoirs and aquifers which are affected by more than one such city or town.
The drinking water protection commission shall be composed of two members from each municipality in said district to be appointed by the mayor of a city or the board of selectmen of a town for a term of three years.
Each city or town in said district shall adopt a pricing system which charges all users of public or private water supplies within said city or town for protection of water resources. Said pricing system shall not impose a charge in excess of ten percent of the annual cost of water as charged by metered service or fixed rate. If service is without meters or if the water supply is private, a flat fee may be charged; provided, however, that such flat fee shall not exceed ten percent of the average annualized residential or commercial metered use whichever is applicable in such city or town; and provided, further, that in a city or town without a public water system a flat fee to be established by a majority vote of an annual town meeting, town council or city council, whichever is applicable shall be charged.
Such charges or fees collected under the provisions of this section shall be forwarded to the drinking water protection commission which shall deposit the same in the Drinking Water Protection Fund established under subsection (b).
(b) There is hereby established in each drinking water protection district a Drinking Water Protection Fund, hereinafter called fund, to be administered by the drinking water protection commission in each such district.
Said drinking water protection commission shall be eligible to apply for state funding available to a city or town. Upon receipt, such funds shall be deposited in the fund. Contributions, whether public or private, shall also be deposited in the fund for the purposes set forth herein.
Commission members shall serve without compensation. The commission shall elect a chairperson and such officers as it may by rule provide, and may make by majority vote such other rules and regulations consistent with the provisions of this section. The commission may, by majority vote of its members, hire such staff as is necessary to further the purposes of the commission.
A commission may issue bonds as provided herein. The chairperson of any such commission is hereby authorized and empowered in connection with any borrowing under this section to enter into one or more trust or security agreements between such commission and a corporate trustee, which may be any trust company or bank having the powers of a trust company within or without the commonwealth, or directly between such commission and the lenders on the debt obligations, necessary to effectuate and to secure such borrowing. Such agreements may pledge or assign, and create a security interest in, in whole or in part, the revenues and other money held or to be received by the commission from any project being financed or from any fees or charges imposed by such commission relating to the powers of commissions as provided in subsection (c), whether then existing or thereafter coming into existence and whether then held or thereafter acquired by the commission and the proceeds thereof. Such agreements may contain provisions for protecting and enforcing the rights, security and remedies of the holders of such debt obligations, including without limiting the generality of the foregoing, provisions defining defaults and providing for remedies in the event thereof, which may include the acceleration of maturities and covenants setting forth the duties of, and limitations on, the commission in relation to the functioning of the project being financed by such debt obligations, the custody, safeguarding, investment and application of money, the issuance of additional debt obligations, the fixing, revision and collection of fees or other charges relating to water supply protection, the use of any surplus proceeds of the borrowing, including any investment earnings thereon, the establishment of special funds and reserves and the making and amending of contracts relating to such project.
The pledge on any such agreement shall be valid and binding and shall be deemed continuously perfected for the purposes of chapter one hundred and six and any other law from the time when the pledge is made and shall be supported by the full faith and credit of member municipalities. The revenues, money, rights and proceeds so pledged and then held or thereafter acquired or received without any physical delivery or segregation thereof or further act, and the lien of any such pledge, shall be valid and binding against all parties having claims of any kind in tort, contract or otherwise against the commission, irrespective of whether such parties have notice thereof. No document by which a pledge is created need be filed or recorded except in the records of a city or town and no filing need be made under the provisions of said chapter one hundred and six.
Any such trust agreement may provide that any money received thereunder may be deposited or invested, pending the disbursement thereof, in any deposits or investments which are lawful for the funds of cities or towns pursuant to section fifty-five of chapter forty-four, and shall provide that any officer with whom or any bank or trust company with such money shall be deposited shall act as trustee of such money and shall hold and apply the same for the purposes hereof and thereof, subject to such regulation or limitation as this section or such agreement may provide.
It shall be lawful for any bank or trust company to act as depository or trustee of the proceeds of debt obligations, revenues or other money pledged under any such agreement and to furnish such indemnifying bonds or to pledge such security and issue such letters or lines of credit or other credit facilities as may be required by the commission. Any agreement entered into pursuant to this section may set forth the rights and remedies of the holders of any debt obligations and of the trustee and may restrict the individual right of action by any such holders. In addition to the foregoing, any such agreement may contain such other provisions as the commission may deem reasonable and proper. All expenses incurred in carrying out the provisions of such agreement may be treated as a cost of issuance hereunder. In addition to the foregoing, any such agreement may contain such other provisions as the commission may deem reasonable and proper. All expenses incurred in carrying out the provisions of such agreement may be treated as a cost of issuance thereunder. In addition to other security provided by a commission, such debt obligations may be secured, in whole or in part, by insurance or by letters or lines of credit or other credit or other credit facilities issued to the commission by any bank, trust company or other financial institution, within or without the commonwealth, and the commission may pledge or assign any of its revenues and other money held or to be received by the commission from the project being financed or from any fees or charges imposed by such commission relating to water supply protection as security for the reimbursement by the commission to the issuers of such letters of credit, insurance or credit facilities of any payments made thereunder.
Any holder of a debt obligation issued by a commission under the provisions of this section or of any of the coupons appertaining thereto or any trustee under an agreement securing the same, except to the extent the rights herein given may be restricted by such agreement, may bring suit upon the debt obligations or coupons and may, either at law or in equity, by suit, action, mandamus, or other proceeding for legal or equitable relief, including proceedings for the appointment of a receiver to take possession and control of the facilities financed by such debt obligations to operate and maintain the same, to make any necessary repairs, renewals and replacements in respect thereof and to fix, revise and collect fees and charges, protect and enforce any and all rights under the laws of the commonwealth or granted hereunder or under such agreement or other agreement, and may enforce and compel the performance of all duties required by this section or by such agreements to be performed by the commission by any officer thereof.
A pledge of revenue in accordance with the provisions of this section shall constitute a sufficient appropriation thereof for the purposes of any provision for appropriation for so long as such pledge shall be in effect and, notwithstanding any other general or special law to the contrary, such revenues may be applied as required by the pledge and the agreement evidencing the same without further appropriation. Prior to issuing bonds, said commission shall obtain appropriate bonding authorization from a majority of member municipalities.
No appointments shall be made and no money expended hereunder except by the affirmative vote of a majority of the members of said commission. The commission shall maintain accurate records of its meetings, actions and financial transactions and shall file an annual report which shall be printed in the annual report of each member town. The commission shall prepare an annual budget which shall be subject to approval by a majority of the members of said commission. The provisions of chapter forty-four, not inconsistent with the provisions of this section, shall apply to a drinking water protection district.
(c) The commission shall, subject to the provisions of this section have the power and authority to:(1) assist municipalities in identification and protection of recharge and watershed areas for existing water supplies and locate and identify future drinking water supplies;(2) assist municipalities by providing technical assistance for long-term planning to design and propose regional land use management efforts of drinking water resources that cut across town or water district boundaries;(3) provide funds to assist municipal efforts to acquire land in fee simple, through easements, restrictions or other interests, buy development rights, or manage lands identified as important to drinking water resource supply and protection;(4) provide for public education regarding water conservation, proper waste disposal and land use in recharge or watershed areas;(5) supplement local emergency response systems in cooperation with the department of environmental protection incidence response division, which teams shall be available to respond and assist where hazardous waste or chemical spills occur within a recharge or watershed area;(6) coordinate, educate and disseminate information to the public regarding state and federal programs and monies available for drinking water resource projects;(7) review and comment on proposed land use which may have an impact on resources of concern to the commission; and(8) make available to private property owners grants for the removal of underground storage tanks considered by said commission to be a threat to the drinking water resource.
The commission shall not have authority to buy, sell or hold title to land, nor to take property by eminent domain, but may allocate funds to a member town with the stipulation that such funds be applied to the purchase of a specific parcel of land or development rights for a specific parcel of land by the member town to be used only for purposes consistent with the provisions of this section.
A city, by majority vote of city council, or a town, by majority vote at an annual town meeting or town council, may cease to be a member of said district subject to said city or town’s share of bonding obligations incurred prior to such vote to withdraw. Said vote shall become effective six months after being certified by the city or town clerk and all funds collected prior to the effective date of withdrawal shall remain the property of the drinking water protection commission; provided, however that in the event that such withdrawal reduces commission membership to less than two municipalities, all funds collected prior to the date of dissolution not necessary to pay all existing obligations of the commission shall revert to the member municipalities on a pro rata basis to be used only for purposes consistent with the protection and enhancement of water supplies.
Chapter 40: Section 39L. Water or sewer service charges; descending unit rate basis Section 39L. No local body shall charge for water or sewer services on a descending unit rate basis. For the purposes of this section a local body shall be a city, town, district, commission or other political subdivision or instrumentality of the commonwealth which is not within Hampden county and which is responsible for providing by itself or through an officer, board, department or division thereof local water supply or local sewer services; except as otherwise expressly provided herein, in any case where local water supply or local sewer services within the territorial boundaries of a local body are provided in whole or in part by a political subdivision or public instrumentality of the commonwealth separate from such local body, the term “local body” as used in this section shall mean, within the service area thereof, the political subdivision or public instrumentality.
thereon of recordable instruments of title affecting interests in real estate as to good faith purchasers notwithstanding inconsistency of law therewith Section 3A. Any recordable instrument purporting to affect an interest in real estate, title to which is held by a city, town, district or regional school district, executed in the name of a town by its selectmen, in the name of a city by its mayor or by its city manager in the case of a city having a Plan D or Plan E charter, or in the name of a district or regional school district by the chairman of its prudential committee or other governing board or by any agent or committee authorized by particular vote of the city, town or district or in the case of a municipality acting by or through an industrial development financing authority as provided in section seven of chapter forty D by vote of the board of directors of said authority, shall be binding on the city, town, district or regional school district in favor of a purchaser or other person relying in good faith on such instrument notwithstanding inconsistent provisions of general or special law, the city or town charter, by-laws, resolutions or votes.
Section 4. A city or town may make contracts for the exercise of its corporate powers, on such terms and conditions as are authorized by the town meeting in a town, the town council in a town without a town meeting, the city council in a city with the approval of the mayor or the city council in a Plan D or Plan E city with the approval of the manager, or as otherwise authorized in accordance with a duly adopted charter. A city or town may not contract for any purpose, on any terms, or under any conditions inconsistent with any applicable provision of any general or special law.
Chapter 40: Section 40. Repealed, 1985, 592, Sec. 2 Chapter 40: Section 41. Protection of water supply; conditions Section 41. Towns and water supply and fire districts duly established by law may, with the consent and approval of the department of environmental protection, given after due notice and a hearing, take by eminent domain under chapter seventy-nine, or acquire by purchase or otherwise, and hold, lands, buildings, rights of way and easements within the watershed of any pond, stream, reservoir, well or other water used by them as a source of water supply, which said department may deem necessary to protect and preserve the purity of the water supply. All lands taken, purchased or otherwise acquired under this section shall be under the control of the board of water commissioners of the town or district acquiring the same, who shall manage and improve them in such manner as they shall deem for the best interest of the town or district. All damages to be paid by a town or district by reason of any act done under authority hereof may be paid out of the proceeds of the sale of any bonds authorized by law to be issued by such town or district for water supply purposes or from any surplus income of the water works available therefor. A town may also make a contract to contribute to the cost of building, by any other town situated in the watershed of its water supply, a sewer or system of sewers to aid in protecting such water supply from pollution.
Chapter 40: Section 41A. Use of water in emergencies Section 41A. A board of water commissioners or a board of public works with the duties of water commissioners of a municipality, water supply, fire and water district or water company having control of water supplies may, on behalf of their respective bodies politic or corporate, upon notification to the water takers, restrain the use of water on public and private premises by shutting off the water at the meter or at the curb cock or by other means as the case may be, during a drought, hurricane, conflagration or other disaster when in the opinion of the department of environmental protection an emergency exists.
Chapter 40: Section 41B, 41C. Repealed, 1968, 548, Sec. 2 Chapter 40: Section 42. Laying pipes and conduits Section 42. The board of aldermen or the selectmen may, upon terms and conditions prescribed by them, authorize the laying of pipes and conduits for the conveyance of water under any public way in their town; provided, that this section shall not authorize any person to supply water to any other person in any town where municipal water works are established except with the consent of the board or authority having charge of such water works therein.
Chapter 40: Section 42A. Method of collection; lien for delinquent charges Section 42A. If the rates and charges due to a city, town or water district, which accepts this section and sections forty-two B to forty-two F, inclusive, by vote of its city council or of the voters in town or district meeting and, by its clerk, files a certificate of such acceptance in the proper registry of deeds, for supplying or providing for water or rendering service or furnishing materials in connection therewith to or for any real estate at the request of the owner or tenant are not paid on or before their due date as established by local regulations, ordinances or by-laws, which due dates shall be so established as to require payments at least as often as semi-annually, such rates and charges, together with interest thereon and costs relative thereto, shall be a lien upon such real estate as provided in section forty-two B. The register of deeds shall record such certificate of acceptance in a book to be kept for the purpose, which shall be kept in an accessible location in the registry. Sections forty-two B to forty-two F, inclusive, shall also apply to a water district which has accepted sections forty-two A to forty-two F, inclusive, and whose clerk has so filed the certificate of acceptance. Wherever in said sections the words “board or officer in charge of the water department” or their equivalent appear, they shall also mean and include the officers exercising similar duties in any city, town or district. A fire district authorized to supply water shall, for the purposes of sections forty-two A to forty-two F, inclusive, be deemed to be a water district.
Chapter 40: Section 42B. Effective date of lien; termination; enforcement Section 42B. Such lien shall take effect by operation of law on the day immediately following the due date of such rate or charge, and, unless dissolved by payment or abatement, shall continue until such rate or charge has been added to or committed as a tax under section forty-two C, and thereafter, unless so dissolved, shall continue as provided in section thirty-seven of chapter sixty; provided, however, that if any such rate or charge is not added to or committed as a tax under section forty-two C for the next fiscal year commencing after the inception of the lien under this section, then said lien shall terminate on October first of the third year following the year in which such charge becomes due.
Notwithstanding such lien any such overdue rate or charge may be collected through any legal means, including the shutting off of water, which may be deemed advisable; provided, that after the termination of such a lien, no city, town or water district shall attempt to enforce, by shutting off the water, collection of such rate or charge from any person, not liable therefor, who has succeeded to the title or interest of the person incurring such rate or charge. All such rates and charges excluded by court decree under section seventy-six B of chapter sixty shall, to the extent that they were properly chargeable to the person owning, or to the tenant occupying, the premises for which such rates and charges were incurred, be recoverable from such person or tenant, as the case may be, in an action of contract or otherwise. If at the time of the entry of such decree such person or tenant is still the owner or tenant of the premises, whether through redemption or otherwise, such rates and charges to the extent that they were properly chargeable to him, may be enforced in any other manner provided or available for collection and enforcement of water rates and charges.
Chapter 40: Section 42C. Unpaid charges; report to tax collector Section 42C. If a rate or charge for which a lien is in effect under section forty-two B has not been added to or committed as a tax and remains unpaid when the assessors are preparing a real estate tax list and warrant to be committed by them under section fifty-three of chapter fifty-nine, the board or officer in charge of the water department, or the town collector of taxes, if applicable under section thirty-eight A of chapter forty-one, shall certify such rate or charge to the assessors, who shall forthwith add such rate or charge to the tax on the property to which it relates and commit it with their warrant to the collector of taxes as a part of such tax. If the property to which such rate or charge relates is tax exempt, such rate or charge shall be committed as the tax.
Chapter 40: Section 42D. Unpaid charges; collection as part of property tax Section 42D. Except as otherwise provided, the provisions of chapters fifty-nine and sixty shall apply, so far as pertinent, to all rates and charges certified to the assessors under section forty-two C. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, upon commitment as a tax or part of a tax under section forty-two C, all such rates and charges shall be subject to the provisions of law relative to interest on the taxes of which they become, or, if the property were not tax exempt would become, a part; and the collector of taxes shall have the same powers and be subject to the same duties with respect to such rates and charges as in the case of annual taxes upon real estate, and the provisions of law relative to the collection of such annual taxes, the sale or taking of land for the non-payment thereof and the redemption of land so sold or taken shall, except as otherwise provided, apply to such rates and charges.
Chapter 40: Section 42E. Abatements; appeals Section 42E. An owner of real estate aggrieved by a charge imposed thereon under sections forty-two A to forty-two F, inclusive, in addition to such remedy as he may have under section ten of chapter one hundred and sixty-five, may apply for an abatement thereof by filing a petition with the board or officer having control of the water department within the time allowed by law for filing an application for abatement of the tax of which such charge is, or, if the property were not tax exempt, would have been, a part, and if such board or officer finds that such charge is more than is properly due, a reasonable abatement shall be made; and except as otherwise provided herein, the provisions of chapter fifty-nine relative to the abatement of taxes by assessors shall apply, so far as applicable, to abatements hereunder. If such petition is denied in whole or in part, the petitioner may appeal to the appellate tax board upon the same terms and conditions as a person aggrieved by the refusal of the assessors of a city or town to abate a tax.
Chapter 40: Section 42F. Recovery of delinquent charges from tenants Section 42F. An owner of real estate who, in order to prevent the imposition of a lien thereon or to discharge the same, has paid charges for water furnished to a tenant or other person who was bound to pay the same, may recover from such tenant or other person in an action of contract the amount of the charges so paid with all incidental costs and expenses.
Chapter 40: Section 42G. Distribution of water; payment of costs by special assessment Section 42G. Any city, town or district having a water supply or water distributing system which, in the case of a city or town, accepts this section and the two following sections in cities other than Plan E cities by vote of the city council subject to the city charter, or Plan E cities by vote of the city council, in towns or districts by vote of its inhabitants at an annual town or district meeting called therefor, may provide by ordinance, by-law or vote for the levy of special assessments to meet the whole or part of the cost thereafter incurred of laying pipes in public and private ways for the conveyance or distribution of water to its inhabitants. Such city, town or district may provide that an owner of land which receives benefit from the laying of water pipes in public and private ways upon which his land abuts or which by more remote means receives benefit through the supply of water to his land or buildings shall pay a proportionate part of the cost not already assessed of extending such water supply to his land.
The amount to be charged against each parcel of land receiving such benefit shall include the cost of the pipes and other material and of the labor in laying them and other expenses incidental thereto and shall be ascertained, assessed and certified by the water commissioners or the other officers in charge of the supply and distribution of water in such city, town or district.
Chapter 40: Section 42H. Uniform rate of assessment Section 42H. A city, town or district having a water supply or water distributing system may provide that assessment for the cost of providing and laying water pipes thereafter in public and private ways shall be made upon the several parcels of land receiving benefit from the laying of such pipes by a fixed uniform rate based upon the estimated average cost of all the water pipes therein and the laying thereof, according to the frontage of such land on any way in which a water pipe is laid, or according to the area of such land within a fixed depth from such a way, or according to valuation for purposes of taxation in the last annual assessment, or according to two or all of such measures.
Chapter 40: Section 42I. Recordation of assessment to establish lien on property; amount of assessment; extension of time for payment Section 42I. Whenever the water commissioners or other officers in charge of the supply and distribution of water in a city, town or district which has accepted sections forty-two G to forty-two I, inclusive, determine to lay water pipes in public and private ways and assessments may be made under said sections for the construction of such improvement, they shall forthwith cause to be recorded in the registry of deeds of the county or district in which such city, town or district is situated a statement of their action, which shall specify the ways in which such water pipes are to be laid and shall describe such land as does not abut upon any such way which is to be assessed for such improvement, and which shall designate as the owner of each parcel upon which a lien is to be imposed by this section the person who was liable to assessment therefor on the preceding January first under the provisions of chapter fifty-nine. All assessments imposed under sections forty-two G and forty-two H upon any land which abuts upon any such ways in which such water pipes are to be laid or is included in such description shall constitute a lien upon such land from the time such statement is recorded. The provisions of chapter eighty relative to the apportionment, division, reassessment, abatement and collection of assessments, and to interest, shall apply to assessments under this chapter. No assessment shall be levied under sections forty-two H to forty-two I, inclusive, in excess of the benefit to the land assessed from the laying of the water pipes for which the assessment is levied, and if any assessment is found to exceed such benefit, it shall be abated. The water commissioners or other officers in charge of the supply and distribution of water as aforesaid shall, if the order for assessment is upon land not built upon, extend the time of payment of the assessment and interest thereon at the rate of four per cent until it is built upon or for a fixed time; and the assessment and interest shall be paid within three months after such land is built upon or at the expiration of such fixed period.
Chapter 40: Section 42J. Deferral of charges Section 42J. In a city, town or district which accepts the provisions of this section, the board responsible for assessing charges for the use of water under section sixty-nine B of chapter forty-one or any other provision of law, shall, upon the application of the owner of the real property to which the water is supplied, if such owner is receiving an exemption from property taxes under clause Forty-first A of section five of chapter fifty-nine with respect to such property, defer charges for water supplied to such property. An application for deferral may be filed with said board within the time limit established for the filing of an application for exemption under said clause Forty-first A.
The board that imposes such charges shall notify the board of assessors of any deferral granted under the provisions of this section, and shall annually thereafter notify said board of assessors of any unpaid water rates and charges to be added to the tax bill. Such charges shall be committed by the assessors along with the real estate taxes for each fiscal year, and secured by the statement of lien executed pursuant to said clause Forty-first A. Upon such qualification for deferral, no further application under this section need be filed in order to qualify for deferral of water charges in subsequent years. No additional notice or statement of lien need be recorded or registered with respect to such deferred water charges, but the amount of such deferred charges shall be listed on any certificate of liens issued under section twenty-three, twenty-three A or twenty-three B of chapter sixty. Whenever a person who has received an exemption under said clause Forty-first A ceases to receive such exemption, the board of assessors shall cease deferring water rates and charges added to the tax bill, and shall notify the board responsible for the assessment of such charges of the discontinuance of such deferral of said charges.
Interest shall be charged upon deferred water charges at the same rate as interest on taxes deferred under said clause Forty-first A. The deferred charges, together with accrued interest shall be due and collectible at the same time and upon the same terms and conditions as taxes deferred under said clause Forty-first A.
The amount of water charges deferred under this section, plus accrued interest, shall not be used in determining whether a taxpayer continues to be eligible for exemption under said clause Forty-first A.
Chapter 40: Section 42K. Assessment of betterments Section 42K. In a city, town or district which accepts the provisions of this section, the water commissioners may assess betterments in accordance with the provisions of chapter eighty for the construction and connection of water mains and services by a uniform unit method which shall be based upon the common main construction costs divided among the total number of existing and potential water units to be served after having allocated the town contribution, if any, and after having proportioned the cost of special (specific unit) and general benefit facilities. Each water unit shall be equal to a single family residence. Potential water units shall be calculated on the basis of zoning in effect at the date of assessment. Existing and potentially and potentially multi-family, commercial, industrial and semi-public uses shall be converted into water units on the basis of residential equivalents.
Chapter 40: Section 43. Authorization for transmission Section 43. The board of aldermen or the selectmen may, upon terms and conditions prescribed by them, authorize the laying of pipes and conduits for the transmission of steam or hot water for heating, cooking and mechanical power, for private use, under any public way in their town, may regulate and control the same, may at any time require the persons using such pipes and conduits to make alterations in the location or construction thereof, and may, after notice and hearing, order the removal thereof. Any use of such pipes and conduits other than herein authorized shall terminate the authority to maintain the same. Sections twelve, thirteen and fourteen of chapter one hundred and fifty-eight shall apply to proceedings hereunder so far as applicable.
Chapter 40: Section 43A. Permission to construct pipelines; conditions Section 43A. The board of alderman or the selectmen may, subject to such terms and conditions as they may deem advisable and subject also to such rules and regulations as may be promulgated by the state department of fire services, grant to any person the right to lay, construct, maintain and operate pipe lines for conveying petroleum or the products or by-products thereof through, over, across or under any public way, other than a way referred to in section forty-four B of chapter thirty, and in connection therewith may grant permission to any such person to dig up, open or tunnel under such public way.
Chapter 40: Section 44. Establishment by towns; purposes; membership; tenure; powers and duties Section 44. A town may, at a town meeting, authorize a village or district therein, if it contains not less than one thousand inhabitants, to organize under a name approved by the town for the purpose of erecting and maintaining street lamps, establishing and maintaining libraries, building and maintaining sidewalks, or for employing and paying police officers, and shall accurately define the limits of such village or district. Such village or district shall have a clerk and a prudential committee, and may have a treasurer and such other officers as it determines, each of whom shall hold office for one year and until another is qualified. Such village or district may adopt by-laws to define the manner of calling its meetings and the duties of its officers, may sue and be sued in the name of its inhabitants, and, so far as appropriate, shall be subject to sections sixty-two, sixty-three, sixty-six, sixty-nine, seventy-one, seventy-two, seventy-three, seventy-seven and seventy-nine of chapter forty-eight.
Chapter 40: Section 44A. Regional refuse disposal planning committee Section 44A. A city or town, by vote of the council in the case of a city and by vote of a town meeting in the case of a town, may create a special unpaid committee to be known as a regional refuse disposal planning committee consisting of three persons to be appointed by the moderator in a town and by the mayor in a city.
Chapter 40: Section 44B. Regional refuse disposal planning board; study of creation of district; expenses of board; refuse disposal facility defined Section 44B. Regional refuse disposal planning committees from any two or more cities or towns may join together to form a regional refuse disposal planning board. Such regional refuse disposal planning board shall study the advisability of establishing a regional refuse disposal district, its organization, operation and control, and of selecting, constructing, maintaining and operating a refuse disposal facility to serve the needs of the district, and shall estimate construction and operating costs and study methods of financing such district. Each city or town comprising such board may appropriate a sum not in excess of ten thousand dollars for the purpose of meeting the expenses of the board. Such board may expend any such sums so appropriated and may employ such expert assistance as it deems necessary. Such board may apply for, accept and expend, without appropriation, grants or gifts of funds from the federal government. As used in this section and in sections forty-four C to forty-four K, inclusive, the term “refuse disposal facility” shall mean an incinerator, sanitary land fill, transfer station, composting plant, other sanitary means of refuse disposal approved by the department of environmental protection, or any combination of two or more of such facilities.
Chapter 40: Section 44C. Regional refuse disposal planning board; agreement for establishment of district Section 44C. The regional refuse disposal planning board, consisting only of the regional refuse disposal planning committees which vote in favor of the establishment of a regional refuse disposal district, shall draw up a proposed agreement. The said agreement shall contain provisions describing the sharing of construction and operating costs, the number, method of selection and terms of office of the members of the regional refuse disposal district committee, the general area in which the refuse disposal facility shall be constructed, the terms by which another city or town may be admitted to the district, the method by which the agreement may be amended, the procedure for the preparation and adoption of the annual budget and any other matters, not incompatible with law, which the said board may deem advisable; provided, however, that all plans for refuse disposal facilities shall be subject to the approval of the state department of environmental protection.
Chapter 40: Section 44D. Report of board Section 44D. The regional refuse disposal planning board shall report its findings and recommendations to the board of selectmen and the mayor, as the case may be, of each city or town comprising the board. If the board recommends that a regional refuse disposal district be established, a copy of the proposed agreement shall accompany the report to each such city or town.
Chapter 40: Section 44E. Acceptance of recommendation; election; establishment of district Section 44E. The selectmen of each of the several towns, upon receipt of a recommendation that a regional refuse disposal district be established, shall cause the question of accepting such plan to be presented for determination by vote with printed ballots at the next annual town meeting or at a special town meeting called for the purpose. The mayors of the several cities, upon receipt of a recommendation that a regional refuse disposal district be established, shall submit the question of accepting such plan to the city council within sixty days after receipt of the recommendation. In the case of either a town or a city, the question to be voted on shall be:—“Shall the city (town) accept the provisions of sections 44A to 44K, inclusive, of chapter 40 of the General Laws providing for the establishment of a regional refuse district, together with the towns of ____________________ and the cities of ____________________, and the construction, maintenance and operation of a regional refuse disposal facility by said district in accordance with the provisions of a proposed agreement filed with the selectmen or the mayor. ”If a majority of the members of each city council voting on the question and a majority of the voters in each town voting on the question shall vote in the affirmative, the proposed regional refuse disposal district shall be deemed to be established forthwith in accordance with the terms of the proposed agreement.
Chapter 40: Section 44F. General powers of district Section 44F. A regional refuse disposal district, established under the provisions of section forty-four E, shall be a body politic and corporate with the following powers and duties:—(a) To adopt a name and a corporate seal, and the engraved or printed facsimile of such seal appearing on a bond or note of the district shall have the same legal effect as such seal would have if it were impressed thereon.
(b) To sue and be sued, but only to the same extent and upon the same conditions that a city or town may be sued.
(c) To purchase, or take by eminent domain under chapter seventy-nine land within the cities and towns which have accepted the provisions of sections forty-four A to forty-four K, inclusive, for the purposes of the district, and to construct and originally equip a refuse disposal facility for the benefit of said cities and towns, and to make any necessary contracts in relation thereto.
(d) To incur debt for the purpose of acquiring land and constructing, and originally equipping a refuse disposal facility for a term not exceeding twenty years; and provided, further, that written notice of the amount of the debt and of the general purposes for which it was authorized shall be given to the city council of each city, and to the board of selectmen of each town, comprising the district not later than seven days after the date on which said debt was authorized by the district committee; and no debt may be incurred until the expiration of thirty days from the date said debt was authorized by the district committee. If, prior to the expiration of said period, the city council of any member city expresses disapproval of the amount authorized by the district committee, or any member town expresses such disapproval by vote of a majority of the voters present and voting on the matter at a town meeting called for the purpose of expressing such disapproval, the said debt shall not be incurred and the regional refuse disposal planning committee shall thereupon prepare another proposal which may be the same as any prior proposal and an authorization to incur debt therefor.
(e) To issue bonds and notes in the name and upon the full faith and credit of said district; said bonds or notes shall be signed by the chairman and the treasurer of the district committee, except that said chairman by a writing bearing his written signature and filed in the office of said treasurer, which writing shall be open to public inspection, may authorize said treasurer to cause to be engraved or printed on said bonds or notes a facsimile of said chairman’s signature, and such facsimile signature so engraved or printed shall have the same validity and effect as said chairman’s written signature, and each issue of bonds or notes shall be a separate loan.
(f) To receive and disburse funds for any district purpose.
(g) To incur temporary debt in anticipation of revenue to be received from member cities and towns.
(h) To assess member cities and towns for any expenses of the district.
(i) To receive any grants or gifts for the purposes of the regional district.
(j) To engage legal counsel.
(k) To submit an annual report to each of the member cities and towns, containing a detailed financial statement, and a statement showing the method by which the annual charges assessed against each city and town were computed.
(l) To employ an executive director and such other employees as it deems necessary to operate such district.
(m) To adopt an annual operating budget, not later than December first.
(n) To enter into contracts for refuse disposal with non-member cities and towns as well as other bodies politic, the United States of America and other persons.
Chapter 40: Section 44G. Exercise of powers; officers of committee Section 44G. The powers, duties and liabilities of a regional refuse disposal district shall be vested in and exercised by a regional refuse disposal district committee organized in accordance with the agreement. The committee shall choose a chairman by ballot from its membership. It shall appoint a secretary and a treasurer, who may be the same person, but who need not be members of said committee. The treasurer shall receive and take charge of all money belonging to the district and shall pay any bill of the district which shall have been approved by the committee. The treasurer may, by vote of said committee, be compensated for his services. The treasurer of said district shall be subject to the provisions of sections thirty-five, fifty-two and one hundred and nine A of chapter forty-one, to the extent applicable.
Chapter 40: Section 44H. Maintenance and operating expenses; debts; determination and apportionment Section 44H. The regional refuse disposal district committee shall annually determine the amounts necessary to be raised to maintain and operate the district during the ensuing fiscal year, and the amounts required for payment of debt and interest incurred by the district which will be due in the said year, and shall apportion the amount so determined among the several member cities and towns in accordance with the terms of the agreement. The amounts so apportioned for each city or town shall, prior to December thirty-first in each year, be certified by the regional district treasurer to the treasurers of the several cities and towns. The obligation of each member city or town to pay apportionments pursuant to the agreement shall be included in the amounts to be assessed annually in such city or town under section twenty-three of chapter fifty-nine without appropriation and the city or town treasurer shall pay to the district the amounts so apportioned at the times specified in the agreement. The amounts apportioned or to be apportioned pursuant to the agreement shall not be included in the statutory limit of indebtedness of any city or town.
Chapter 40: Section 44I. Annual audit and report; costs Section 44I. The director of accounts in the department of corporations and taxation shall annually cause an audit to be made of the accounts of the regional refuse disposal district committee, and for this purpose he, and his duly accredited agents, shall have access to all necessary papers, books, and records. Upon the completion of each audit, a report thereon shall be made to the chairman of said district committee, and a copy thereof shall be sent to the mayor and to the chairman of the board of selectmen, respectively, of each city and town which is a member of said district. The director shall apportion the cost among the several cities and towns which are members of the district on the basis provided by section forty-four C, and submit the amounts of each apportionment to the state treasurer, who shall issue his warrant requiring the assessors of the cities and towns which are members of the district to assess a tax to the amount of the expense, and such amounts shall be collected and paid to the state treasurer, as provided by section twenty of chapter fifty-nine.
Chapter 40: Section 44J. Sale, lease or license of lands or facilities to refuse disposal districts Section 44J. The agreement made under section forty-four C, or any amendment to such an agreement, may contain provisions authorizing any member city or town to sell, lease or license to the regional refuse disposal district any refuse disposal facility and any land appurtenant thereto or used in connection therewith or any other property useful for the purposes of the district, and any such city or town may authorize such sale, lease or license accordingly, notwithstanding the provisions of section three of chapter forty or any other provisions of law to the contrary. In case of a sale, the price and time or times of payment and the method by which the cities and towns other than the selling city or town shall be assessed for such payment shall be set forth in the agreement or amendment; but in no case shall payments be made which shall extend over a period in excess of twenty years. In the case of a lease or license, the rental or license fee and terms of payment and assessment shall be set forth in the agreement or amendment. The lease or license may be for a term not in excess of twenty years, and may contain provisions for the extension of the lease or license for an additional term not in excess of twenty years at the option of the regional refuse disposal district committee.
Chapter 40: Section 44K. Bonds and notes; limit of indebtedness Section 44K. The provisions of sections sixteen to twenty-eight, inclusive, of chapter forty-four shall, so far as apt, apply to regional refuse disposal districts, but the provisions of section sixteen relating to the countersigning of bonds and notes and the provisions of section twenty-four relating to the countersigning and approval of notes and the certificates of the clerk relating thereto shall not apply to such districts. Any debt incurred by a regional refuse disposal district shall not be subject to the limit of indebtedness prescribed in section ten of chapter forty-four.
Chapter 40: Section 44L. Issuance of debt obligations to pay for project costs Section 44L. The rights and powers granted to cities and towns by the provisions of section twenty-eight C of chapter forty-four shall apply to regional refuse disposal districts and for the purpose of said section twenty-eight C the chief executive officer of a regional refuse disposal district shall be the regional refuse disposal district committee.
Chapter 40: Section 45. Towns; permission to designate an agent Section 45. The selectmen of a town required to enter into a recognizance may by an order or vote authorize any person to enter into the recognizance in its name and behalf. No surety shall be required thereon.
Chapter 40: Section 46. Certification of claims Section 46. Any person authorized to approve a claim against a town for labor, materials or service may, before approval thereof, require the claimant to certify under oath that all the articles for which claim is made have been furnished, or that all the labor or service has been performed, and that no commission, discount, bonus, reward or present of any kind has been received by, or promised to, or is expected by, any person on account of the same.
Chapter 40: Section 47. Establishment; use Section 47. Each town shall have a seal, established at a town meeting, to be kept by the town clerk. Papers or documents issued from any office or board of the town may be attested therewith. Cities which had an authorized seal in use on May tenth, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine, may continue to use such seal until changed by ordinance, and other cities shall by ordinance establish a seal of the city and designate the custodian thereof.
Chapter 40: Section 48. Establishment of suitable place to keep books; penalty for noncompliance; custody of books and records Section 48. Every town shall provide suitable places, to be approved by the supervisor of public records, for the preservation and convenient use of all books, reports and laws received from the commonwealth; and for every month’s neglect so to do shall forfeit ten dollars. Said books, reports and laws shall be in the custody or control of the town clerk, unless the city council or selectmen shall by vote designate some other person to have said custody or control of all or part of the same.
Chapter 40: Section 49. Annual town reports; publication; penalty for noncompliance Section 49. The selectmen, before the annual town meeting, shall at the expense of the town print the annual town report for the use of the inhabitants containing the report of the selectmen for the calendar or fiscal year preceding said meeting, the report of the school committee, statements in tabulated form prepared under section sixty of chapter forty-one unless otherwise printed as provided in said section, the annual report of the town accountant for the preceding fiscal year as provided in section sixty-one of chapter forty-one, the annual report of the town treasurer as provided in section thirty-five of chapter forty-one, and except as otherwise provided by vote or by-law of the town, of such other officers and boards as consider it expedient to make a report, the jury list as required by chapter two hundred and thirty-four, and such other matters as the law, or the town by vote or by-law, requires or as the selectmen consider expedient. If the selectmen neglect or refuse to make the annual report, they shall severally forfeit fifty dollars.
A town may by by-law provide for the printing of such fiscal year reports as it deems suitable within ninety days of the close of the fiscal year. A copy of such fiscal year reports shall be transmitted by the town clerk to the state library before the first day of November. A town may also by by-law provide for the printing of all reports of town officers and boards, committees and commissions on a fiscal year basis in place of the calendar year report required by this section.
activities; termination of agreement; “governmental unit” defined; financial safeguards Section 4A. The chief executive officer of a city or town, or a board, committee or officer otherwise authorized by law to execute a contract in the name of a governmental unit, as hereinafter defined, may enter on behalf of such unit into an agreement with one or more other governmental units to perform jointly or for such other unit or units any services, activities or undertakings which any of the contracting units is authorized by law to perform, if such agreement is authorized by the parties thereto, in a city by the city council with the approval of the mayor, and in a town or district by the town or district meeting; provided, however, that when such agreement involves the expenditure of funds for educational purposes accepted pursuant to section fifty-three A of chapter forty-four, or the expenditure of funds for establishing supplementary education centers and innovative educational programs, the agreement and its termination shall be authorized by the school committee. Any such agreement shall be for such maximum term, not exceeding twenty-five years, and shall establish such maximum financial liability of the parties, as may be specified in the authorizing votes of the parties thereto. A governmental unit, when duly authorized to do so in accordance with the provisions of law applicable to it, may raise money by any lawful means, including the incurring of debt for purposes for which it may legally incur debt, to meet its obligations under such agreement. Notwithstanding any provisions of law or charter to the contrary, no governmental unit shall be exempt from liability for its obligations under an agreement lawfully entered into in accordance with this section. The words “governmental unit” as used herein shall mean a city, town, a regional school district, a district as defined in section one A, regional planning commissions, however constituted, regional transit authorities established under the provisions of chapter one hundred and sixty-one B, a water and sewer commission established under the provisions of chapter forty N or of a special law, and counties.
All agreements put into effect under this section shall provide sufficient financial safeguards for all participants, including, but not limited to: accurate and comprehensive records of services performed, costs incurred, and reimbursements and contributions received; the performance of regular audits of such records; and provisions for officers responsible for the agreement to give appropriate performance bonds. The agreement shall also require that periodic financial statements be issued to all participants. Nothing in this section shall prohibit any agreement entered into between governmental units from containing procedures for withdrawal of a governmental unit from said agreement.
All bills and payrolls submitted for work done under any such agreement shall be plainly marked to indicate that the work was done under authority thereof. Any reimbursement for or contribution toward the cost of such work shall be made at such intervals as the agreement provides. The amount of reimbursement received under any such agreement by any governmental unit shall be credited on its books to the account of estimated receipts, but any funds received under the provisions of section fifty-three A of chapter forty-four for contribution toward the cost of such work may be expended in accordance with the said provisions. The equipment and employees of a governmental unit while engaged in performing any such service, activity or undertaking under such an agreement shall be deemed to be engaged in the service and employment of such unit, notwithstanding such service, activity or undertaking is being performed in or for another governmental unit or units.
construction of public works Section 4D. Any governmental unit, as defined in section four A, may enter into an agreement with the commonwealth or with any public authority, whereby the commonwealth acting through a duly authorized agency, or such public authority, will perform for such governmental unit, any service or activity or undertaking which said governmental unit is authorized by law to perform for itself.
All bills submitted for payments on account of work done under such agreement shall be plainly marked to indicate that the work was done under authority thereof, and payments at such intervals as provided by the agreement shall be made to the commonwealth or the public authority or upon direction of the commonwealth or the public authority, at such intervals as the government provides, directly to the contractor performing the work under agreement.
Any such agreement may provide that such governmental unit pay to the state treasurer or to the treasurer of such public authority, as the case may be, its respective share of the estimated cost of the work to be done, and that the state agency or public authority which is a party to the agreement be authorized to expend the money for the purposes for which the payment is submitted. The provisions of sections twenty-six to twenty-nine, inclusive, and of sections forty-four A to forty-four L, inclusive, of chapter one hundred and forty-nine, and the provisions of sections thirty-nine F to thirty-nine M of chapter thirty, shall apply to all such work performed by a public authority to the same extent and in the same manner as they are applicable to the commonwealth.
Section 4E. Pursuant to the provisions hereof, two or more school committees of cities, towns and regional school districts may enter into a written agreement to conduct education programs and services which shall complement and strengthen the school programs of member school committees and increase educational opportunities for children. The school committees shall collaborate to offer such programs and services, and the association of school committees which is formed pursuant hereof to deliver such programs and services shall be known as an education collaborative.
The education collaborative shall be managed by a board of directors which shall be comprised of one person appointed by each member school committee. Such person shall be either a school committee member or his designee or the superintendent of schools or his designee. Members of said board of directors shall be entitled to a vote according to the terms of the education collaborative agreement. The department of education shall appoint an individual to serve in an advisory capacity to the education collaborative board. Said individual shall not be entitled to vote on any matter which comes before the board of directors of the education collaborative.
The written agreement which shall form the basis of the education collaborative shall set forth the purposes of the program or service, the financial terms and conditions of membership of the education collaborative, the method of termination of the education collaborative and of the withdrawal of member school committees, the procedure for admitting new members and for amending the collaborative agreement, the powers and duties of the board of directors of the education collaborative to operate and manage the education collaborative and any other matter not incompatible with law which the member committees deem advisable. The agreement shall be subject to the approval of the member school committees and the commissioner of education.
Each board of directors of an education collaborative shall establish and manage a trust fund, to be known as an Education Collaborative Trust Fund, and each such fund shall be designated by an appropriate name. All monies contributed by the member municipalities, and all grants or gifts from the federal government, state government, charitable foundations, private corporations, or any other source, shall be paid to the board of directors of the education collaborative and deposited in the aforesaid Fund.
The board of directors of the education collaborative shall appoint a treasurer who may be a treasurer of a city, town or regional school district belonging to such collaborative. Such treasurer shall be authorized, subject to the direction of the board of directors of the education collaborative, to receive and disburse all monies of the trust fund without further appropriation. The treasurer shall give bond annually for the faithful performance of his duties as collaborative treasurer in a form approved by the department of revenue and in such sum, not less than the amount established by said department, as shall be fixed by the board of directors of the education collaborative. The board of directors of the education collaborative in its discretion may pay compensation to the treasurer for his services. No member of the board of directors of the education collaborative shall be eligible to serve as treasurer of said collaborative.
The treasurer of the education collaborative board of directors shall have the authority to make appropriate investments of the monies of the Education Collaborative Trust Fund consistent with the provisions of section fifty-four of chapter forty-four.
The board of directors of an educational collaborative shall have the authority to borrow money, enter into long-term or short-term loan agreements or mortgages and to apply for state, federal or corporate grants or contracts to obtain funds necessary to carry out the purpose for which such collaborative is established; provided, that the board of directors has determined that any such borrowing, loan or mortgage is cost-effective and in the best interest of the collaborative and its member municipalities. Such borrowing, loans or mortgages shall be consistent with the written agreement and articles of incorporation, if any, of the educational collaborative and shall be consistent with standard lending practices.
The board of directors of the education collaborative shall have the authority to employ an executive officer who shall serve under the general direction of such board and who shall be responsible for the care and supervision of the education collaborative.
The board of directors of the education collaborative shall be deemed to be a public employer and have the authority to employ personnel, including teachers, to carry out the purposes and functions of the education collaborative. No person shall be eligible for employment by said board of directors as an instructor of children with severe special needs, teacher of children with special needs, teacher, guidance counselor or school psychologist unless such person has been granted a certificate by the board of education under the provisions of section thirty-eight G of chapter seventy-one or section six of chapter seventy-one A or an approval under the regulations promulgated by the board of education under chapter seventy-one B or chapter seventy-four with respect to the type of position for which he seeks employment; provided, however, that nothing herein shall be construed to prevent a board of directors of an education collaborative from prescribing additional qualifications. A board of directors of an education collaborative may, upon its request, be exempted by the board of education for any one school year from the requirements of this section to employ certified or approved personnel when compliance therewith would in the opinion of the board constitute a great hardship.
The education collaborative shall be deemed to be a public entity and shall have standing to sue and be sued to the same extent as a city, town or regional school district. An education collaborative, acting through its board of directors, may enter into contracts for the purchase of supplies, materials and services, and for the purchase or leasing of land, buildings and equipment as deemed necessary by such board of directors.
A school committee of any city, town or regional school district may authorize the prepayment of monies for any educational program or service of the education collaborative, to the treasurer of an education collaborative, and the city, town or regional school district treasurer shall be required to approve and pay such monies in accordance with the authorization of the school committee.
Section 4F. In any city or town which accepts the provisions of this section, any contracts or orders for items of clothing or apparel shall be given to such establishments only as submit to the city or town the name and address of the manufacturer of such items, and the names and addresses of any and all contractors for such items, and only to such establishments as pay the prevailing rate of wages, determined by the commissioner of labor and industries. Said prevailing rates shall be based on wage rates and working hours that have been established by collective bargaining agreement or understanding between organized labor and employers in the apparel industry. Said commissioner shall, upon application from a city or town, prepare and furnish for the use of such city or town a list of the several classifications of labor usually performed by the employees in the apparel trades, together with the prevailing rate of wages and working hours.
A written declaration by the bidder on said contracts or orders for items of clothing or apparel, upon submission of his bid, that each garment to be purchased shall have a union label affixed to such garment shall be sufficient evidence that said manufacturer or contractor pays the prevailing rate of wages based on wage rates and working hours established by collective bargaining or understanding between organized labor and the employer. Every contractor, subcontractor or other employer, engaged in any work to which this section applies, shall keep a true and accurate record of employees, showing the name, address and occupational classification of each employee, and the hours worked by, and the wages paid to, each such employee, and shall furnish to the city or town upon request a true statement of the contents of such record.
definitions Section 4I. As used in this section, the following words shall have the following meanings:—“Balanced growth and development issues”, the current and future residential, commercial and industrial development demands of municipalities; identification of needed or desirable longterm housing and economic development objectives and priorities; protection of environmentally sensitive areas; preservation of important land and water resources; growth management land use problems, including regional transportation systems, housing, water quality, open space, recreational land and agricultural land; municipal growth management decisions; the impact of a proposed development on infrastructure, highway safety, traffic congestion, transportation systems and ability to provide municipal services; development which promotes the conservation and efficient use of natural resources, including energy, safe alternative energy resources, water, wetland, flood plains, ground water aquifers and aquifer recharge areas; and any or all of the foregoing which by its nature or location would have a significant impact upon the health, safety or welfare of citizens of more than one municipality or with respect to which more than one municipality would be significantly affected by a proposed development.
“Federal agency”, any office, agency division, department, board or commission of the United States government.
“Growth and development policy committee”, the committee established pursuant to this section.
“Member municipality”, any city or town which establishes or becomes a member of a growth and development policy committee.
“State agency”, any executive office, agency, department, board or commission of the commonwealth.
Upon a majority vote of the board of selectmen in a town or the city council and mayor in a city, any two or more municipalities may establish a growth and development policy committee for the purposes and with the powers set forth in this section. Such growth and development policy committee shall be composed of an equal number of representatives from each member municipality, but in no event shall there be less than three members representing each member municipality. Any municipality wishing to become a member of a growth and development policy committee subsequent to the initial formation thereof may do so upon a majority vote of the then existing representatives of the growth and development policy committee. Representatives of each member municipality shall be appointed by majority of the respective member municipality’s board of selectmen, in the case of a town, or city council, with approval of the mayor, in the case of a city.
Staff and planning assistance may be provided to the growth and development policy committee by any board, department or agency of a member municipality. Each member municipality may appropriate funds to the growth and development policy committee for any purpose related to committee matters. The growth and development committee may accept contributions, gifts or grants from any private source or public source, including, but not limited to, any local agency, state agency or federal agency.
Each growth and development policy committee shall have the following powers: to engage in all acts and conduct for the purpose of intergovernmental planning of balanced growth and development issues; to provide mutual planning, comment and review of any balanced growth and development issue which has a significant impact upon the health, safety or welfare of citizens of more than one member municipality; to research, develop, sponsor, fund and implement programs and projects designed to address balanced growth and development issues.
Chapter 40: Section 5. Authorization Section 5. A town may at any town meeting appropriate money for the exercise of any of its corporate powers; provided, however, that a town shall not appropriate or expend money for any purpose, on any terms, or under any conditions inconsistent with any applicable provision of any general or special law.
Chapter 40: Section 50. Annual town report; copy to state library Section 50. One copy or more of the annual report and of any special report of a town shall annually, on or before the last day of May, be transmitted by the town clerk to the state library, and until such transmission the publications distributed by the commonwealth shall be withheld from the town.
Chapter 40: Section 51. Publication of information concerning persons receiving aid from governmental agencies forbidden; exceptions; penalties Section 51. No town or officer thereof shall publish or disclose in any manner to others than officers of any city, town or other governmental agency or the duly authorized agents of such officers the names of any persons residing in such town who received benefits under chapter one hundred and fifteen, except that a duly incorporated charitable corporation shall be informed, upon its request, as to whether or not any designated person has received such benefits. No department, board or commission, or agent thereof, of a town providing aid, guidance or advice solely to persons who are in active military or naval service during the time of war, or who were formerly in such service, or to the dependents of any such persons, shall furnish any records or information to any social service index, so called, or exchange information with any other agency, except as hereinbefore provided. Whoever violates any provision of this section shall be punished by a fine of not less than twenty-five nor more than five hundred dollars.
Chapter 40: Section 52. Size of official letters Section 52. All official letters from officers of towns shall be written or printed, so far as practicable, on paper eight and one half inches wide and eleven inches long.
Chapter 40: Section 53. Restraint of illegal appropriations; ten taxpayer actions Section 53. If a town, regional school district, or a district as defined in section one A, or any of its officers or agents are about to raise or expend money or incur obligations purporting to bind said town, regional school district, or district for any purpose or object or in any manner other than that for and in which such town, regional school district, or district has the legal and constitutional right and power to raise or expend money or incur obligations, the supreme judicial or superior court may, upon petition of not less than ten taxable inhabitants of the town, or not less than ten taxable inhabitants of any town in the regional school district, or not less than ten taxable inhabitants of that portion of a town which is in the district, determine the same in equity, and may, before the final determination of the cause, restrain the unlawful exercise or abuse of such corporate power.
Chapter 40: Section 54. Availability of water supply; disposal of debris Section 54. No building permit shall be issued for the construction of a building which would necessitate the use of water therein, unless a supply of water is available therefor either from a water system operated by a city, town or district, or from a well located on the land where the building is to be constructed, or from a water corporation or company, as defined in section one of chapter one hundred and sixty-five.
Every city or town shall require, as a condition of issuing a building permit or license for the demolition, renovation, rehabilitation or other alteration of a building or structure, that the debris resulting from such demolition, renovation, rehabilitation or alteration be disposed of in a properly licensed solid waste disposal facility, as defined by section one hundred and fifty A of chapter one hundred and eleven. Any such permit or license shall indicate the location of the facility at which the debris is to be disposed. If for any reason, the debris will not be disposed of as indicated, the permittee or licensee shall notify the issuing authority as to the location where the debris will be disposed. The issuing authority shall amend the permit or license to so indicate.
Chapter 40: Section 54A. State consent to issuance of permits to purchaser required; damages in absence thereof Section 54A. If a city or town or any other person purchases any lands formerly used as a railroad right-of-way or any property appurtenant thereto formerly used by any railroad company in the commonwealth, no permit to build a structure of any kind on land so purchased shall be issued by any city or town in the commonwealth without first obtaining, after public hearing, the consent in writing to the issuance of such permit from the secretary of the executive office of transportation and construction. If said secretary does not consent to the issuance of such permit, the owner of the land may recover from the commonwealth such damages as would be awarded under the provisions of chapter seventy-nine.
Notwithstanding the provisions of the second sentence of the foregoing paragraph, there shall be no recovery from the commonwealth in damages under said sentence by an owner of such land purchased after January first, nineteen hundred and seventy-six.
Chapter 40: Section 55. Annuity contract, custodial account or other investment for hospital employees Section 55. Any city through an officer designated by the city council or any town through an officer designated by the selectmen which operates a hospital may enter into a written agreement with such hospital employees to purchase or make payments to an individual or group annuity contract, custodial account, or any other investment authorized under section 403(b) of the Internal Revenue Code for such employee; provided, however, that in no event shall the total of the premiums paid for the purchase of any such annuity, custodial account, or other investment and the employee’s includible compensation for any year exceed the total annual salary or compensation under the existing salary schedule or classification plan applicable to such employee in such year. As used in this section, the words “includible compensation” shall have the same meaning as in said section 403(b) and the word “premiums” shall include contributions paid to any such custodial account or other investment. Such employee’s rights under such annuity contract, custodial account or other investment shall be nonforfeitable. Such contract shall be purchased only from an insurer authorized to issue life insurance or annuity contracts in the commonwealth; any such custodial account or other investment shall be purchased only from a company or corporation authorized to sell such other investments in the commonwealth; provided, however, that any such city or town may agree with any such employee or prospective employee who has an annuity contract, custodial account or any such other investment in force for at least ninety days prior to the effective date of such agreement to continue to make premium payments under such contract, account or investment subsequent to the effective date of such agreement, without regard to whether or not such contract, account or investment has been issued or sold by an entity authorized to issue or sell such contracts, accounts or other investments in the commonwealth, but in such case any subsequent contract shall be purchased only from an insurer authorized to issue life insurance or annuity contracts in the commonwealth, and any such custodial account or other investment shall be purchased only from a company or corporation authorized to sell such accounts or other investments in the commonwealth. Upon execution of such an agreement, the officer of the city or town thereunto authorized shall forthwith give written notice thereof to the treasurer of such city or town and shall certify the amount and dates of premiums payable under the terms of such contract, account or investment, the name of the issuing insurer or selling company or corporation and the office to which such premium payments shall be made. Said treasurer shall thereafter make such premium payments while such contract, account or investment is in force and such employee is actively employed by the city or town and, upon written notice duly given by said officer, shall make any changes in the manner or amount of premium payments required under the terms of any subsequent agreement, contract, account or investment entered into by such employee and the city or town and shall stop such premium payments when so notified by such officer. Such city or town shall not offer to such employee any such annuity plan, custodial account or other investment to the exclusion of any other plan, custodial account or other investment, whether group or individual.
Chapter 40: Section 56. Percentages of local tax levy for property Section 56. The commissioner shall triennially certify as to whether the board of assessors is assessing property at full and fair cash valuation. Once certified, a city or town may classify in the manner set out in this section for the year of certification and for the two years next following said year of certification. The selectmen or town council of each town and the city council together with the mayor’s approval in each city, which city or town has been certified by the commissioner of revenue to be assessing property at full and fair cash valuation, shall annually first determine the percentages of the local tax levy to be borne by each class of real property, as defined in section two A of chapter fifty-nine, and personal property for the next fiscal year; provided, however, that if the mayor vetoes the city council’s percentages, in a city, the city council may override such veto with a vote equal to two-thirds of the members elected. In determining such percentages, the selectmen, town council or the city council, together with the mayor’s approval, as the case may be, shall first adopt a residential factor; provided, however, that if the mayor vetoes the city council’s factor, in a city, the city council may override such veto with a vote equal to two-thirds of the members elected. Said factor shall be an amount not less than the minimum residential factor determined by the commissioner of revenue in accordance with the provisions of section one A of chapter fifty-eight and shall be used by the board of assessors to determine the percentages of the local tax levy to be borne by each class of real and personal property. Prior to the adoption of such percentages, the selectmen, town council or the city council, as the case may be, shall conduct a public hearing on the question of their adoption. At such hearing, the board of assessors shall provide all information and data relevant to making such determination and the fiscal effect of the available alternatives. The commissioner of revenue shall not approve the tax rate of a city or town under section twenty-three of chapter fifty-nine until the selectmen, town council or the city council, as the case may be, have held such a public hearing and until the city or town has adopted the percentages of the local tax levy to be borne by each class of real and personal property.
Class one percentage, the full and fair cash valuation of the class one property divided by the full and fair cash valuation of all real and personal property in said city or town multiplied by the residential factor.
Class two percentage, the full and fair cash valuation of the class two property divided by the full and fair cash valuation of all real and personal property in said city or town multiplied by not less than seventy-five per cent of the residential factor.
Class three percentage, the full and fair cash valuation of the class three property divided by the sum of full and fair cash valuation of class three and class four real property and personal property in such city or town multiplied by the difference between one hundred per cent and the sum of the class one and two percentages.
Class four percentage, the full and fair cash valuation of the class four property divided by the sum of the full and fair cash valuation of the class three and class four real property and personal property in such city or town multiplied by the difference between one hundred per cent and the sum of the class one and class two percentages.
Personal property percentage, the full and fair cash valuation of the personal property in a city or town divided by the sum of the full and fair cash valuation of the class three and class four real property and the personal property in a city or town multiplied by the difference between one hundred per cent and the sum of the class one and class two percentages.
As used in this section the full and fair cash valuation amounts shall be those amounts as determined by the commissioner of revenue and sent to each city and town pursuant to section one A of chapter fifty-eight.
The percentages, so determined, shall upon certification of the commissioner be transmitted to the board of assessors to be used in setting the tax rates pursuant to section twenty-three A of chapter fifty-nine.
Chapter 40: Section 57. Local licenses and permits; denial, revocation or suspension for failure to pay municipal taxes or charges Section 57. Any city or town which accepts the provisions of this section, may by by-law or ordinance deny any application for, or revoke or suspend a building permit, or any local license or permit including renewals and transfers issued by any board, officer, department for any person, corporation or business enterprise, who has neglected or refused to pay any local taxes, fees, assessments, betterments or any other municipal charges, including amounts assessed under the provisions of section twenty-one D or with respect to any activity, event or other matter which is the subject of such license or permit and which activity, event or matter is carried out or exercised or is to be carried out or exercised on or about real estate whose owner has neglected or refused to pay any local taxes, fees, assessments, betterments or any other municipal charges. Such by-law or ordinances shall provide that:(a) The tax collector or other municipal official responsible for records of all municipal taxes, assessments, betterments and other municipal charges, hereinafter referred to as the tax collector, shall annually furnish to each department, board, commission or division, hereinafter referred to as the licensing authority, that issues licenses or permits including renewals and transfers, a list of any person, corporation, or business enterprise, hereinafter referred to as the party, that has neglected or refused to pay any local taxes, fees, assessments, betterments or other municipal charges for not less than a twelve month period, and that such party has not filed in good faith a pending application for an abatement of such tax or a pending petition before the appellate tax board.
(b) The licensing authority may deny, revoke or suspend any license or permit, including renewals and transfers of any party whose name appears on said list furnished to the licensing authority from the tax collector or with respect to any activity, event or other matter which is the subject of such license or permit and which activity, event or matter is carried out or exercised or is to be carried out or exercised on or about real estate owned by any party whose name appears on said list furnished to the licensing authority from the tax collector; provided, however, that written notice is given to the party and the tax collector, as required by applicable provisions of law, and the party is given a hearing, to be held not earlier than fourteen days after said notice. Said list shall be prima facie evidence for denial, revocation or suspension of said license or permit to any party. The tax collector shall have the right to intervene in any hearing conducted with respect to such license denial, revocation or suspension. Any findings made by the licensing authority with respect to such license denial, revocation or suspension shall be made only for the purposes of such proceeding and shall not be relevant to or introduced in any other proceeding at law, except for any appeal from such license denial, revocation or suspension. Any license or permit denied, suspended or revoked under this section shall not be reissued or renewed until the license authority receives a certificate issued by the tax collector that the party is in good standing with respect to any and all local taxes, fees, assessments, betterments or other municipal charges, payable to the municipality as the date of issuance of said certificate.
(c) Any party shall be given an opportunity to enter into a payment agreement, thereby allowing the licensing authority to issue a certificate indicating said limitations to the license or permit and the validity of said license shall be conditioned upon the satisfactory compliance with said agreement. Failure to comply with said agreement shall be grounds for the suspension or revocation of said license or permit; provided, however, that the holder be given notice and a hearing as required by applicable provisions of law.
(d) The board of selectmen may waive such denial, suspension or revocation if it finds there is no direct or indirect business interest by the property owner, its officers or stockholders, if any, or members of his immediate family, as defined in section one of chapter two hundred and sixty-eight A in the business or activity conducted in or on said property.
This section shall not apply to the following licenses and permits: open burning; section thirteen of chapter forty-eight; bicycle permits; section eleven A of chapter eighty-five; sales of articles for charitable purposes, section thirty-three of chapter one hundred and one; children work permits, section sixty-nine of chapter one hundred and forty-nine; clubs, associations dispensing food or beverage licenses, section twenty-one E of chapter one hundred and forty; dog licenses, section one hundred and thirty-seven of chapter one hundred and forty; fishing, hunting, trapping license, section twelve of chapter one hundred and thirty-one; marriage licenses, section twenty-eight of chapter two hundred and seven and theatrical events, public exhibition permits, section one hundred and eighty-one of chapter one hundred and forty.
A city or town may exclude any local license or permit from this section by by-law or ordinance.
Chapter 40: Section 58. Municipal charges lien Section 58. Any city or town may impose a lien on real property located within the city or town for any local charge or fee that has not been paid by the due date, said lien shall be known as the “municipal charges lien”; provided, that a separate vote at a town meeting, or by a city or town council is taken for each type of charge or fee.
A municipal charges lien authorized under this section shall take effect upon the recording of a list of unpaid municipal charges and fees by parcel of land and by the name of the person assessed for the charge or fee in the registry of deeds of the county or district where the land subject to the lien lies.
If a charge or fee which is secured by a municipal charges lien remains unpaid when the assessors are preparing a real estate tax list and warrant to be committed under section fifty-three of chapter fifty-nine, the board or officer in charge of the collection of the municipal charge or fee, or the town collector of taxes, if applicable under section thirty-eight A of chapter forty-one, shall certify such charge or fee to the assessors, who shall forthwith add such charge or fee to the tax on the property to which it relates and commit it with their warrant to the collector of taxes as part of such tax.
If the property to which such charge or fee relates is tax exempt, such charge or fee shall be committed as the tax. A lien under this section may be discharged by filing a certificate from the tax collector that all municipal charges or fees constituting the lien, together with any interest and costs thereon, have been paid or legally abated. All costs of recording or discharging a lien under this section shall be borne by the owner of the property.
Chapter 40: Section 59. Tax increment financing plan Section 59. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, any city or town by vote of its town meeting, town council, or city council with the approval of the mayor where required by law, on its own behalf or in conjunction with one or more cities or towns, and pursuant to regulations issued by the director of housing and community development, may adopt and prosecute a tax increment financing hereinafter referred to as TIF plan, and do any and all things necessary thereto; provided, however, that the TIF plan:(i) designates one or more areas of such city or town as a TIF zone; provided, however, that each area so designated is wholly within an area designated by the director of economic development, pursuant to regulations adopted by the economic assistance coordinating council established pursuant to section three B of chapter twenty-three A, as presenting exceptional opportunities for increased economic development; provided, further, that in the case of a TIF plan adopted by more than one city or town, the areas designated as TIF zones shall be contiguous areas of such cities or towns;(ii) describes in detail all construction and construction-related activity, public and private, contemplated for such TIF zone as of the date of adoption of the TIF plan; provided, however, that in the case of public construction as aforesaid, the TIF plan shall include a detailed projection of the costs thereof and a betterment schedule for the defrayal of such costs; provided, further, that the TIF plan shall provide that no costs of such public constructions shall be recovered through betterments or special assessments imposed on any party which has not executed an agreement in accordance with the provisions of paragraph (v); and provided, further, that in the case of private construction as aforesaid, the TIF plan shall include the types of industrial and commercial developments which are projected to occur within such TIF zone, with documentary evidence of the level of commitment therefor, including but not limited to architectural plans and specifications as required by said regulations;(iii) authorizes tax increment exemptions from property taxes, in accordance with the Provisions of clause fifty-first of section five of chapter fifty-nine, for a specified term not to exceed twenty years, for any parcel of real property which is located in the TIF zone and for which an agreement has been executed with the owner thereof in accordance with the provisions of paragraph (v); provided, however, that the TIF plan shall specify the level of such exemptions expressed as an exemption percentage, not to exceed one hundred percent to be used in calculating the exemption under clause fifty-first of said section five of said chapter fifty-nine; provided, however, that such exemptions shall be calculated for each said parcel as provided in said clause fifty-first using an adjustment factor for each fiscal year of the specified term equal to the product of the inflation factors for each fiscal year since the parcel first became eligible for such exemption pursuant to this paragraph. The inflation factor for each fiscal year shall be a ratio.
(a) the numerator of which shall be the total assessed value of all parcels of commercial and industrial real estate that are assessed at full and fair cash value for the current fiscal year minus the new growth adjustment for the current fiscal year attributable to the commercial and industrial real estate as determined by the commissioner of revenue pursuant to subsection (f) of section twenty-one C of chapter fifty-nine, and(b) the denominator of which shall be the total assessed value for the preceding fiscal year of all the parcels included in the numerator; provided such ratio should not be less than one.
(iv) establishes a maximum percentage of the costs of any public construction, referenced in paragraph (ii) and initiated subsequent to the adoption of the TIF plan, that can be recovered through betterments or special assessments against any parcel of real property eligible for tax increment exemptions from property taxes pursuant to paragraph (iii) during the period of such parcel’s eligibility for exemption from annual property taxes pursuant to clause fifty-first of section five of chapter fifty-nine, notwithstanding the provisions of chapter eighty or any other general or special law authorizing the imposition of betterments or special assessments;(v) includes executed agreements between such city or town and each owner of a parcel of real property which is located in such TIF zone; provided, however, that each such agreement shall include: (1) all material representations of the parties which served as the basis for the descriptions contained in the TIF plan in accordance with the provisions of paragraph (ii); (2) a detailed recitation of the tax increment exemptions and the maximum percentage of the cost of public improvements that can be recovered through betterments or special assessments regarding such parcel of real property pursuant to paragraphs (iii) and (iv); (3) a detailed recitation of all other benefits and responsibilities inuring to and assumed by the parties to such agreement; and (4) a provision that such agreement shall be binding upon subsequent owners of such parcel of real property;(vi) delegates to one board, agency or officer of the city or town the authority to execute agreements in accordance with the provisions of paragraph (v); and(vii) is certified as an approved TIF plan by the economic assistance coordinating council established by section three B of chapter twenty-three A pursuant to regulations adopted by said council; provided, however, that the economic assistance coordinating council shall find, based on the information submitted in support of the TIF plan by the city or town and such additional investigation as the economic assistance coordinating council shall make, and incorporate in its minutes, that the plan is consistent with the requirements of this section and will further the public purpose of encouraging increased industrial and commercial activity in the commonwealth; provided, further, that a city or town may at any time revoke its designation of a TIF zone and, as a consequence of such revocation, shall immediately cease the execution of any additional agreements pursuant to paragraph (v); provided, further, such revocation shall not affect agreements relative to property tax exemptions and limitations on betterments and special assessments pursuant to said paragraph (v) which were executed prior thereto; and provided, further, that the board, agency or officer of the city or town authorized pursuant to paragraph (vi) to execute agreements shall forward to the board of assessors a copy of each such agreement, together with a list of the parcels included therein.
Chapter 40: Section 5A. Cities; reserve funds for extraordinary expenditures; establishment Section 5A. To provide for extraordinary or unforeseen expenditures, a city may, prior to the date when the tax rate for a fiscal year is fixed, include in the appropriations for such fiscal year as a reserve fund a sum not exceeding three per cent of the tax levy for the fiscal year next preceding such fiscal year. No direct drafts against this fund shall be made, but transfers from the fund may from time to time be voted by the city council upon recommendation of the mayor, and the city auditor or officer having similar duties shall make such transfers as are so voted.
Chapter 40: Section 5B. Stabilization funds; establishment Section 5B. For the purpose of creating 1 or more stabilization funds, cities, towns and districts may appropriate in any year an amount not exceeding, in the aggregate, 10 per cent of the amount raised in the preceding fiscal year by taxation of real estate and tangible personal property or such larger amount as may be approved by the director of accounts. The aggregate amount in such funds at any time shall not exceed 10 per cent of the equalized valuation of the city or town as defined in section 1 of chapter 44. Any interest shall be added to and become part of the fund.
The treasurer shall be the custodian of all such funds and may deposit the proceeds in national banks or invest the proceeds by deposit in savings banks, co-operative banks or trust companies organized under the laws of the commonwealth, or invest the same in such securities as are legal for the investment of funds of savings banks under the laws of the commonwealth or in federal savings and loans associations situated in the commonwealth.
At the time of creating any such fund the city, town or district shall specify, and at any later time may alter, the purpose of the fund, which may be for any lawful purpose, including without limitation an approved school project under chapter 70B or any other purpose for which the city, town or district may lawfully borrow money. Such specification and any such alteration of purpose, and any appropriation of funds into or out of any such fund, shall be approved by two-thirds vote, except as provided in paragraph (g) of section 21C of chapter 59 for a majority referendum vote. Subject to said section 21C, in a town or district any such vote shall be taken at an annual or special town meeting, and in a city any such vote shall be taken by city council.
Chapter 40: Section 5C. Districts; reserve funds for extraordinary expenditures; establishment Section 5C. To provide for extraordinary or unforeseen expenditures, a district may at an annual or special district meeting appropriate or transfer a sum or sums not exceeding, in the aggregate, five per cent of the receipts from taxes, rates and services of the fiscal year preceding the fiscal year for which the fund, to be known as the reserve fund, is established. No direct drafts against this fund shall be made, but transfers from the fund may from time to time be voted by the prudential committee, if any, otherwise the commissioners; and the district treasurer shall make such transfers accordingly.
Chapter 40: Section 5D. Contributory retirement system funds; recovery of pension costs Section 5D. In order to offset the anticipated costs for funding the contributory retirement systems, cities, towns, counties and districts may appropriate in any year an amount not exceeding five per cent of the amount raised in the preceding year by taxation of real estate and tangible personal property. Such amounts shall be credited to the Pension Reserve Fund provided for in section twenty-two of chapter thirty-two. The aggregate amount in such fund at any time shall not exceed ten per cent of the equalized valuation of the city or town as defined in section one of chapter forty-four. Any interest shall be added to and become part of such fund. In any city, town or district which belongs to a city, town or district retirement system, all amounts appropriated pursuant to this section shall be transferred to and credited to the Pension Reserve Fund provided for in section twenty-two of chapter thirty-two. In any city, town or district which belongs to a county retirement system, all amounts appropriated pursuant to this section shall be held by the city, town or district treasurer pursuant to subdivision (9) of section twenty-two of chapter thirty-two.
All sums in such fund shall be appropriated and used only for the purpose of offsetting the anticipated future cost of funding the contributory retirement system of such city, town or district.
The treasurer of the city, town or district shall be the custodian of such fund and may deposit the proceeds in national banks or invest the proceeds by deposit in savings banks, cooperative banks or trust companies organized under the laws of the commonwealth, or invest the same in such securities as are legal for the investment of funds of savings banks under the laws of the commonwealth or in federal savings and loan associations situated in the commonwealth or may participate in the PRIT Fund in accordance with clause (8) of section twenty-two of chapter thirty-two.
Such fund may be appropriated for such purposes in a town at an annual town meeting by a majority vote, in a district at an annual district meeting by a majority vote, and in a city by a majority vote of the city council.
The commissioner of revenue shall establish rules, regulations and procedures requiring counties, cities, towns, and districts to recover employee pension costs from federal grant monies. Each spending agency of said counties, cities, towns and districts shall, at such time and in the manner as said commissioner shall prescribe, authorize and direct the treasurer to initiate such procedures as said commissioner shall establish to transfer to the pension reserve fund for the system of which such federally funded employee is a member, an amount equal to the employer’s normal cost of retirement benefits, as determined by the actuary pursuant to chapter thirty-two, which are incurred as a result of said federal grant. Expenditures for the payment of salaries to be made from any federal grant shall not be made until the full amount of such pension costs are recovered in accordance with such procedures as said commissioner shall establish. The commissioner of administration shall develop a schedule phasing in the full assessment of such normal costs, provided that full normal costs shall be assessed against all federal grant payrolls not later than October first, nineteen hundred and eighty-eight. If any federal granting authority refuses to allow the pension cost recovery provided for in this paragraph, the amount of any such recovery so refused, upon final adjudication of said refusal, shall be transferred from the pension reserve fund back to the spending agency.
Chapter 40: Section 5E. Unemployment compensation fund; deposit and investment; payments Section 5E. To provide for the anticipated costs of funding reimbursements to the commonwealth for unemployment compensation benefits under the provisions of chapter one hundred and fifty-one A, any city, town or district may appropriate in any year an amount not exceeding one-tenth of one per cent of such city’s or town’s equalized valuation as defined in section one of chapter forty-four, to establish and maintain a special fund to be known as the unemployment compensation fund; provided, however, that no such appropriation may be made at any time when the aggregate amount in such fund equals or exceeds one per cent of such equalized valuation. Any interest shall be added to and become a part of such special fund.
The treasurer of the city, town or district shall be the custodian and administrator of such special fund, and may deposit or invest the fund in such manner as may be legal for other city, town or district funds under the laws of the commonwealth including, without limitation, the Massachusetts Municipal Depository Trust.
The treasurer shall pay from such special fund, including the income thereof, such amounts as the selectmen or other officers authorized to expend money determine to be necessary from time to time to satisfy the liability of the city, town or district, or any instrumentality thereof, in accordance with the unemployment security law of the commonwealth.
Chapter 40: Section 5F. Ambulance services; recreational facilities; service charges; credit card payments Section 5F. For the following purposes, a city or town may defray the cost, including maturing debt and interest, of acquiring, establishing, maintaining, and operating certain facilities and services by charges established by the city or town upon persons making use of such facilities or services: (1) purchasing, hiring, maintaining, and operating ambulances; and (2) establishing, maintaining, and equipping public gymnasiums, swimming pools, bathing beaches, golf courses, artificial ice-skating rinks and other such means of recreation, instruction or exercise.
Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, a city or town may accept credit cards for payment for golf greens fees for the use of a golf course; provided, however, that any person who pays by credit card shall not be charged an amount greater than the amount charged to other persons.
Chapter 40: Section 5G. Municipal waterways improvement and maintenance funds Section 5G. A city or town may establish a municipal waterways improvement and maintenance fund to receive revenue under subsection (i) of section 2 of chapter 60B and under section 10A of chapter 91 and sums received from the commonwealth or the federal government, and may appropriate monies in said fund for (1) maintenance, dredging, cleaning and improvement of harbors, inland waters and great ponds of the commonwealth, (2) the public access thereto, (3) the breakwaters, retaining walls, piers, wharves and moorings thereof, and (4) law enforcement and fire prevention.
Chapter 40: Section 5H. Centennial celebrations; funds Section 5H. For the celebration of the year 2000 or the year 2001 or any centennial celebration, any city or town may appropriate money annually during the five years preceding such year. Such city or town is hereby authorized to establish in its treasury a special fund in which shall be deposited such sums as may be appropriated by it under the provisions of this section, and any and all sums received by way of income from the sale of commemorative items or from admission charges for commemorative ceremonies or events. All such sums received by the treasurer shall be kept separate from other moneys, funds or property of such city or town, and the principal and interest thereof may, from time to time upon the authorization of the mayor or city manager, as the case may be, the board of selectmen, or the majority of any special committee established to plan such celebration, be expended for the purposes of such celebration in the year of such celebration and in the year preceding or succeeding same. There shall be an accounting to the treasurer for the expenditure of all funds. Any surplus remaining in said special fund after such celebration is concluded shall be transferred by the treasurer into the treasury of such city or town.
Chapter 40: Section 6. Towns; reserve funds for extraordinary expenditures; establishment Section 6. To provide for extraordinary or unforeseen expenditures, a town may at an annual or special town meeting appropriate or transfer a sum or sums not exceeding in the aggregate five per cent of the levy of the fiscal year preceding the fiscal year for which the fund, to be known as the reserve fund, is established. No direct drafts against this fund shall be made, but transfers from the fund may from time to time be voted by the finance or appropriation committee of the town, in towns having such a committee, and in other towns by the selectmen; and the town accountant in towns having such an official, and in other towns the auditor or board of auditors, shall make such transfers accordingly.
Chapter 40: Section 60. Urban center housing tax increment financing zone (UCH-TIF) Section 60. (a) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, a city or town by vote of its town meeting, town council or city council with the approval of the mayor where required by law, on its own behalf or in conjunction with 1 or more cities or towns and under regulations issued by the director of housing and community development, in consultation with the department of economic development and the department of revenue, may adopt and prosecute an urban center housing tax increment financing plan, in this section referred to as a UCH–TIF plan, intended to encourage increased residential growth, affordable housing and commercial growth in urban center housing zones and do all things necessary thereto; provided, however, that the UCH–TIF plan shall:—(i) designate any area of the city or town as an urban center housing tax increment financing zone, in this section referred to as a UCH–TIF zone, which shall be defined as a commercial center characterized by a predominance of commercial land uses, a high daytime or business population, a high concentration of daytime traffic and parking and a need for multi-unit residential properties; provided, however, that the designation of a UCH–TIF zone shall be subject to the approval of the department of housing and community development under regulations adopted by the department consistent with this section; provided further, that a city or town may not enter into any UCH–TIF agreement, as defined in clause (v), unless the area governed by the UCH–TIF agreement is so designated and approved by the department of housing and community development; and provided further, that in the case of a UCH–TIF plan adopted by more than 1 city or town, the areas designated as UCH–TIF zones shall be contiguous areas of those cities and towns;(ii) describe in detail all construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation and related activities, public and private, contemplated for such UCH–TIF zone as of the date of the adoption of the UCH–TIF plan; provided, however, that in the case of public construction as aforesaid, the UCH–TIF plan shall include a detailed projection of the costs and a betterment schedule for the defrayal of such costs; provided further, that the UCH–TIF plan shall provide that no costs of such public constructions shall be recovered through betterments or special assessments imposed on a party which has not executed a UCH–TIF agreement in accordance with clause (v); and provided, further, that in the case of private construction as aforesaid, the UCH–TIF plan shall include the types of affordable housing and residential and commercial growth which are projected to occur within such UCH–TIF zone, with documentary evidence of the level of commitment therefor including, but not limited to, architectural plans and specifications as required by the regulations;(iii) authorize tax increment exemptions from property taxes, under clause Fifty-first of section 5 of chapter 59, for a specified term not to exceed 20 years, for any parcel of real property which is located in the UCH–TIF zone and for which an agreement has been executed in accordance with clause (v); provided, however, that the UCH–TIF plan shall specify the level of exemptions expressed as an exemption percentage, not to exceed 100 per cent to be used in calculating the exemption under said clause Fifty-first of said section 5 of said chapter 59; provided, further, that such exemptions shall be calculated for each such parcel as provided in said clause Fifty-first of said section 5 of said chapter 59 using an adjustment factor for each fiscal year since the parcel first became eligible for such exemption under this clause. The inflation factor for each fiscal year shall be a ratio:—(1) the numerator of which, shall be the total assessed value of all parcels of all residential real estate that are assessed at full and fair cash value for the current fiscal year minus the new growth adjustment factor for the current fiscal year attributable to the residential real estate as determined by the commissioner of revenue under paragraph (f) of section 21C of said chapter 59; or(2) the numerator of which, in a UCH–TIF zone where the property includes a mix of residential and commercial uses, shall be the total assessed value of all parcels of all residential and commercial real estate that are assessed at full and fair cash value for the current fiscal year minus the new growth adjustment factor for the current fiscal year attributable to the residential and commercial real estate as determined by the commissioner of revenue under said paragraph (f) of said section 21C of said chapter 59; and(3) the denominator of which shall be the total assessed value for the preceding fiscal year of all the parcels included in the numerator; provided, however, that such ratio should not be less than 1.
(iv) establish a maximum percentage of the costs of any public construction, referenced in clause (ii) and initiated subsequent to the adoption of the UCH–TIF plan, that can be recovered through betterments or special assessments against real property eligible for tax increment exemptions from property taxes under clause (iii) during the period of the parcel’s eligibility for exemption from annual property taxes under said clause Fifty-first of said section 5 of said chapter 59, notwithstanding chapter 80 or any other general or special law authorizing the imposition of betterments or special assessments;(v) include executed agreements, hereinafter referred to as UCH–TIF agreements, between a city and town and each owner of real property which is located in a UCH–TIF zone, but each such agreement shall include, but not be limited to, the following: (1) all material representations of the parties which served as a basis for the descriptions contained in the UCH–TIF plan in accordance with clause (ii) and which served as a basis for the granting of a UCH–TIF exemption; (2) any terms deemed appropriate by the city or town relative to compliance with the UCH–TIF agreement including, but not limited to, what shall constitute a default by the property owner and what remedies shall be allowed between the parties for any such defaults, including an early termination of the agreement; (3) provisions requiring that either 25 per cent of the housing units assisted by the UCH–TIF agreement shall be affordable to occupants or families with incomes at or below 80 per cent of the median income for the area in which the city or town is located as defined by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development or such other requirement of affordable housing as is necessary to achieve financial feasibility for the development pursuant to regulations and guidelines promulgated by the department of housing and community development; (4) provisions stating that housing units that meet the affordability requirements of subclause (3) shall subject to use restrictions as defined in this section; (5) provisions stating that the property shall be subject to an option to purchase and a right of first refusal as defined in subsections (c) and (d); (6) a detailed recitation of the tax increment exemptions and the maximum percentage of the cost of public improvements that can be recovered through betterments or special assessments regarding a parcel of real property pursuant to clauses (iii) and (iv); (7) a detailed recitation of all other benefits and responsibilities inuring to and assumed by the parties to an agreement; and (8) a provision that the agreement shall be binding upon subsequent owners of the parcel of real property; and(vi) delegate to a board, agency or officer of the city or town, the authority to execute agreements in accordance with clause (v).
(b) An executed UCH–TIF agreement shall be submitted by the applicable city or town to the department of housing and community development for the approval of the director; provided, however, that the city or town shall, if it has not previously done so, submit a plan showing the boundaries of its urban center housing zone and a report explaining the criteria used by the city or town in establishing the zone; provided, however, that the director shall review each UCH–TIF plan and agreement to determine whether they comply with the terms of this section and any regulations which may be adopted by the director of housing and community development; provided further, that the director shall certify, based upon the information submitted in support of the UCH–TIF plan by the city or town and through such additional investigation as the director shall make, that the plan and agreement are consistent with the requirements of this section and will further the public purpose of encouraging increased residential growth, affordable housing and commercial growth in the commonwealth; provided further, that a city or town may, at any time, revoke its designation of a UCH–TIF zone and, as a consequence of such revocation, shall immediately cease the execution of any additional agreements under clause (v) of subsection (a); provided, further, that a revocation shall not affect agreements relative to property tax exemptions and limitations on betterments and special assessments under said clause (v) of said subsection (a) or use restrictions or options to purchase and rights of first refusal required by this section which were executed before the revocation; provided further, that the board, agency, or officer of the city or town authorized under clause (vi) of said subsection (a) to execute agreements shall forward to the board of assessors a copy of each such agreement, together with a list of the parcels included therein; and provided further, that an executed and approved UCH–TIF shall be recorded in the registry of deeds or the registry district of the land court wherein the land lies.
(c) Notwithstanding any other general or special law to the contrary, an affordable housing unit benefiting from a real estate tax exemption under this section that meets the affordability requirements of subclause (3) of clause (v) of subsection (a) shall continue to meet those requirements for 40 years or for its useful life, whichever is longer as may be specified in the recorded restriction. Such restriction shall be approved by the department of housing and community development in accordance with section 32 of chapter 184 and shall be recorded in the registry of deeds or the registry district of the land court wherein the land lies. Upon the expiration of such restrictions, the department of housing and community development or its assignee shall have an option to purchase the property subject to or previously subject to a UCH–TIF agreement.
(d) (1) Within 120 days after the expiration of the affordability restrictions created under this section, the department or its assignee, who shall be a qualified developer selected pursuant to the terms of this section under the guidelines of the department, shall have an option to purchase the property at its current appraised value reduced by any remaining obligation of the owner. Two impartial appraisers shall determine, within 60 days after the expiration of the affordability restrictions, the current appraised value in accordance with recognized professional standards. Two professionals in the field of multi-unit residential housing shall select each such appraiser. The owner and the department, respectively, shall each designate 1 professional within 30 days after the expiration of the affordability restrictions. If there exists a difference in the valuations provided by the appraisals, the 2 valuations shall be added together and divided by 2 to determine the current appraised value of the property.
(2) Prior to a sale or transfer or other disposition of housing assisted under this section where the department has not previously exercised an option to purchase, an owner shall offer the department or its assignee, who shall be a qualified developer selected under this section under the guidelines of the department, a first refusal option to meet a bona fide offer to purchase the property. The owner shall provide to the department or its assignee written notice, by regular and certified mail, return receipt requested, of his intention to sell, transfer or otherwise dispose of the property. The department or its assignee shall hold a first refusal option for the first 120 days after receipt of the owner’s notice of intent to transfer the property. Failure to respond to the written notice of the owner’s intent to sell, transfer or otherwise dispose of the property within 120 days after the receipt of the notice shall constitute a waiver of the right of first refusal by the department.
(3) No sale, transfer or other disposition of the land shall be consummated until either the first refusal option period has expired or the owner was notified in writing by the department or assignee in question that the option will not be exercised. Such option may be exercised only by written notice signed by a designated representative of the department or its assignee, mailed to the owner by certified mail at such address as may be specified in his notice of intention and recorded with the registry of deeds or the registry district of the land court of the county in which the affected real property is located, within the option period. If the first refusal option has been assigned to a qualified developer selected under this section under guidelines issued by the department, such written notice shall state the name and address of the developer and the terms and conditions of the assignment. An affidavit before a notary public that the notice of intent was mailed on behalf of the owner shall conclusively establish the manner and time of the giving of the notice, but the affidavit, and the notice that the option will not be exercised shall be recorded with the registry of deeds or the registry district of the land court of the county in which the affected real property is located. Each notice of intention, notice of exercise of the option and notice that the option will not be exercised shall contain the name of the record owner of the land and description of the premises to be sold or converted adequate for identification thereof. Each such affidavit before a notary public shall have attached to it a copy of the notice of intention to which it relates. The notices of intention shall be deemed to have been duly mailed to the parties above specified if addressed to them in care of the keeper of records for the party in question.
(4) Upon notifying the owner in writing of its intention to pursue its first refusal option during such 120–day period, the department or its assignee shall have an additional 120 days, beginning on the date of the termination of the first refusal option period, to purchase the property. The time periods may be extended by mutual agreement between the department or its assignee and the owner of the property; provided, however, that any such extension agreed upon shall be recorded in the registry of deeds or the registry district of the land court of the county in which the affected real property is located. Within a reasonable time after request, the owner shall make available to the department or its assignee any information, which is reasonably necessary for the department to exercise its rights. The department or its assignee may purchase or acquire the property only for the purposes of preserving or providing affordable housing; provided, however, that such housing shall remain affordable for not less than 40 years. Such use restrictions shall be recorded in the registry of deeds or the registry district of the land court wherein the land lies.
(e) The owner of property subject to a UCH–TIF plan shall certify to the city or town the income of the families or occupants, upon initial occupancy, of the affordable housing units designated in the UCH–TIF agreement and such certification shall be provided to the department on an annual basis. If the owner fails to provide certification or otherwise fails to comply with the UCH–TIF agreement, including failing to maintain the affordability of housing units assisted under this section, the city or town may place a lien on the property in the amount of the real estate tax exemptions granted pursuant to the UCH–TIF agreement for any year in which the owner is not in compliance with this subsection. If the city or town determines, with the approval of the department of housing and community development, that the owner is unlikely to come into compliance with the affordability requirements of subclause (3) of clause (v) of subsection (a), the city or town may place a lien on the property in the amount of the total real estate tax exemption granted pursuant to the UCH–TIF agreement. Any such lien shall be recorded in the registry of deeds or the registry district of the land court wherein the land lies.
Chapter 40: Section 6A. Advertising Section 6A. A city or town which accepts the provisions of this section may appropriate annually a sum for the purpose of advertising its resources, advantages and attractions. The money so appropriated shall be expended under the direction of the mayor and city council of the city or the board of selectmen of the town. Two or more municipalities having resources, advantages or attractions in common may join in advertising the same hereunder.
Chapter 40: Section 6B. Uniforms and other outer clothing for members of police and fire departments and shellfish constabulary; clothing allowance Section 6B. A city or town which accepts or has accepted this section may appropriate money for the purchase of uniforms for members of its police and fire departments and its shellfish constabulary, which may include the purchase of rubber boots, shoes, and other outer clothing necessary for the use of members of the police and fire departments and shellfish constabulary when traveling to or from or during the course of their employment.
A city or town which appropriates money for uniforms for the uniformed members of its police force may appropriate money to be paid as a clothing allowance to an officer serving as a detective or required to work without a uniform; provided, that the sum so paid as a clothing allowance to a member, serving as a detective or required to work without a uniform, shall not in any event exceed any maximum amount established by a city or town as the amount that may be expended by the city or town during a given year, for uniform clothing, for a uniformed member of said force under the provisions of this section.
Chapter 40: Section 6C. Removal of ice and snow from private ways; conditions Section 6C. A city or town which accepts this section in the manner provided in section six D may appropriate money for the removal of snow and ice from such private ways within its limits and open to the public use as may be designated by the city council or selectmen; provided, that, for the purposes of section twenty-five of chapter eighty-four, the removal of snow or ice from such a way shall not constitute a repair of a way.
Chapter 40: Section 6D. Removal of ice and snow from private ways; submission to electorate; ballot Section 6D. Section six C shall be submitted for acceptance to the registered voters of a city at a regular city election if the city council thereof so votes, and of a town at an annual town election upon petition of two hundred registered voters or of twenty per cent of the total number of registered voters, substantially in the form of the following question, which shall be placed on the official ballot used for the election of officers at such city or town election: Shall the city (or town) vote to accept the provisions of section six C of chapter forty of the General Laws, which authorize cities and towns to appropriate money for the removal of snow and ice from private ways therein open to public use. If a majority of the votes in answer to said question is in the affirmative, then said section shall thereupon take full effect in such city or town, but not otherwise.
Chapter 40: Section 6E to 6I. Repealed, 1977, 693, Sec. 1 Chapter 40: Section 6J. Stormy weather work clothes; purchase Section 6J. A city or town which accepts this section may appropriate money for the purchase of stormy weather work clothes, including rubber boots, and other work clothes for its employees.
Chapter 40: Section 6K. Uniforms of public health nurses; purchase Section 6K. A city or town which accepts this section may appropriate money for the purchase of uniforms for public health nurses employed by its board of health.
Chapter 40: Section 6L. Stormy weather work clothes; lease or rental Section 6L. A city or town which accepts this section may appropriate money for the lease or rental of stormy weather work clothes, including rubber boots, and other work clothes for its employees, which lease or rental agreement may provide for periodical laundering and repairs.
Chapter 40: Section 6M. Repealed, 1977, 693, Sec. 1 Chapter 40: Section 6N. Private ways; temporary repairs, ordinances or by-laws Section 6N. Cities and towns may by ordinance or by-law provide for making temporary repairs on private ways. Such ordinance or by-law shall determine (a) the type and extent of repairs; (b) if drainage shall be included; (c) if the repairs are required by public necessity; (d) the number of percentage of abutters who must petition for such repairs; (e) if betterment charges shall be assessed; (f) the liability limit of the city or town on account of damages caused by such repairs; (g) if the ways shall have been opened to public use for a term of years; and (h) if a cash deposit shall be required for said repairs.
Chapter 40: Section 6O. Group life insurance premiums; permanent employees Section 6O. A city or town may pay part of the premiums for group life insurance for permanent employees under the provisions of section one hundred and thirty-three to one hundred and thirty-eight A, inclusive, of chapter one hundred and seventy-five. The amount of such insurance for any employees whose yearly gross compensation is less than two thousand dollars shall not exceed one thousand dollars, and for any employee whose yearly gross compensation is two thousand dollars or more, such amount shall not exceed two thousand dollars. Any increase in the amount of insurance made possible by an increase in compensation shall take effect on the next succeeding policy anniversary, but no reduction in the amount of insurance shall be required on account of a reduction in compensation. Yearly gross compensation shall not include any overtime pay, and, in the case of hourly workers, shall be computed on the basis of scheduled required work hours. Fifty percent of the amount of any premium thereon shall be paid by the town. Any dividends or other refunds or rate credits shall inure to the benefit of the town and shall be applied to the cost of such insurance.
Chapter 40: Section 7. Removal of ice and snow from sidewalks in towns Section 7. Any town which accepts this section or has accepted corresponding provisions of earlier laws may appropriate money for the removal of snow and ice from its sidewalks, in accordance with the provisions of section six of chapter eighty-five. This section shall not apply to cities.
Chapter 40: Section 7A. Prevention of automobile accidents Section 7A. Cities and towns may appropriate money for the purpose of conducting and maintaining a specific program of safety activities designed to prevent automobile accidents; and such appropriations shall be expended under the direction of the mayor in a city or the selectmen in a town.
Chapter 40: Section 8. Enforcement of laws relating to civil service Section 8. A city, or a town which accepts chapter thirty-one or has accepted corresponding provisions of earlier laws, may appropriate money for the enforcement therein of the laws relating to its civil service.
Chapter 40: Section 8A. Development and industrial commission; establishment; duties; membership; tenure; removals; vacancies Section 8A. A city or town which accepts this section may establish a development and industrial commission for the promotion and development of the industrial resources of said city or town. Such commission shall conduct researches into industrial conditions, investigate and assist in the establishment of educational or commercial projects, including projects involving private enterprise, for the purpose of expanding or strengthening the local economy, and shall seek to co-ordinate the activities of unofficial bodies organized for said purposes, and may advertise, prepare, print and distribute books, maps, charts and pamphlets which in its judgment will further the purposes for which it is established. The commission may appoint such clerks and other employees as it may require.
Such commission shall consist of not less than five nor more than fifteen members. The members in cities shall be appointed by the mayor, subject to the provisions of the city charter, except in cities operating under a Plan D or Plan E form of city charter, said appointments shall be by the city manager, subject to the provisions of the city charter; and in towns they shall be appointed by the selectmen, excepting towns having a manager form of government, in which towns such appointments shall be made by the town manager. When a commission is first established, the terms of the members shall be for such length, not exceeding five years, and so arranged that the terms of approximately one fifth of the members will expire each year, and their successors shall be appointed for terms of five years each. Any member of a board so appointed in a city may be removed for cause after a public hearing, if requested, by the mayor with the approval of the city council. A vacancy occurring otherwise than by expiration of term shall be filled for the unexpired term in a city in the same manner as an original appointment, and in a town as provided in section eleven of chapter forty-one.
Chapter 40: Section 8B. Council on aging; establishment; annual reports; recommendations by department; clerks and employees Section 8B. A city by ordinance or a town by by-line may establish a council on aging for the purpose of coordinating or carrying out programs designed to meet the problems of the aging in coordination with programs of the department of elder affairs. The council shall submit an annual report to the city or town and shall send a copy thereof to the department of elder affairs. Said department shall from time to time review and evaluate such reports and make recommendations as to any required or needed changes in said local programs. The council may appoint such clerks and other employees as it may require. The names, addresses, telephone numbers, or other identifying information about elderly persons in the possession of the council shall not be public records, but the use of these records shall comply with sections 14 to 24, inclusive, of chapter 19A as a condition of receiving a government contract, program grant or other benefit, or as otherwise required by law.
Chapter 40: Section 8C. Conservation commission; establishment; powers and duties Section 8C. A city or town which accepts this section may establish a conservation commission, hereinafter called the commission, for the promotion and development of the natural resources and for the protection of watershed resources of said city or town. Such commission shall conduct researches into its local land areas and shall seek to co-ordinate the activities of unofficial bodies organized for similar purposes, and may advertise, prepare, print and distribute books, maps, charts, plans and pamphlets which in its judgment it deems necessary for its work. Among such plans may be a conservation and passive outdoor recreation plan which shall be, as far as possible, consistent with the town master plan and with any regional plans relating to the area. The commission may, from time to time, amend such plan. Such plan shall show open areas including marsh land, swamps and other wetlands, and shall show which areas are subject to restrictions or wetland zoning provisions and any other matters which may be shown on a plat index under section thirty-three of chapter one hundred and eighty-four. Acquisitions of interests in land under this section and other municipal open lands shall be shown thereon as well as lands owned by other entities kept open through any legal requirement. Such plan shall show other areas which public necessity requires to be retained for conservation and passive recreation use. It shall keep accurate records of its meetings and actions and shall file an annual report which shall be printed in the case of towns in the annual town report. The commission may appoint a director, clerks, consultants and other employees, and may contract for materials and services within available funds insofar as the same are not supplied by other departments. The commission shall consist of not less than three nor more than seven members. In cities the members shall be appointed by the mayor, subject to the provisions of the city charter, except that in cities having or operating under a Plan D or Plan E form of city charter, said appointments shall be by the city manager, subject to the provisions of the charter; and in towns they shall be appointed by the selectmen, excepting towns having a manager form of government, in which towns appointments shall be made by the town manager, subject to the approval of the selectmen. When a commission is first established, the terms of the members shall be for one, two or three years, and so arranged that the terms of approximately one third of the members will expire each year, and their successors shall be appointed for terms of three years each. Any member of a commission so appointed may, after a public hearing, if requested, be removed for cause by the appointing authority. A vacancy occurring otherwise than by expiration of a term shall in a city or town be filled for the unexpired term in the same manner as an original appointment. Said commission may receive gifts, bequests or devises of personal property or interests in real property of the kinds mentioned below in the name of the city or town, subject to the approval of the city council in a city or of the selectmen in a town. It may purchase interests in such land with sums available to it. If insufficient funds are available or other reasons so require, a city council or a town meeting may raise or transfer funds so that the commission may acquire in the name of the city or town by option, purchase, lease or otherwise the fee in such land or water rights, conservation restrictions, easements or other contractual rights including conveyances on conditions or with limitations or reversions, as may be necessary to acquire, maintain, improve, protect, limit the future use of or otherwise conserve and properly utilize open spaces in land and water areas within its city or town, and it shall manage and control the same. For the purposes of this section a city or town may, upon the written request of the commission, take by eminent domain under chapter seventy-nine, the fee or any lesser interest in any land or waters located in such city or town, provided such taking has first been approved by a two-thirds vote of the city council or a two-thirds vote of an annual or special town meeting, which land and waters shall thereupon be under the jurisdiction and control of the commission. Upon a like vote, a city or town may expend monies in the fund, if any, established under the provisions of this section for the purpose of paying, in whole or in part, any damages for which such city or town may be liable by reason of any such taking. The commission may adopt rules and regulations governing the use of land and waters under its control, and prescribe penalties, not exceeding a fine of one hundred dollars, for any violation thereof. No action taken under this section shall affect the powers and duties of the state reclamation board or any mosquito control or other project operating under or authorized by chapter two hundred and fifty-two, or restrict any established public access. Lands used for farming or agriculture, as defined in section one A of chapter one hundred and twenty-eight, shall not be taken by eminent domain under the authority of this section.
A city or town may appropriate money in any year to a conservation fund of which the treasurer shall be the custodian. Prior to the adoption of any rule or regulation which seeks to further regulate matters established by section forty of chapter one hundred and thirty-one or regulations authorized thereunder relative to agricultural or aquacultural practice, the commission shall, no later than seven days prior to the commission’s public hearing on the adoption of said rules and regulations, give notice of the said proposed rules and regulations to the farmland advisory board established pursuant to section forty of chapter one hundred and thirty-one. He may deposit or invest the proceeds of said fund in savings banks, trust companies incorporated under the laws of the commonwealth, banking companies incorporated under the laws of the commonwealth which are members of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or national banks, or invest it in paid up shares and accounts of and in co-operative banks or in shares of savings and loan associations or in shares of federal savings and loan associations doing business in the commonwealth, and any income therefrom shall be credited to the fund. Money in said fund may be expended by said commission for any purpose authorized by this section; provided, however, that no expenditure for a taking by eminent domain shall be made unless such expenditure has been approved in accordance with this section.
Chapter 40: Section 8D. Historical commission; establishment; powers and duties Section 8D. A city or town which accepts this section may establish an historical commission, hereinafter called the commission, for the preservation, protection and development of the historical or archeological assets of such city or town. Such commission shall conduct researches for places of historic or archeological value, shall cooperate with the state archeologist in conducting such researches or other surveys, and shall seek to coordinate the activities of unofficial bodies organized for similar purposes, and may advertise, prepare, print and distribute books, maps, charts, plans and pamphlets which it deems necessary for its work. For the purpose of protecting and preserving such places, it may make such recommendations as it deems necessary to the city council or the selectmen and, subject to the approval of the city council or the selectmen, to the Massachusetts historical commission, that any such place be certified as an historical or archeological landmark. It shall report to the state archeologist the existence of any archeological, paleontological or historical site or object discovered in accordance with section twenty-seven C of chapter nine, and shall apply for permits necessary pursuant to said section twenty-seven C. Any information received by a local historical commission with respect to the location of sites and specimens, as defined in section twenty-six B of chapter nine, shall not be a public record. The commission may hold hearings, may enter into contracts with individuals, organizations and institutions for services furthering the objectives of the commission’s program; may enter into contracts with local or regional associations for cooperative endeavors furthering the commission’s program; may accept gifts, contributions and bequests of funds from individuals, foundations and from federal, state or other governmental bodies for the purpose of furthering the commission’s program; may make and sign any agreements and may do and perform any and all acts which may be necessary or desirable to carry out the purposes of this section. It shall keep accurate records of its meetings and actions and shall file an annual report which shall be printed in the case of towns in the annual town report. The commission may appoint such clerks and other employees as it may from time to time require. The commission shall consist of not less than three nor more than seven members. In cities the members shall be appointed by the mayor, subject to the provisions of the city charter, except that in cities having a city manager form of government, said appointments shall be by the city manager, subject to the provisions of the charter; and in towns they shall be appointed by the selectmen, excepting towns having a town manager form of government, in which towns appointments shall be made by the town manager, subject to the approval of the selectmen. When a commission is first established, the terms of the members shall be for one, two or three years, and so arranged that the terms of approximately one third of the members will expire each year, and their successors shall be appointed for terms of three years each. Any member of a commission so appointed may, after a public hearing if requested, be removed for cause by the appointing authority. A vacancy occurring otherwise than by expiration of a term shall in a city or town be filled for the unexpired term in the same manner as an original appointment. Said commission may acquire in the name of the city or town by gift, purchase, grant, bequest, devise, lease or otherwise the fee or lesser interest in real or personal property of significant historical value and may manage the same.
Chapter 40: Section 8E. Youth commission; establishment; powers and duties Section 8E. A city or town which accepts this section may establish a youth commission, hereinafter called the commission, for the purpose of carrying out programs which may be designed or established to meet the opportunities, challenges and problems of youth of said city or town and in conjunction with any similar or related programs of any agency of the commonwealth or any agency of the federal government. It shall keep accurate records of its meetings and actions and shall file an annual report which shall be printed in the case of towns in the annual town report. The commission may appoint such clerks and other employees as it may from time to time require. The commission shall consist of not less than three nor more than twenty-one members. In cities the members shall be appointed by the mayor, subject to the provisions of the city charter, except that in cities having or operating under a plan D or plan E form of city charter, said appointments shall be by the city manager, subject to the provisions of the charter; and in towns they shall be appointed by the selectmen, excepting towns having a manager form of government, in which towns appointments shall be made by the town manager, subject to the approval of the selectmen. When a commission is first established, the terms of the members shall be for one, two or three years and so arranged that the terms of approximately one third of the members will expire each year, and their successors shall be appointed for a term of three years each. Any member of a commission so appointed may, after a public hearing, if requested, be removed for cause by the appointing authority. A vacancy occurring otherwise than by expiration of a term shall in a city or town be filled for the unexpired term in the same manner as an original appointment. Said commission may receive gifts of property, both real and personal, in the name of the city or town, subject to the approval of the city council in a city or the selectmen in a town, such gifts to be managed and controlled by the commission for the purposes of this section.
Chapter 40: Section 8F. Consumer advisory commission; establishment; annual report; clerks and employees Section 8F. A city by ordinance or a town by by-law may establish a consumer advisory commission for the purposes of conducting investigations and research into matters affecting consumer interests and education and of advising and reporting the results of such investigations and research to the general public as well as to local governmental authorities and law enforcement agencies. The commission shall submit an annual report to the city or town and shall send a copy thereof to the consumers’ council of the commonwealth. The commission may appoint such clerks and other employees as it may require.
Chapter 40: Section 8G. Mutual police aid programs; agreements Section 8G. A city or town which accepts this section may enter into an agreement with another city or town, or other cities and towns including cities and towns in states contiguous to the commonwealth, to provide mutual aid programs for police departments to increase the capability of such departments to protect the lives, safety, and property of the people in the area designated in the agreement. Said agreement may include the furnishing of personal services, supplies, materials, contractual services, and equipment when the resources normally available to any municipality in the agreement are not sufficient to cope with a situation which requires police action. When providing such mutual aid, police officers shall have all the immunities and powers granted to them in the municipalities that employ them, including, but not limited to, powers of arrest.
While in transit to, returning from, and during a mutual aid response for another city or town, a participating police officer shall maintain the right of indemnification granted by law, or by his home city or town, or both, for all claims arising out of any action within the scope of his employment in accordance with a valid mutual aid agreement. A mutual aid agreement may provide for methods of activation or requesting and responding to mutual aid requests. The agreement may also address issues such as pay and benefits for officers, insurance, indemnification, injury compensation and other operational matters related to police services provided for a mutual aid response. Nothing in this paragraph shall be construed to expand or otherwise modify existing police powers as provided by law or any existing mutual aid agreement or both.
Chapter 40: Section 8H. Recycling programs Section 8H. A city, town, or district may establish, by approval of the local legislative body, a recycling program for the purpose of recycling any type of solid waste including but not limited to paper, glass, metal, rubber, plastics, used tires and compostable waste. The program may be established for groups of cities, towns, or districts upon agreement of all municipalities or districts in a joint program.
Any recycling program established pursuant to this section may require that all residents, schools and businesses in a city or town separate from their solid waste those recyclables designated by the local legislative body. In cities and towns in which solid waste is collected at the curbside, the recycling program may include curbside collection of such recyclables. In cities and towns in which residents, schools or businesses may take their solid waste to a municipal landfill or transfer station, the recycling program shall include provision for the separation and storage at such landfill or transfer station of the solid waste being disposed by such resident, schools or businesses, and may include collection of recyclables at the curbside.
For purposes of this section, local legislative body shall mean the body of municipal government which is empowered to enact ordinances or by-laws and adopt an annual budget and other spending authorizations, whether styled as a city council, board of aldermen, town council, town meeting or by any other title. The department of environmental protection shall cooperate with local legislative bodies in the development of recycling programs, and no such program shall be established unless the municipality or district has first consulted with said department.
A city or town may appropriate money in any year to a recycling fund of which the treasurer shall be the custodian. He may deposit or invest the proceeds of said fund in savings banks, trust companies incorporated under the laws of the commonwealth, banking companies incorporated under the laws of the commonwealth which are members of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or national banks, or invest it in paid up shares and accounts of and in co-operative banks or in shares of savings and loan associations or in shares of federal savings and loan associations doing business in the commonwealth, and any income therefrom shall be credited to the fund. Money in said fund may be expended by said commission for any purpose authorized by this section, other than a taking by eminent domain.
Chapter 40: Section 8I. Energy resources commission; powers and duties Section 8I. A city or town which accepts this section may establish an energy resources commission, hereinafter called the commission, for the promotion and development of the energy resources of said city or town. Such commission shall: (1) develop and administer programs relating to energy conservation, nonrenewable energy supply and resource development, recycling, energy information, emergency heating assistance, and energy emergencies; (2) advise, assist, and cooperate with state, regional, and federal agencies in developing appropriate programs and policies relating to energy planning and regulation in the commonwealth including assistance and advice in the preparation of loan or grant applications with respect to energy programs for local agencies; (3) develop local energy data and information management capabilities to aid energy planning and decision-making; (4) promote the development of sound local energy education programs; (5) with the approval of the city or town, apply for, receive, expend, represent and act on behalf of the city or town in connection with federal grants, grant programs or reimbursements, or private grants, keep accounts, records, personal data, enter into contracts, and adjust claims; (6) accept gifts, grants, bequests, and devises, whether real or personal, from any source, whether public or private, for the purpose of assisting the commission in the discharge of its duties; (7) subject to appropriation, acquire real or personal property; (8) promulgate rules and regulations necessary to carry out their statutory responsibilities; (9) seek to coordinate the activities of governmental or unofficial bodies organized for similar purposes, and may advertise, prepare, print and distribute books, maps, charts, plans and pamphlets which in its judgment it deems necessary for its work and it shall keep an index of all energy resources within such city or town with the objective of obtaining information pertinent to proper utilization of such resources; (10) it shall keep accurate records of its meetings and actions and shall file an annual report which shall be printed in the case of towns in the annual town report. The commission may, subject to appropriation, appoint such clerks and other employees as it may from time to time require. The commission shall consist of not less than three nor more than seven members. In cities the members shall be appointed by the mayor, subject to the provisions of the city charter, except that in cities having or operating under a Plan D or Plan E form of city charter, said appointments shall be by the city manager, subject to the provisions of the charter; and in towns the members shall be appointed by the selectmen, except that in towns having a manager form of government appointments shall be made by the town manager, subject to the approval of the selectmen. In any city or town which has not accepted the provisions of section eight H, the energy resources commission may assume the powers and duties of a recycling commission.
When a commission is established, the initial terms of the members shall be for one, two or three years, and so arranged that the terms of approximately one-third of the members will expire each year, and their successors shall be appointed for terms of three years each.
Any member of a commission so appointed may, after a public hearing, if requested, be removed for cause by the appointing authority. A vacancy occurring otherwise than by expiration of a term shall, in a city, be filled for the unexpired term in the same manner as an original appointment, and, in a town, in the manner provided in section eleven of chapter forty-one.
Chapter 40: Section 8J. Disability commission; powers and duties; members; terms Section 8J. A city which accepts the provisions of this section by vote of its city council, subject to the provisions of its charter, or a town which accepts the provisions of this section at an annual or special town meeting, may establish a commission on disability, hereinafter called the commission, to cause the full integration and participation of people with disabilities in such city or town. Such commission shall (1) research local problems of people with disabilities; (2) advise and assist municipal officials and employees in ensuring compliance with state and federal laws and regulations that affect people with disabilities; (3) coordinate or carry out programs designed to meet the problems of people with disabilities in coordination with programs of the Massachusetts office on disability; (4) review and make recommendations about policies, procedures, services, activities and facilities of departments, boards and agencies of said city or town as they affect people with disabilities; (5) provide information, referrals, guidance and technical assistance to individuals, public agencies, businesses and organizations in all matters pertaining to disability; (6) coordinate activities of other local groups organized for similar purposes.
Said commission shall keep records of its meetings and actions and shall file an annual report which shall be printed in the city or town annual report and shall have at least ten meetings annually.
Said commission shall consist of not less than five nor more than nine members. In cities, the members shall be appointed by the mayor, subject to the provisions of the city charter except that in cities having a Plan D or Plan E form of government said appointments shall be by the city manager, subject to the provisions of the charter, and in towns they shall be appointed by the selectmen, except towns having a town manager form of government, in which towns appointments shall be made by the town manager, subject to the approval of the selectmen and except towns having a town council form of government, the town manager. A majority of said commission members shall consist of people with disabilities, one member shall be a member of the immediate family of a person with a disability and one member of said commission shall be either an elected or appointed official of that city or town. The terms of the first members of said commission shall be for one, two or three years, and so arranged that the term of one-third of the members expires each year, and their successor shall be appointed for terms of three years each. Any member of said commission may, after a public hearing, if so requested, be removed for cause by the appointing authority. A vacancy occurring otherwise than by expiration of a term shall be filled for the unexpired term in the same manner as an original appointment. The chairperson and other officers shall be chosen by a majority vote of said commission members.
Said commission may receive gifts of property, both real and personal, in the name of the city or town, subject to the approval of the city council in a city or the board of selectmen in a town, such gifts to be managed and controlled by said commission for the purposes of this section.
Chapter 40: Section 8K. Mapping commissions; powers and duties; members Section 8K. A city by ordinance or a town by by-law may establish a mapping commission for the purpose of developing or coordinating the development of comprehensive maps of the municipality, including, but not limited to, parcel boundaries, location of utility lines, pipelines, and other structures, land use or items of geographic or geological interest.
A mapping commission shall: (1) develop and administer programs relating to such mapping of the community; (2) advise, assist and cooperate with state, regional and federal agencies in developing appropriate programs and policies relating to such mapping; (3) with the approval of the city or town, apply for, receive, expend, represent and act on behalf of the city or town in connection with federal grants, grant programs or reimbursements or private grants; (4) accept gifts, grants, bequests and devises from any source, whether public or private, for the purpose of assisting the authority in the discharge of its duties; (5) seek to coordinate the activities of governmental and private bodies organized for similar purposes. Said commission shall seek to coordinate all mapping efforts in a city or town in order that duplicative efforts be minimized. A mapping commission may offer for sale any products of its efforts, including maps, reports or other materials.
The commission shall consist of not less than three nor more than seven members. In cities the members shall be appointed by the mayor, subject to the provisions of the city charter, except that in cities having or operating under a Plan D or Plan E form of city charter, said appointments shall be by the city manager, subject to the provisions of the charter; and in towns the members shall be appointed by the board of selectmen, except that in towns having a manager form of government appointments shall be made by the town manager, subject to the approval of the board of selectmen.
Chapter 40: Section 9. Lease of building space for veterans’ organizations; limitations; erection of armories; celebration of holidays Section 9. A city or town may, for the purpose of providing suitable headquarters for such post or posts of any veterans’ organization incorporated or chartered by the congress of the United States, as have been in operation for at least three years, or for the purpose of providing suitable headquarters for a camp of the United Spanish War Veterans, or for a post of the Polish-American Veterans, Inc.
, of the Lithuanian War Veterans Organization, Inc.
, of the Unity War Veterans Association, Inc.
, Post No. 1, of the 3.
54 American Veterans of World War II, AMVETS, of the Italian American War Veterans of the United States, Incorporated, of the Armenian American Veterans Association, Inc.
, of the War Veterans Civic Association of Massachusetts, Inc.
, for the Yankee Division Veterans Association or any chapter thereof, for a barracks of the Veterans of World War I of the U.
S.
A.
, for the United American Veterans of the U.
S.
A.
, Inc. or any chapter thereof, for the Massachusetts Vietnam-ERA Veterans Association, Inc. or any chapter thereof, or for the Vietnam Combat Veterans Combined Armed Forces or any chapter thereof lease for a period not exceeding five years building or parts of buildings which shall be under the direction and control of such post, camp or barracks subject to regulations made in cities by the mayor with the approval of the council and in towns by vote of the town, and for said purposes a town with a valuation of less than five million dollars may annually appropriate not more than two thousand dollars; a town with a valuation of five million dollars but not more than twenty-five million dollars may annually appropriate not more than three thousand dollars; a town with a valuation of more than twenty-five million dollars but not more than fifty million dollars may annually appropriate not more than four thousand dollars; a town with a valuation of more than fifty million dollars but not more than seventy-five million dollars may annually appropriate not more than five thousand dollars; a town with a valuation of more than seventy-five million dollars but not more than one hundred million dollars may annually appropriate not more than six thousand dollars; a town with a valuation of more than one hundred million dollars but not more than one hundred and twenty-five million dollars may annually appropriate not more than seven thousand dollars; a town with a valuation of more than one hundred and twenty-five million dollars but not more than one hundred and fifty million dollars may annually appropriate not more than ten thousand dollars; and a town with a valuation of more than one hundred and fifty million dollars may annually appropriate ten thousand dollars, and in addition three thousand dollars for each additional one hundred and fifty million dollars of valuation, or major fraction thereof. In addition to sums hereinbefore authorized by this section, a city or town with a valuation of more than one hundred and fifty million dollars may, for the purpose of providing suitable headquarters for a camp of the United Spanish War Veterans, lease for a period not exceeding five years a building or part of a building, which shall be under the direction and control of such camp, subject to regulations made in cities by the mayor, with the approval of the council, or by the city manager where the charter so provides, and in towns by vote of the town, and for such purpose may annually appropriate a sum not exceeding, in any one year, thirty-five hundred dollars. The city council of a city may, by a two-thirds vote appropriate money for armories for the use of the state militia, for the celebration of holidays, or the purpose of providing or defraying the expenses of suitable quarters for posts of the Grand Army of the Republic, including the heating and lighting of such quarters, and for other like public purposes to an amount not exceeding in any one year one-fiftieth of one per cent of its equalized valuation as defined in section one of chapter forty-four.
Chapter 40: Section 9A. Repealed, 1949, 563, Sec. 2 Section 1. This chapter shall be known and may by cited as “The Zoning Act”.
Section 10. The permit granting authority shall have the power after public hearing for which notice has been given by publication and posting as provided in section eleven and by mailing to all parties in interest to grant upon appeal or upon petition with respect to particular land or structures a variance from the terms of the applicable zoning ordinance or by-law where such permit granting authority specifically finds that owing to circumstances relating to the soil conditions, shape, or topography of such land or structures and especially affecting such land or structures but not affecting generally the zoning district in which it is located, a literal enforcement of the provisions of the ordinance or by-law would involve substantial hardship, financial or otherwise, to the petitioner or appellant, and that desirable relief may be granted without substantial detriment to the public good and without nullifying or substantially derogating from the intent or purpose of such ordinance or by-law. Except where local ordinances or by-laws shall expressly permit variances for use, no variance may authorize a use or activity not otherwise permitted in the district in which the land or structure is located; provided however, that such variances properly granted prior to January first, nineteen hundred and seventy-six but limited in time, may be extended on the same terms and conditions that were in effect for such variance upon said effective date.
The permit granting authority may impose conditions, safeguards and limitations both of time and of use, including the continued existence of any particular structures but excluding any condition, safeguards or limitation based upon the continued ownership of the land or structures to which the variance pertains by the applicant, petitioner or any owner.
If the rights authorized by a variance are not exercised within one year of the date of grant of such variance such rights shall lapse; provided, however, that the permit granting authority in its discretion and upon written application by the grantee of such rights may extend the time for exercise of such rights for a period not to exceed six months; and provided, further, that the application for such extension is filed with such permit granting authority prior to the expiration of such one year period. If the permit granting authority does not grant such extension within thirty days of the date of application therefor, and upon the expiration of the original one year period, such rights may be reestablished only after notice and a new hearing pursuant to the provisions of this section.
in interest defined; review of special permit petitions; recording copies of special permit and variance decisions Section 11. In all cases where notice of a public hearing is required notice shall be given by publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the city or town once in each of two successive weeks, the first publication to be not less than fourteen days before the day of the hearing and by posting such notice in a conspicuous place in the city or town hall for a period of not less than fourteen days before the day of such hearing. In all cases where notice to individuals or specific boards or other agencies is required, notice shall be sent by mail, postage prepaid. “Parties in interest” as used in this chapter shall mean the petitioner, abutters, owners of land directly opposite on any public or private street or way, and abutters to the abutters within three hundred feet of the property line of the petitioner as they appear on the most recent applicable tax list, notwithstanding that the land of any such owner is located in another city or town, the planning board of the city or town, and the planning board of every abutting city or town. The assessors maintaining any applicable tax list shall certify to the permit granting authority or special permit granting authority the names and addresses of parties in interest and such certification shall be conclusive for all purposes. The permit granting authority or special permit granting authority may accept a waiver of notice from, or an affidavit of actual notice to any party in interest or, in his stead, any successor owner of record who may not have received a notice by mail, and may order special notice to any such person, giving not less than five nor more than ten additional days to reply.
Publications and notices required by this section shall contain the name of the petitioner, a description of the area or premises, street address, if any, or other adequate identification of the location, of the area or premises which is the subject of the petition, the date, time and place of the public hearing, the subject matter of the hearing, and the nature of action or relief requested if any. No such hearing shall be held on any day on which a state or municipal election, caucus or primary is held in such city or town.
Zoning ordinances or by-laws may provide that petitions for special permits shall be submitted to and reviewed by one or more of the following and may further provide that such reviews may be held jointly:—the board of health, the planning board or department, the city or town engineer, the conservation commission or any other town agency or board. Any such board or agency to which petitions are referred for review shall make such recommendations as they deem appropriate and shall send copies thereof to the special permit granting authority and to the applicant; provided, however, that failure of any such board or agency to make recommendations within thirty-five days of receipt by such board or agency of the petition shall be deemed lack of opposition thereto.
Upon the granting of a variance or special permit, or any extension, modification or renewal thereof, the permit granting authority or special permit granting authority shall issue to the owner and to the applicant if other than the owner a copy of its decision, certified by the permit granting authority or special permit granting authority, containing the name and address of the owner, identifying the land affected, setting forth compliance with the statutory requirements for the issuance of such variance or permit and certifying that copies of the decision and all plans referred to in the decision have been filed with the planning board and city or town clerk. No variance or special permit, or any extension, modification or renewal thereof, shall take effect until a copy of the decision bearing the certification of the city or town clerk that twenty days have elapsed after the decision has been filed in the office of the city or town clerk and no appeal has been filed or that if such appeal has been filed, that it has been dismissed or denied, and if it is a variance or special permit which has been approved by reason of the failure of the permit granting authority or special permit granting authority to act thereon within the time prescribed, a copy of the application for the special permit or petition for the variance accompanied by the certification of the city or town clerk stating the fact that the permit granting authority or special permit granting authority failed to act within the time prescribed and no appeal has been filed and that the grant of the application or petition resulting from such failure to act has become final or that if an appeal has been filed, that it has been dismissed or denied, is recorded in the registry of deeds for the county and district in which the land is located and indexed in the grantor index under the name of the owner of record or is recorded and noted on the owner’s certificate of title. The fee for recording or registering shall be paid by the owner or applicant.
Section 12. Zoning ordinances or by-laws shall provide for a zoning board of appeals, according to the provisions of this section, unless otherwise provided by charter. The mayor subject to confirmation of the city council, or board of selectmen shall appoint members of the board of appeals within three months of the adoption of the ordinance or by-law. Pending appointment of the members of the board of appeals, the city council or board of selectmen shall act as the board of appeals. Any board of appeals established hereunder shall consist of three or five members who, unless otherwise provided by charter, shall be appointed by the mayor, subject to the confirmation by the city council, or by the selectmen, for terms of such length and so arranged that the term of one member shall expire each year. Each zoning board of appeals shall elect annually a chairman from its own number and a clerk, and may, subject to appropriation, employ experts and clerical and other assistants. Any member may be removed for cause by the appointing authority upon written charges and after a public hearing. Vacancies shall be filled for unexpired terms in the same manner as in the case of original appointments. Zoning ordinances or by-laws may provide for the appointments in like manner of associate members of the board of appeals; and if provision for associate members has been made the chairman of the board may designate any such associate member to sit on the board in case of absence, inability to act or conflict of interest on the part of any member thereof, or in the event of a vacancy on the board until said vacancy is filled in the manner provided in this section.
The board of appeals shall adopt rules, not inconsistent with the provisions of the zoning ordinance or by-law for the conduct of its business and for purposes of this chapter and shall file a copy of said rules with the city or town clerk. In the event that a board of appeals has appointed a zoning administrator in accordance with section thirteen said rules shall set forth the fact of such appointment, the identity of the persons from time to time appointed to such position, the powers and duties delegated to such individual and any limitations thereon.
duties Section 13. A zoning ordinance or by-law may authorize the appointment of a zoning administrator, who, unless otherwise provided by charter, shall be appointed by the board of appeals, subject to confirmation by the city council or board of selectmen, to serve at the pleasure of the board of appeals pursuant to such qualifications as may be established by the city council or board of selectmen. The board of appeals may delegate to said zoning administrator some of its powers and duties by a concurring vote of all members of the board of appeals consisting of three members, and a concurring vote of all except one member of a board consisting of five members. Any person aggrieved by a decision or order of the zoning administrator, whether or not previously a party to the proceeding, or any municipal office or board, may appeal to the board of appeals, as provided in section fourteen, within thirty days after the decision of the zoning administrator has been filed in the office of the city or town clerk. Any appeal, application or petition filed with said zoning administrator as to which no decision has issued within thirty-five days from the date of filing shall be deemed denied and shall be subject to appeal to the board of appeals as provided in section eight.
Section 14. A board of appeals shall have the following powers:—(1) To hear and decide appeals in accordance with section eight.
(2) To hear and decide applications for special permits upon which the board is empowered to act under said ordinance or by-laws.
(3) To hear and decide petitions for variances as set forth in section ten.
(4) To hear and decide appeals from decisions of a zoning administrator, if any, in accordance with section thirteen and this section.
In exercising the powers granted by this section, a board of appeals may, in conformity with the provisions of this chapter, make orders or decisions, reverse or affirm in whole or in part, or modify any order or decision, and to that end shall have all the powers of the officer from whom the appeal is taken and may issue or direct the issuance of a permit.
time; boards of appeal hearings; procedure Section 15. Any appeal under section eight to a permit granting authority shall be taken within thirty days from the date of the order or decision which is being appealed. The petitioner shall file a notice of appeal specifying the grounds thereof, with the city or town clerk, and a copy of said notice, including the date and time of filing certified by the town clerk, shall be filed forthwith by the petitioner with the officer or board whose order or decision is being appealed, and to the permit granting authority, specifying in the notice grounds for such appeal. Such officer or board shall forthwith transmit to the board of appeals or zoning administrator all documents and papers constituting the record of the case in which the appeal is taken.
Any appeal to a board of appeals from the order or decision of a zoning administrator, if any, appointed in accordance with section thirteen shall be taken within thirty days of the date of such order or decision or within thirty days from the date on which the appeal, application or petition in question shall have been deemed denied in accordance with said section thirteen, as the case may be, by having the petitioner file a notice of appeal, specifying the grounds thereof with the city or town clerk and a copy of said notice including the date and time of filing certified by the city or town clerk shall be filed forthwith in the office of the zoning administrator and in the case of an appeal under section eight with the officer whose decision was the subject of the initial appeal to said zoning administrator. The zoning administrator shall forthwith transmit to the board of appeals all documents and papers constituting the record of the case in which the appeal is taken. An application for a special permit or petition for variance over which the board of appeals or the zoning administrator as the case may be, exercise original jurisdiction shall be filed by the petitioner with the city or town clerk, and a copy of said appeal, application or petition, including the date and time of filing, certified by the city or town clerk, shall be transmitted forthwith by the petitioner to the board of appeals or to said zoning administrator.
Meetings of the board shall be held at the call of the chairman or when called in such other manner as the board shall determine in its rules. The board of appeals shall hold a hearing on any appeal, application or petition within sixty-five days from the receipt of notice by the board of such appeal, application or petition. The board shall cause notice of such hearing to be published and sent to parties in interest as provided in section eleven. The chairman, or in his absence the acting chairman, may administer oaths, summon witnesses, and call for the production of papers.
The concurring vote of all members of the board of appeals consisting of three members, and a concurring vote of four members of a board consisting of five members, shall be necessary to reverse any order or decision of any administrative official under this chapter or to effect any variance in the application of any ordinance or by-law.
All hearings of the board of appeals shall be open to the public. The decision of the board shall be made within one hundred days after the date of the filing of an appeal, application or petition, except in regard to special permits, as provided for in section nine. The required time limits for a public hearing and said action, may be extended by written agreement between the applicant and the board of appeals. A copy of such agreement shall be filed in the office of the city or town clerk. Failure by the board to act within said one hundred days or extended time, if applicable, shall be deemed to be the grant of the appeal, application or petition. The petitioner who seeks such approval by reason of the failure of the board to act within the time prescribed shall notify the city or town clerk, in writing, within fourteen days from the expiration of said one hundred days or extended time, if applicable, of such approval and that notice has been sent by the petitioner to parties in interest. The petitioner shall send such notice to parties in interest, by mail and each notice shall specify that appeals, if any, shall be made pursuant to section seventeen and shall be filed within twenty days after the date the city or town clerk received such written notice from the petitioner that the board failed to act within the time prescribed. After the expiration of twenty days without notice of appeal pursuant to section seventeen, or, if appeal has been taken, after receipt of certified records of the court in which such appeal is adjudicated, indicating that such approval has become final, the city or town clerk shall issue a certificate stating the date of approval, the fact that the board failed to take final action and that the approval resulting from such failure has become final, and such certificate shall be forwarded to the petitioner. The board shall cause to be made a detailed record of its proceedings, indicating the vote of each member upon each question, or if absent or failing to vote, indicating such fact, and setting forth clearly the reason for its decision and of its official actions, copies of all of which shall be filed within fourteen days in the office of the city or town clerk and shall be a public record, and notice of the decision shall be mailed forthwith to the petitioner, applicant or appellant, to the parties in interest designated in section eleven, and to every person present at the hearing who requested that notice be sent to him and stated the address to which such notice was to be sent. Each notice shall specify that appeals, if any, shall be made pursuant to section seventeen and shall be filed within twenty days after the date of filing of such notice in the office of the city or town clerk.
authorities; reconsideration; withdrawal of petitions for variance or applications for special permit Section 16. No appeal, application or petition which has been unfavorably and finally acted upon by the special permit granting or permit granting authority shall be acted favorably upon within two years after the date of final unfavorable action unless said special permit granting authority or permit granting authority finds, by a unanimous vote of a board of three members or by a vote of four members of a board of five members or two-thirds vote of a board of more than five members, specific and material changes in the conditions upon which the previous unfavorable action was based, and describes such changes in the record of its proceedings, and unless all but one of the members of the planning board consents thereto and after notice is given to parties in interest of the time and place of the proceedings when the question of such consent will be considered.
Any petition for a variance or application for a special permit which has been transmitted to the permit granting authority or special permit granting authority may be withdrawn, without prejudice by the petitioner prior to the publication of the notice of a public hearing thereon, but thereafter be withdrawn without prejudice only with the approval of the special permit granting authority or permit granting authority.
Section 17. Any person aggrieved by a decision of the board of appeals or any special permit granting authority or by the failure of the board of appeals to take final action concerning any appeal, application or petition within the required time or by the failure of any special permit granting authority to take final action concerning any application for a special permit within the required time, whether or not previously a party to the proceeding, or any municipal officer or board may appeal to the land court department, the superior court department in which the land concerned is situated or, if the land is situated in Hampden county, either to said land court or, superior court department or to the division of the housing court department for said county, or if the land is situated in a county, region or area served by a division of the housing court department either to said land court or superior court department or to the division of said housing court department for said county, region or area, or to the division of the district court department within whose jurisdiction the land is situated except in Hampden county, by bringing an action within twenty days after the decision has been filed in the office of the city or town clerk. If said appeal is made to said division of the district court department, any party shall have the right to file a claim for trial of said appeal in the superior court department within twenty-five days after service on the appeal is completed, subject to such rules as the supreme judicial court may prescribe. Notice of the action with a copy of the complaint shall be given to such city or town clerk so as to be received within such twenty days. The complaint shall allege that the decision exceeds the authority of the board or authority, and any facts pertinent to the issue, and shall contain a prayer that the decision be annulled. There shall be attached to the complaint a copy of the decision appealed from, bearing the date of filing thereof, certified by the city or town clerk with whom the decision was filed.
If the complaint is filed by someone other than the original applicant, appellant or petitioner, such original applicant, appellant, or petitioner and all members of the board of appeals or special permit granting authority shall be named as parties defendant with their addresses. To avoid delay in the proceedings, instead of the usual service of process, the plaintiff shall within fourteen days after the filing of the complaint, send written notice thereof, with a copy of the complaint, by delivery or certified mail to all defendants, including the members of the board of appeals or special permit granting authority and shall within twenty-one days after the entry of the complaint file with the clerk of the court an affidavit that such notice has been given. If no such affidavit is filed within such time the complaint shall be dismissed. No answer shall be required but an answer may be filed and notice of such filing with a copy of the answer and an affidavit of such notice given to all parties as provided above within seven days after the filing of the answer. Other persons may be permitted to intervene, upon motion. The clerk of the court shall give notice of the hearing as in other cases without jury, to all parties whether or not they have appeared. The court shall hear all evidence pertinent to the authority of the board or special permit granting authority and determine the facts, and, upon the facts as so determined, annul such decision if found to exceed the authority of such board or special permit granting authority or make such other decree as justice and equity may require. The foregoing remedy shall be exclusive, notwithstanding any defect of procedure or of notice other than notice by publication, mailing or posting as required by this chapter, and the validity of any action shall not be questioned for matters relating to defects in procedure or of notice in any other proceedings except with respect to such publication, mailing or posting and then only by a proceeding commenced within ninety days after the decision has been filed in the office of the city or town clerk, but the parties shall have all rights of appeal and exception as in other equity cases.
A city or town may provide any officer or board of such city or town with independent legal counsel for appealing, as provided in this section, a decision of a board of appeals or special permit granting authority and for taking such other subsequent action as parties are authorized to take.
Costs shall not be allowed against the board or special permit granting authority unless it shall appear to the court that the board or special permit granting authority in making the decision appealed from acted with gross negligence, in bad faith or with malice.
Costs shall not be allowed against the party appealing from the decision of the board or special permit granting authority unless it shall appear to the court that said appellant or appellants acted in bad faith or with malice in making the appeal to the court.
The court shall require nonmunicipal plaintiffs to post a surety or cash bond in a sum of not less than two thousand nor more than fifteen thousand dollars to secure the payment of such costs in appeals of decisions approving subdivision plans.
All issues in any proceeding under this section shall have precedence over all other civil actions and proceedings.
Section 1A. As used in this chapter the following words shall have the following meanings:“Permit granting authority”, the board of appeals or zoning administrator.
“Solar access”, the access of a solar energy system to direct sunlight.
“Solar energy system”, a device or structural design feature, a substantial purpose of which is to provide daylight for interior lighting or provide for the collection, storage and distribution of solar energy for space heating or cooling, electricity generating, or water heating.
“Special permit granting authority”, shall include the board of selectmen, city council, board of appeals, planning board, or zoning administrators as designated by zoning ordinance or by-law for the issuance of special permits.
“Zoning”, ordinances and by-laws, adopted by cities and towns to regulate the use of land, buildings and structures to the full extent of the independent constitutional powers of cities and towns to protect the health, safety and general welfare of their present and future inhabitants.
“Zoning administrator”, a person designated by the board of appeals pursuant to section thirteen to assume certain duties of said board.
exemptions; public hearings; temporary manufactured home residences Section 3. No zoning ordinance or by-law shall regulate or restrict the use of materials, or methods of construction of structures regulated by the state building code, nor shall any such ordinance or by-law prohibit, unreasonably regulate or require a special permit for the use of land for the primary purpose of agriculture, horticulture, floriculture, or viticulture; nor prohibit, or unreasonably regulate, or require a special permit for the use, expansion, or reconstruction of existing structures thereon for the primary purpose of agriculture, horticulture, floriculture, or viticulture, including those facilities for the sale of produce, and wine and dairy products, provided that during the months of June, July, August, and September of every year or during the harvest season of the primary crop raised on land of the owner or lessee, the majority of such products for sale, based on either gross sales dollars or volume, have been produced by the owner or lessee of the land on which the facility is located, except that all such activities may be limited to parcels of more than five acres in area not zoned for agriculture, horticulture, floriculture, or viticulture. For such purposes, land divided by a public or private way or a waterway shall be construed as one parcel. No zoning ordinance or by-law shall exempt land or structures from flood plain or wetlands regulations established pursuant to general law. For the purpose of this section, the term horticulture shall include the growing and keeping of nursery stock and the sale thereof. Said nursery stock shall be considered to be produced by the owner or lessee of the land if it is nourished, maintained and managed while on the premises.
No zoning ordinance or by-law shall regulate or restrict the interior area of a single family residential building nor shall any such ordinance or by-law prohibit, regulate or restrict the use of land or structures for religious purposes or for educational purposes on land owned or leased by the commonwealth or any of its agencies, subdivisions or bodies politic or by a religious sect or denomination, or by a nonprofit educational corporation; provided, however, that such land or structures may be subject to reasonable regulations concerning the bulk and height of structures and determining yard sizes, lot area, setbacks, open space, parking and building coverage requirements. Lands or structures used, or to be used by a public service corporation may be exempted in particular respects from the operation of a zoning ordinance or by-law if, upon petition of the corporation, the department of telecommunications and energy shall, after notice given pursuant to section eleven and public hearing in the town or city, determine the exemptions required and find that the present or proposed use of the land or structure is reasonably necessary for the convenience or welfare of the public; provided however, that if lands or structures used or to be used by a public service corporation are located in more than one municipality such lands or structures may be exempted in particular respects from the operation of any zoning ordinance or by-law if, upon petition of the corporation, the department of telecommunications and energy shall after notice to all affected communities and public hearing in one of said municipalities, determine the exemptions required and find that the present or proposed use of the land or structure is reasonably necessary for the convenience or welfare of the public.
No zoning ordinance or bylaw in any city or town shall prohibit, or require a special permit for, the use of land or structures, or the expansion of existing structures, for the primary, accessory or incidental purpose of operating a child care facility; provided, however, that such land or structures may be subject to reasonable regulations concerning the bulk and height of structures and determining yard sizes, lot area, setbacks, open space, parking and building coverage requirements. As used in this paragraph, the term “child care facility” shall mean a day care center or a school age child care program, as those terms are defined in section nine of chapter twenty-eight A.
Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, local land use and health and safety laws, regulations, practices, ordinances, by-laws and decisions of a city or town shall not discriminate against a disabled person. Imposition of health and safety laws or land-use requirements on congregate living arrangements among non-related persons with disabilities that are not imposed on families and groups of similar size or other unrelated persons shall constitute discrimination. The provisions of this paragraph shall apply to every city or town, including, but not limited to the city of Boston and the city of Cambridge.
Family day care home and large family day care home, as those terms are defined in section nine of chapter twenty-eight A, shall be an allowable use unless a city or town prohibits or specifically regulates such use in its zoning ordinances or by-laws.
No provision of a zoning ordinance or by-law shall be valid which sets apart districts by any boundary line which may be changed without adoption of an amendment to the zoning ordinance or by-law.
No zoning ordinance or by-law shall prohibit the owner and occupier of a residence which has been destroyed by fire or other natural holocaust from placing a manufactured home on the site of such residence and residing in such home for a period not to exceed twelve months while the residence is being rebuilt. Any such manufactured home shall be subject to the provisions of the state sanitary code.
No dimensional lot requirement of a zoning ordinance or by-law, including but not limited to, set back, front yard, side yard, rear yard and open space shall apply to handicapped access ramps on private property used solely for the purpose of facilitating ingress or egress of a physically handicapped person, as defined in section thirteen A of chapter twenty-two.
No zoning ordinance or by-law shall prohibit or unreasonably regulate the installation of solar energy systems or the building of structures that facilitate the collection of solar energy, except where necessary to protect the public health, safety or welfare.
No zoning ordinance or by-law shall prohibit the construction or use of an antenna structure by a federally licensed amateur radio operator. Zoning ordinances and by-laws may reasonably regulate the location and height of such antenna structures for the purposes of health, safety, or aesthetics; provided, however, that such ordinances and by-laws reasonably allow for sufficient height of such antenna structures so as to effectively accommodate amateur radio communications by federally licensed amateur radio operators and constitute the minimum practicable regulation necessary to accomplish the legitimate purposes of the city or town enacting such ordinance or by-law.
Section 4. Any zoning ordinance or by-law which divides cities and towns into districts shall be uniform within the district for each class or kind of structures or uses permitted.
Districts shall be shown on a zoning map in a manner sufficient for identification. Such maps shall be part of zoning ordinances or by-laws. Assessors’ or property plans may be used as the basis for zoning maps. If more than four sheets or plates are used for a zoning map, an index map showing districts in outline shall be part of the zoning map and of the zoning ordinance or by-law.
by-laws; procedure Section 5. Zoning ordinances or by-laws may be adopted and from time to time changed by amendment, addition or repeal, but only in the manner hereinafter provided. Adoption or change of zoning ordinances or by-laws may be initiated by the submission to the city council or board of selectmen of a proposed zoning ordinance or by-law by a city council, a board of selectmen, a board of appeals, by an individual owning land to be affected by change or adoption, by request of registered voters of a town pursuant to section ten of chapter thirty-nine, by ten registered voters in a city, by a planning board, by a regional planning agency or by other methods provided by municipal charter. The board of selectmen or city council shall within fourteen days of receipt of such zoning ordinance or by-law submit it to the planning board for review.
No zoning ordinance or by-law or amendment thereto shall be adopted until after the planning board in a city or town, and the city council or a committee designated or appointed for the purpose by said council has each held a public hearing thereon, together or separately, at which interested persons shall be given an opportunity to be heard. Said public hearing shall be held within sixty-five days after the proposed zoning ordinance or by-law is submitted to the planning board by the city council or selectmen or if there is none, within sixty-five days after the proposed zoning ordinance or by-law is submitted to the city council or selectmen. Notice of the time and place of such public hearing, of the subject matter, sufficient for identification, and of the place where texts and maps thereof may be inspected shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the city or town once in each of two successive weeks, the first publication to be not less than fourteen days before the day of said hearing, and by posting such notice in a conspicuous place in the city or town hall for a period of not less than fourteen days before the day of said hearing. Notice of said hearing shall also be sent by mail, postage prepaid to the department of housing and community development, the regional planning agency, if any, and to the planning board of each abutting cities and towns. The department of housing and community development, the regional planning agency, the planning boards of all abutting cities and towns and nonresident property owners who may not have received notice by mail as specified in this section may grant a waiver of notice or submit an affidavit of actual notice to the city or town clerk prior to town meeting or city council action on a proposed zoning ordinance, by-law or change thereto. Zoning ordinances or by-laws may provide that a separate, conspicuous statement shall be included with property tax bills sent to nonresident property owners, stating that notice of such hearings under this chapter shall be sent by mail, postage prepaid, to any such owner who files an annual request for such notice with the city or town clerk no later than January first, and pays a reasonable fee established by such ordinance or by-law. In cases involving boundary, density or use changes within a district, notice shall be sent to any such nonresident property owner who has filed such a request with the city or town clerk and whose property lies in the district where the change is sought. No defect in the form of any notice under this chapter shall invalidate any zoning ordinances or by-laws unless such defect is found to be misleading.
Prior to the adoption of any zoning ordinance or by-law or amendment thereto which seeks to further regulate matters established by section forty of chapter one hundred and thirty-one or regulations authorized thereunder relative to agricultural and aquacultural practices, the city or town clerk shall, no later than seven days prior to the city council’s or town meeting’s public hearing relative to the adoption of said new or amended zoning ordinances or by-laws, give notice of the said proposed zoning ordinances or by-laws to the farmland advisory board established pursuant to section forty of chapter one hundred and thirty-one.
No vote to adopt any such proposed ordinance or by-law or amendment thereto shall be taken until a report with recommendations by a planning board has been submitted to the town meeting or city council, or twenty-one days after said hearing has elapsed without submission of such report. After such notice, hearing and report, or after twenty-one days shall have elapsed after such hearing without submission of such report, a city council or town meeting may adopt, reject, or amend and adopt any such proposed ordinance or by-law. If a city council fails to vote to adopt any proposed ordinance within ninety days after the city council hearing or if a town meeting fails to vote to adopt any proposed by-law within six months after the planning board hearing, no action shall be taken thereon until after a subsequent public hearing is held with notice and report as provided.
No zoning ordinance or by-law or amendment thereto shall be adopted or changed except by a two-thirds vote of all the members of the town council, or of the city council where there is a commission form of government or a single branch, or of each branch where there are two branches, or by a two-thirds vote of a town meeting; provided, however, that if in a city or town with a council of fewer than twenty-five members there is filed with the clerk prior to final action by the council a written protest against such change, stating the reasons duly signed by owners of twenty per cent or more of the area of the land proposed to be included in such change or of the area of the land immediately adjacent extending three hundred feet therefrom, no such change of any such ordinance shall be adopted except by a three-fourths vote of all members.
No proposed zoning ordinance or by-law which has been unfavorably acted upon by a city council or town meeting shall be considered by the city council or town meeting within two years after the date of such unfavorable action unless the adoption of such proposed ordinance or by-law is recommended in the final report of the planning board.
When zoning by-laws or amendments thereto are submitted to the attorney general for approval as required by section thirty-two of chapter forty, he shall also be furnished with a statement which may be prepared by the planning board explaining the by-laws or amendments proposed, which statement may be accompanied by explanatory maps or plans.
The effective date of the adoption or amendment of any zoning ordinance or by-law shall be the date on which such adoption or amendment was voted upon by a city council or town meeting; if in towns, publication in a town bulletin or pamphlet and posting is subsequently made or publication in a newspaper pursuant to section thirty-two of chapter forty. If, in a town, said by-law is subsequently disapproved, in whole or in part, by the attorney general, the previous zoning by-law, to the extent that such previous zoning by-law was changed by the disapproved by-law or portion thereof, shall be deemed to have been in effect from the date of such vote. In a municipality which is not required to submit zoning ordinances to the attorney general for approval pursuant to section thirty-two of chapter forty, the effective date of such ordinance or amendment shall be the date passed by the city council and signed by the mayor or, as otherwise provided by ordinance or charter; provided, however, that such ordinance or amendment shall subsequently be forwarded by the city clerk to the office of the attorney general.
A true copy of the zoning ordinance or by-law with any amendments thereto shall be kept on file available for inspection in the office of the clerk of such city or town.
No claim of invalidity of any zoning ordinance or by-law arising out of any possible defect in the procedure of adoption or amendment shall be made in any legal proceedings and no state, regional, county or municipal officer shall refuse, deny or revoke any permit, approval or certificate because of any such claim of invalidity unless legal action is commenced within the time period specified in sections thirty-two and thirty-two A of chapter forty and notice specifying the court, parties, invalidity claimed, and date of filing is filed together with a copy of the petition with the town or city clerk within seven days after commencement of the action.
subdivision plans; application of chapter Section 6. Except as hereinafter provided, a zoning ordinance or by-law shall not apply to structures or uses lawfully in existence or lawfully begun, or to a building or special permit issued before the first publication of notice of the public hearing on such ordinance or by-law required by section five, but shall apply to any change or substantial extension of such use, to a building or special permit issued after the first notice of said public hearing, to any reconstruction, extension or structural change of such structure and to any alteration of a structure begun after the first notice of said public hearing to provide for its use for a substantially different purpose or for the same purpose in a substantially different manner or to a substantially greater extent except where alteration, reconstruction, extension or structural change to a single or two-family residential structure does not increase the nonconforming nature of said structure. Pre-existing nonconforming structures or uses may be extended or altered, provided, that no such extension or alteration shall be permitted unless there is a finding by the permit granting authority or by the special permit granting authority designated by ordinance or by-law that such change, extension or alteration shall not be substantially more detrimental than the existing nonconforming use to the neighborhood. This section shall not apply to establishments which display live nudity for their patrons, as defined in section nine A, adult bookstores, adult motion picture theaters, adult paraphernalia shops, or adult video stores subject to the provisions of section nine A.
A zoning ordinance or by-law shall provide that construction or operations under a building or special permit shall conform to any subsequent amendment of the ordinance or by-law unless the use or construction is commenced within a period of not more than six months after the issuance of the permit and in cases involving construction, unless such construction is continued through to completion as continuously and expeditiously as is reasonable.
A zoning ordinance or by-law may define and regulate nonconforming uses and structures abandoned or not used for a period of two years or more.
Any increase in area, frontage, width, yard, or depth requirements of a zoning ordinance or by-law shall not apply to a lot for single and two-family residential use which at the time of recording or endorsement, whichever occurs sooner was not held in common ownership with any adjoining land, conformed to then existing requirements and had less than the proposed requirement but at least five thousand square feet of area and fifty feet of frontage. Any increase in area, frontage, width, yard or depth requirement of a zoning ordinance or by-law shall not apply for a period of five years from its effective date or for five years after January first, nineteen hundred and seventy-six, whichever is later, to a lot for single and two family residential use, provided the plan for such lot was recorded or endorsed and such lot was held in common ownership with any adjoining land and conformed to the existing zoning requirements as of January first, nineteen hundred and seventy-six, and had less area, frontage, width, yard or depth requirements than the newly effective zoning requirements but contained at least seven thousand five hundred square feet of area and seventy-five feet of frontage, and provided that said five year period does not commence prior to January first, nineteen hundred and seventy-six, and provided further that the provisions of this sentence shall not apply to more than three of such adjoining lots held in common ownership. The provisions of this paragraph shall not be construed to prohibit a lot being built upon, if at the time of the building, building upon such lot is not prohibited by the zoning ordinances or by-laws in effect in a city or town.
If a definitive plan, or a preliminary plan followed within seven months by a definitive plan, is submitted to a planning board for approval under the subdivision control law, and written notice of such submission has been given to the city or town clerk before the effective date of ordinance or by-law, the land shown on such plan shall be governed by the applicable provisions of the zoning ordinance or by-law, if any, in effect at the time of the first such submission while such plan or plans are being processed under the subdivision control law, and, if such definitive plan or an amendment thereof is finally approved, for eight years from the date of the endorsement of such approval, except in the case where such plan was submitted or submitted and approved before January first, nineteen hundred and seventy-six, for seven years from the date of the endorsement of such approval. Whether such period is eight years or seven years, it shall be extended by a period equal to the time which a city or town imposes or has imposed upon it by a state, a federal agency or a court, a moratorium on construction, the issuance of permits or utility connections.
When a plan referred to in section eighty-one P of chapter forty-one has been submitted to a planning board and written notice of such submission has been given to the city or town clerk, the use of the land shown on such plan shall be governed by applicable provisions of the zoning ordinance or by-law in effect at the time of the submission of such plan while such plan is being processed under the subdivision control law including the time required to pursue or await the determination of an appeal referred to in said section, and for a period of three years from the date of endorsement by the planning board that approval under the subdivision control law is not required, or words of similar import.
Disapproval of a plan shall not serve to terminate any rights which shall have accrued under the provisions of this section, provided an appeal from the decision disapproving said plan is made under applicable provisions of law. Such appeal shall stay, pending either (1) the conclusion of voluntary mediation proceedings and the filing of a written agreement for judgment or stipulation of dismissal, or (2) the entry of an order or decree of a court of final jurisdiction, the applicability to land shown on said plan of the provisions of any zoning ordinance or by-law which became effective after the date of submission of the plan first submitted, together with time required to comply with any such agreement or with the terms of any order or decree of the court.
In the event that any lot shown on a plan endorsed by the planning board is the subject matter of any appeal or any litigation, the exemptive provisions of this section shall be extended for a period equal to that from the date of filing of said appeal or the commencement of litigation, whichever is earlier, to the date of final disposition thereof, provided final adjudication is in favor of the owner of said lot.
The record owner of the land shall have the right, at any time, by an instrument duly recorded in the registry of deeds for the district in which the land lies, to waive the provisions of this section, in which case the ordinance or by-law then or thereafter in effect shall apply. The submission of an amended plan or of a further subdivision of all or part of the land shall not constitute such a waiver, nor shall it have the effect of further extending the applicability of the ordinance or by-law that was extended by the original submission, but, if accompanied by the waiver described above, shall have the effect of extending, but only to extent aforesaid, the ordinance or by-law made then applicable by such waiver.
penalties; jurisdiction of superior court Section 7. The inspector of buildings, building commissioner or local inspector, or if there are none, in a town, the board of selectmen, or person or board designated by local ordinance or by-law, shall be charged with the enforcement of the zoning ordinance or by-law and shall withhold a permit for the construction, alteration or moving of any building or structure if the building or structure as constructed, altered or moved would be in violation of any zoning ordinance or by-law; and no permit or license shall be granted for a new use of a building, structure or land which use would be in violation of any zoning ordinance or by-law. If the officer or board charged with enforcement of zoning ordinances or by-laws is requested in writing to enforce such ordinances or by-laws against any person allegedly in violation of the same and such officer or board declines to act, he shall notify, in writing, the party requesting such enforcement of any action or refusal to act, and the reasons therefor, within fourteen days of receipt of such request.
No local zoning law shall provide penalty of more than three hundred dollars per violation; provided, however, that nothing herein shall be construed to prohibit such laws from providing that each day such violation continues shall constitute a separate offense. No action, suit or proceeding shall be maintained in any court, nor any administrative or other action taken to recover a fine or damages or to compel the removal, alteration, or relocation of any structure or part of a structure or alteration of a structure by reason of any violation of any zoning by-law or ordinance except in accordance with the provisions of this section, section eight and section seventeen; provided, further, that if real property has been improved and used in accordance with the terms of the original building permit issued by a person duly authorized to issue such permits, no action, criminal or civil, the effect or purpose of which is to compel the abandonment, limitation or modification of the use allowed by said permit or the removal, alteration or relocation of any structure erected in reliance upon said permit by reason of any alleged violation of the provisions of this chapter, or of any ordinance or by-law adopted thereunder, shall be maintained, unless such action, suit or proceeding is commenced and notice thereof recorded in the registry of deeds for each county or district in which the land lies within six years next after the commencement of the alleged violation of law; and provided, further that no action, criminal or civil, the effect or purpose of which is to compel the removal, alteration, or relocation of any structure by reason of any alleged violation of the provisions of this chapter, or any ordinance or by-law adopted thereunder, or the conditions of any variance or special permit, shall be maintained, unless such action, suit or proceeding is commenced and notice thereof recorded in the registry of deeds for each county or district in which the land lies within ten years next after the commencement of the alleged violation. Such notice shall include names of one or more of the owners of record, the name of the person initiating the action, and adequate identification of the structure and the alleged violation.
The superior court and the land court shall have the jurisdiction to enforce the provisions of this chapter, and any ordinances or by-laws adopted thereunder, and may restrain by injunction violations thereof.
Section 8. An appeal to the permit granting authority as the zoning ordinance or by-law may provide, may be taken by any person aggrieved by reason of his inability to obtain a permit or enforcement action from any administrative officer under the provisions of this chapter, by the regional planning agency in whose area the city or town is situated, or by any person including an officer or board of the city or town, or of an abutting city or town aggrieved by an order or decision of the inspector of buildings, or other administrative official, in violation of any provision of this chapter or any ordinance or by-law adopted thereunder.
Section 9. Zoning ordinances or by-laws shall provide for specific types of uses which shall only be permitted in specified districts upon the issuance of a special permit. Special permits may be issued only for uses which are in harmony with the general purpose and intent of the ordinance or by-law, and shall be subject to general or specific provisions set forth therein; and such permits may also impose conditions, safeguards and limitations on time or use.
Zoning ordinances or by-laws may also provide for special permits authorizing increases in the permissible density of population or intensity of a particular use in a proposed development; provided that the petitioner or applicant shall, as a condition for the grant of said permit, provide certain open space, housing for persons of low or moderate income, traffic or pedestrian improvements, installation of solar energy systems, protection for solar access, or other amenities. Such zoning ordinances or by-laws shall state the specific improvements or amenities or locations of proposed uses for which the special permits shall be granted, and the maximum increases in density of population or intensity of use which may be authorized by such special permits.
Zoning ordinances or by-laws may provide that special permits may be granted for multi-family residential use in nonresidentially zoned areas where the public good would be served and after a finding by the special permit granting authority, that such nonresidentially zoned area would not be adversely affected by such a residential use, and that permitted uses in such a zone are not noxious to a multi-family use.
Zoning ordinances or by-laws may provide for special permits authorizing the transfer of development rights of land within or between districts. These zoning ordinances or by-laws shall include incentives such as increases in density of population, intensity of use, amount of floor space or percentage of lot coverage, that encourage the transfer of development rights in a manner that protect open space, preserve farmland, promote housing for persons of low and moderate income or further other community interests.
Zoning ordinances or by-laws may also provide that cluster developments or planned unit developments shall be permitted upon the issuance of a special permit.
Notwithstanding any provision of this section to the contrary, zoning ordinances or by-laws may provide that cluster developments shall be permitted upon review and approval by a planning board pursuant to the applicable provisions of sections 81K to 81GG, inclusive, of chapter 41 and in accordance with its rules and regulations governing subdivision control.
“Cluster development” means a residential development in which the buildings and accessory uses are clustered together into one or more groups separated from adjacent property and other groups within the development by intervening open land. A cluster development shall be permitted only on a plot of land of such minimum size as a zoning ordinance or by-law may specify which is divided into building lots with dimensional control, density and use restrictions of such building lots varying from those otherwise permitted by the ordinance or by-law and open land. Such open land when added to the building lots shall be at least equal in area to the land area required by the ordinance or by-law for the total number of units or buildings contemplated in the development. Such open land may be situated to promote and protect maximum solar access within the development. Such open land shall either be conveyed to the city or town and accepted by it for park or open space use, or be conveyed to a non-profit organization the principal purpose of which is the conservation of open space, or to be conveyed to a corporation or trust owned or to be owned by the owners of lots or residential units within the plot. If such a corporation or trust is utilized, ownership thereof shall pass with conveyances of the lots or residential units. In any case where such land is not conveyed to the city or town, a restriction enforceable by the city or town shall be recorded providing that such land shall be kept in an open or natural state and not be built for residential use or developed for accessory uses such as parking or roadway.
“Planned unit development” means a mixed use development on a plot of land containing a minimum of the lesser of sixty thousand square feet or five times the minimum lot size of the zoning district, but of such larger size as an ordinance or by-law may specify, in which a mixture of residential, open space, commercial, industrial or other uses and a variety of building types are determined to be sufficiently advantageous to render it appropriate to grant special permission to depart from the normal requirements of the district to the extent authorized by the ordinance or by-law. Such open space, if any, may be situated to promote and protect maximum solar access within the development.
Zoning ordinances or by-laws may also provide for the use of structures as shared elderly housing upon the issuance of a special permit. Such zoning ordinances or by-laws shall specify the maximum number of elderly occupants allowed, not to exceed a total number of six, any age requirements and any other conditions deemed necessary for the special permits to be granted.
Zoning ordinances or by-laws may provide that certain classes of special permits shall be issued by one special permit granting authority and others by another special permit granting authority as provided in the ordinance or by-law. Such special permit granting authority shall adopt and from time to time amend rules relative to the issuance of such permits, and shall file a copy of said rules in the office of the city or town clerk. Such rules shall prescribe a size, form, contents, style and number of copies of plans and specifications and the procedure for a submission and approval of such permits.
Zoning ordinances or by-laws may provide for associate members of a planning board when a planning board has been designated as a special permit granting authority. One associate member may be authorized when the planning board consists of five members, and two associate members may be authorized when the planning board consists of more than five members. A city or town which establishes the position of associate member shall determine the procedure for filling such position. If provision for filling the position of associate member has been made, the chairman of the planning board may designate an associate member to sit on the board for the purposes of acting on a special permit application, in the case of absence, inability to act, or conflict of interest, on the part of any member of the planning board or in the event of a vacancy on the board.
Each application for a special permit shall be filed by the petitioner with the city or town clerk and a copy of said application, including the date and time of filing certified by the city or town clerk, shall be filed forthwith by the petitioner with the special permit granting authority. The special permit granting authority shall hold a public hearing, for which notice has been given as provided in section eleven, on any application for a special permit within sixty-five days from the date of filing of such application; provided, however, that a city council having more than five members designated to act upon such application may appoint a committee of such council to hold the public hearing. The decision of the special permit granting authority shall be made within ninety days following the date of such public hearing. The required time limits for a public hearing and said action, may be extended by written agreement between the petitioner and the special permit granting authority. A copy of such agreement shall be filed in the office of the city or town clerk. A special permit issued by a special permit granting authority shall require a two-thirds vote of boards with more than five members, a vote of at least four members of a five member board, and a unanimous vote of a three member board.
Failure by the special permit granting authority to take final action within said ninety days or extended time, if applicable, shall be deemed to be a grant of the special permit. The petitioner who seeks such approval by reason of the failure of the special permit granting authority to act within such time prescribed, shall notify the city or town clerk, in writing within fourteen days from the expiration of said ninety days or extended time, if applicable, of such approval and that notice has been sent by the petitioner to parties in interest. The petitioner shall send such notice to parties in interest by mail and each such notice shall specify that appeals, if any, shall be made pursuant to section seventeen and shall be filed within twenty days after the date the city or town clerk received such written notice from the petitioner that the special permit granting authority failed to act within the time prescribed. After the expiration of twenty days without notice of appeal pursuant to section seventeen, or, if appeal has been taken, after receipt of certified records of the court in which such appeal is adjudicated, indicating that such approval has become final, the city or town clerk shall issue a certificate stating the date of approval, the fact that the special permit granting authority failed to take final action and that the approval resulting from such failure has become final, and such certificate shall be forwarded to the petitioner. The special permit granting authority shall cause to be made a detailed record of its proceedings, indicating the vote of each member upon each question, or if absent or failing to vote, indicating such fact, and setting forth clearly the reason for its decision and of its official actions, copies of all of which shall be filed within fourteen days in the office of the city or town clerk and shall be deemed a public record, and notice of the decision shall be mailed forthwith to the petitioner, applicant or appellant, to the parties in interest designated in section eleven, and to every person present at the hearing who requested that notice be sent to him and stated the address to which such notice was to be sent. Each such notice shall specify that appeals, if any, shall be made pursuant to section seventeen and shall be filed within twenty days after the date of filing of such notice in the office of the city or town clerk.
Zoning ordinances or by-laws shall provide that a special permit granted under this section shall lapse within a specified period of time, not more than two years, which shall not include such time required to pursue or await the determination of an appeal referred to in section seventeen, from the grant thereof, if a substantial use thereof has not sooner commenced except for good cause or, in the case of permit for construction, if construction has not begun by such date except for good cause.
Zoning ordinances or by-laws shall also provide that uses, whether or not on the same parcel as activities permitted as a matter of right, accessory to activities permitted as a matter of right, which activities are necessary in connection with scientific research or scientific development or related production, may be permitted upon the issuance of a special permit provided the granting authority finds that the proposed accessory use does not substantially derogate from the public good.
A hazardous waste facility as defined in section two of chapter twenty-one D shall be permitted to be constructed as of right on any locus presently zoned for industrial use pursuant to the ordinances and by-laws of any city or town provided that all permits and licenses required by law have been issued to the developer and a siting agreement has been established pursuant to sections twelve and thirteen of chapter twenty-one D, provided however, that following the submission of a notice of intent, pursuant to section seven of chapter twenty-one D, a city or town may not adopt any zoning change which would exclude the facility from the locus specified in said notice of intent. This section shall not prevent any city or town from adopting a zoning change relative to the proposed locus for the facility following the final disapproval and exhaustion of appeals for permits and licenses required by law and by chapter twenty-one D.
A facility, as defined in section one hundred and fifty A of chapter one hundred and eleven, which has received a site assignment pursuant to said section one hundred and fifty A, shall be permitted to be constructed or expanded on any locus zoned for industrial use unless specifically prohibited by the ordinances and by-laws of the city or town in which such facility is proposed to be constructed or expanded, in effect as of July first, nineteen hundred and eighty-seven; provided, however, that all permits and licenses required by law have been issued to the proposed operator. A city or town shall not adopt an ordinance or by-law prohibiting the siting of such a facility or the expansion of an existing facility on any locus zoned for industrial use, or require a license or permit granted by said city or town, except a special permit imposing reasonable conditions on the construction or operation of the facility, unless such prohibition, license or permit was in effect on or before July first, nineteen hundred and eighty-seven; provided, however, that a city or town may adopt and enforce a zoning or non-zoning ordinance or by-law of general application that has the effect of prohibiting the siting or expansion of a facility in the following areas: recharge areas of surface drinking water supplies as shall be reasonably defined by rules and regulations of the department of environmental protection, areas subject to section forty of chapter one hundred and thirty-one, and the regulations promulgated thereunder; and areas within the zone of contribution of existing or potential public supply wells as defined by said department. No special permit authorized by this section may be denied for any such facility by any city or town; provided, however, that a special permit granting authority may impose reasonable conditions on the construction or operation of the facility, which shall be enforceable pursuant to the provisions of section seven.
motion pictures theaters, adult paraphernalia stores, adult video stores or establishments which display live nudity Section 9A. Zoning ordinances or by-laws may provide for special permits authorizing the establishment of adult bookstores, adult motion picture theaters, adult paraphernalia stores, adult video stores or establishments which display live nudity for their patrons as hereinafter defined. Such zoning ordinance or by-law may state the specific improvements, amenities or locations of proposed uses for which such permit may be granted and may provide that the proposed use be a specific distance from any district designated by zoning ordinance or by-law for any residential use or from any other adult bookstore or adult motion picture theatre or from any establishment licensed under the provisions of section twelve of chapter one hundred and thirty-eight. Such zoning ordinance or by-law shall prohibit the issuance of such special permits to any person convicted of violating the provisions of section sixty-three of chapter one hundred and nineteen or section twenty-eight of chapter two hundred and seventy-two.
As used in this section, the following words shall have the following meanings:—“Adult bookstore”, an establishment having as a substantial or significant portion of its stock in trade, books, magazines, and other matter which are distinguished or characterized by their emphasis depicting, describing, or relating to sexual conduct or sexual excitement as defined in section thirty-one of chapter two hundred and seventy-two.
“Adult motion picture theatre”, an enclosed building used for presenting material distinguished by an emphasis on matter depicting, describing, or relating to sexual conduct or sexual excitement as defined in section thirty-one of chapter two hundred and seventy-two.
“Adult paraphernalia store,” an establishment having as a substantial or significant portion of its stock devices, objects, tools, or toys which are distinguished or characterized by their association with sexual activity, including sexual conduct or sexual excitement as defined in section thirty-one of chapter two hundred and seventy-two.
“Adult video store,” an establishment having as a substantial or significant portion of its stock in trade, videos, movies, or other film material which are distinguished or characterized by their emphasis depicting, describing, or relating to sexual conduct or sexual excitement as defined in said section thirty-one of said chapter two hundred and seventy-two.
“Establishment which displays live nudity for its patrons”, any establishment which provides live entertainment for its patrons, which includes the display of nudity, as that term is defined in section thirty-one of chapter two hundred and seventy-two.
Zoning ordinances or by-laws shall provide that special permits shall only be issued following public hearings held within sixty-five days after filing of an application with the special permit granting authority, a copy of which shall forthwith be given to the city or town clerk by the applicant, and may provide that certain classes of special permits shall be issued by one special permit granting authority and others by another special permit granting authority as provided in the ordinance or by-law. Such special permit granting authority shall adopt and from time to time amend rules relative to the issuance of such permits, and shall file a copy of said rules in the office of the city or town clerk. Such rules shall prescribe a size, form, contents, style and number of copies of plans and specifications and the procedure for a submission and approval of such permits.
Special permit granting authorities shall act within ninety days following a public hearing for which notice has been given by publication or posting as provided in section eleven, and by mailing to all parties in interest; provided, however, that a city council having more than five members designated to act upon such a permit may appoint a committee of such council to hold the public hearing. Failure by a special permit granting authority to take final action upon an application for a special permit within said ninety days following the date of public hearing shall be deemed to be a grant of the permit applied for. Special permits issued by a special permit granting authority shall require a two-thirds vote of boards with more than five members, a vote of at least four members of a five member board and a unanimous vote of a three member board. Zoning ordinances or by-laws shall provide that a special permit granted under this section shall lapse within a specified period of time, not more than two years, and including such time required to pursue or await the determination of an appeal referred to in section seventeen, from the grant thereof, if a substantial use thereof has not sooner commenced except for good cause or, in the case of permit for construction, if construction has not begun by such date except for good cause.
Any existing adult bookstore, adult motion picture theater, adult paraphernalia store or establishment which displays live nudity for its patrons, or adult video store shall apply for such permit within ninety days following the adoption of said zoning ordinance or by-law by a municipality.
Nothing contained herein shall be construed as limiting the power and authority of cities and towns to regulate the use of land, structures or buildings through by-law or zoning ordinance.
Section 9B. Zoning ordinances or by-laws adopted or amended pursuant to section five of this chapter may encourage the use of solar energy systems and protect solar access by regulation of the orientation of streets, lots and buildings, maximum building height limits, minimum building set back requirements, limitations on the type, height and placement of vegetation and other provisions. Zoning ordinances or by-laws may also establish buffer zones and additional districts that protect solar access which overlap existing zoning districts. Zoning ordinances or by-laws may further regulate the planting and trimming of vegetation on public property to protect the solar access of private and public solar energy systems and buildings. Solar energy systems may be exempted from set back, building height, and roof and lot coverage restrictions.
Zoning ordinances or by-laws may also provide for special permits to protect access to direct sunlight for solar energy systems. Such ordinances or by-laws may provide that such solar access permits would create an easement to sunlight over neighboring property. Such ordinances or by-laws may also specify what constitutes an impermissible interference with the right to direct sunlight granted by a solar access permit and how to regulate growing vegetation that may interfere with such right. Such ordinances or by-laws may further provide standards for the issuance of solar access permits balancing the need of solar energy systems for direct sunlight with the right of neighboring property owners to the reasonable use of their property within other zoning restrictions. Such ordinances or by-laws may also provide a process for issuance of solar access permits including, but not limited to, notification of affected neighboring property owners, opportunity for a hearing, appeal process and recordation of such permits on burdened and benefited property deeds. Such ordinances or by-laws may further provide for establishment of a solar map identifying all local properties burdened or benefited by solar access permits. Such ordinances or by-laws may also require the examination of such solar maps by the appropriate official prior to the issuance of a building permit.
charges of owner; family incomes Section 9C. As used in this section, the term “child care facility” shall mean a day care center or a school age child care program, as those terms are defined in section nine of chapter twenty-eight A.
When any zoning ordinance or bylaw in any city or town limits the floor area of any structure, such floor area shall be measured exclusive of any portion of such structure in which a child care facility is to be operated as an accessory or incidental use, and the otherwise allowable floor area of such structure shall be increased by an amount equal to the floor area of such child care facility up to a maximum increase of ten per cent. In any case where the otherwise allowable floor area of a structure has been increased pursuant to the provisions of this section, the portion of such structure in which a child care facility is to be operated as an accessory or incidental use shall not be used for any other purpose unless, following the completion of such structure, the board authorized to grant variances under such zoning ordinance or bylaw shall have determined, with the written concurrence of the office for children, that the public interest and convenience do not require the operation of such facility. The procedures governing the granting of variances, including all rights of appeal, shall apply to any such determination.
The owner of a building as to which the allowable floor area has been increased pursuant to this section shall be allowed to charge the operator of the child care facility for the following: the cost of utilities used by the child care facility, a reasonable building operating fee for the costs of maintenance, cleaning and security, and real estate taxes for the portion of the building which is the child care facility, if such facility is operated by a for-profit provider. The owner shall not impose a charge for the cost of alterations necessary to meet the requirements of the office for children regarding the physical facility of a day care center. Any person operating a child care facility in a portion of a structure which is to be used only for such purpose pursuant to the provisions of this section shall use best efforts to assure that at least fifty per cent of the children utilizing such facility are from families whose income is not more than one hundred and ten per cent of the median family income of the commonwealth.
Section 1. This chapter shall be designated and may be known as “The regional planning law”.
Chapter 40B: Section 10. Membership; termination Section 10. Upon the designation of the regional planning and economic development district by the director of economic development, all cities and towns within the boundaries of the district shall become members of the district. The director of economic development may from time to time review the boundaries of the district so established and, if he deems it in the best interest of the district, he may with approval of a majority of the members of the regional planning and economic development commission include additional cities and towns, or he may exclude cities and towns from said district; provided, however, that prior to such increase or decrease in the membership of the district, the director of economic development shall consult with the mayor of a city, or the city manager in a city having a Plan D or Plan E form of government, or the selectmen of a town to be included or excluded from such district.
The city or town may, after it has been a member of a regional planning and economic development district for a period of not less than five consecutive calendar years, terminate its membership in the district by a two thirds vote of the city council or by vote of a town meeting or town in favor of terminating such membership. Said termination shall become effective at the end of the calendar year within which said termination is voted.
Chapter 40B: Section 11. Dissolution of regional planning districts; transitional provisions; procedure Section 11. If the district boundary of the regional planning and economic development district established in accordance with section nine includes a majority of cities and towns organized as a regional planning district pursuant to this chapter, said regional planning district shall be dissolved upon the organization of a regional planning and economic development district.
When the Southeastern Massachusetts Regional Planning District is dissolved and a successor district is established in accordance with the provisions of section nine, the jurisdiction and responsibility of said Southeastern Massachusetts Regional Planning District shall be transferred to the successor district and commission and all records, reports, studies, documents, plans and property including all assets and liabilities of said district or commission shall be transferred forthwith to the custody, control and responsibility of the regional planning and economic development commission. Upon the effective date of any such dissolution, all of the permanent or temporary employees of such district or commission shall be transferred to the regional planning and economic development district without impairment of retirement rights and without reduction in compensation or salary grade; provided, however, that nothing in this section shall be construed to confer upon any employee any tenure of office or employment or any rights not held prior to such transfer. The adopted plans and policies of said district so dissolved pertaining to regional planning considerations shall be deemed to be and shall continue to have full force and effect until modified by the commission of the successor district. No such dissolution of a previously established district and no establishment of a district in accordance with section nine shall become effective except in compliance with the following procedure: upon receipt of notification from the director of economic development that he intends to establish a district in accordance with section nine, the city manager in a city having a city manager and the mayor in any other city, the board of selectmen, and the planning board of each city and town therein shall not later than twenty days from the date of notification appoint or designate the respective commission members to serve in the interim period until March thirty-first next, provided, however, that in the case of a planning board which had previously appointed a member of a regional planning commission established in accordance with this chapter, each such planning board shall appoint the same member to the commission established in accordance with section nine for said interim period if said member is willing to accept said appointment, but shall otherwise appoint in accordance with this section. The commission members so designated shall not later than thirty-five days from the date of said notification, elect officers in accordance with section fifteen. Upon receipt of notification from the commission so established, that there has been compliance with the foregoing procedures, the director of economic development shall forthwith notify the state secretary who shall issue a certificate of organization to said district which shall be conclusive evidence of the establishment and organization of said district, and, the director of economic development shall forthwith dissolve the previously established regional planning district.
Chapter 40B: Section 12. Commission; membership; appointment; term Section 12. In the regional planning and economic development district established pursuant to section nine, there shall be a regional planning and economic development commission which shall consist of the mayor of each city, or in a city that has a Plan D or Plan E form of government the city manager, or their designees, a member appointed by the board of selectmen of each town included within said district who need not be a member of the board of selectmen, a member appointed by the planning board of each such city or town who need not be a member of the planning board. Each member shall be appointed for a term of one year commencing June first of the year appointed to May thirty-first of the succeeding year, and the appointment or reappointment of each member shall be certified annually to the commission by the appointing authority in the month of May. Notwithstanding any of the foregoing provisions, the commission may increase its membership by not more than six in order to provide representation to low-income and minority groups.
Chapter 40B: Section 13. Advisory committee; membership; appointment; term; removal; vacancies Section 13. Twenty-one persons residing within the district shall be appointed to an advisory committee for the purpose of providing advice and guidance to said commission and said persons shall be representative of business, labor, professional and civic organizations and other economic interests within the district. Nine members shall be appointed by the director of economic development with the approval of the governor, and twelve members shall be appointed by the commission. Of the initial appointees of the director of economic development, three shall be appointed for a term of one year, three for a term of two years and three for a term of three years. Of the initial appointees of said commission, four shall be appointed for a term of one year, four for a term of two years and four for a term of three years. Upon the expiration of a term of a member of the advisory committee or upon written resignation, his successor shall be appointed in like manner for a term of three years, or for the balance of the unexpired term. A member may be removed and a vacancy declared by majority vote of the advisory committee at a regular meeting thereof, consequent upon three consecutive absences from regular advisory committee meetings, and his successor shall be appointed in like manner as the original appointment for the balance of the unexpired term. Each member of said advisory committee shall continue to serve as such until his successor is appointed and qualified. The commission shall, in its by-laws, provide appropriate procedures for the referral of problems, issues and policies for deliberation by the advisory committee.
Chapter 40B: Section 14. Powers and duties Section 14. The regional planning and economic development district established under the provisions of section nine shall have the following powers and duties:(a) to adopt a corporate seal;(b) to sue and be sued, but only to the same extent and upon the same conditions that a town may sue or be sued;(c) to rent, lease or otherwise to acquire quarters for the housing of the commission and the staff thereof;(d) to receive and disburse funds from any public or private sources for any district purposes.
In addition to the foregoing, the district, acting through the commission or any committees thereof, shall have the following additional powers and duties;(e) to conduct studies of the resources, problems and needs of the district, and, on the basis of such studies, to prepare and, from time to time, revise both comprehensive regional plans and comprehensive economic development programs for the district and for such part or parts thereof as the commission may deem advisable, including recommendations for the physical, social and economic improvement of the district. Such plans and recommendations shall be adopted and may be changed or supplemented from time to time by a majority vote of the commission and shall be a public record; and to conduct feasibility and implementation studies for public facilities and programs and for public and private development projects which are consistent with and which would tend to implement the objectives and recommendations of the commission;(f) to conduct research, surveys, analyses and compile such data, maps, charts and tables and other pertinent or necessary information for the purpose of formulating regional and subregional goals, objectives, policies, plans and programs and for project proposals related to the comprehensive physical, social and economic development and redevelopment of the resources and facilities of the district and its subdistricts;(g) to cooperate with and to assist each city and town in the district to coordinate its planning and economic development activities with the district so as to obtain maximum benefits for the district and for each city and town from such activities;(h) to cooperate with and to assist agencies of the commonwealth and the United States government in fulfilling the purposes and objectives of the district;(i) to recommend appropriate action by public and private organizations and agencies to implement the recommendations prepared by the commission;(j) to provide technical advice, assistance and guidance to cities and towns, to other public agencies and to development organizations and to private businesses in the district in implementing the objectives and recommendations of the commission, in undertaking planning and economic development programs, and in making application for federal financial assistance;(k) to compile and maintain a system for the collection and dissemination of information and statistics relevant to the district, and to make such information available to public agencies and to private organizations and individuals engaged in activities which tend to implement the objectives and recommendations of the commission;(l) to approve or disapprove by majority vote such plans for the development and redevelopment of the district or parts thereof, as may be laid before it. The approval or disapproval of any such plan or any such recommendation of the commission shall be advisory only; provided, however, that the commission shall have the power to exercise such approval or disapproval as a regional or metropolitan planning or development agency acting pursuant to the requirements of any publicly aided program applicable to the district or to any part thereof;(m) to advertise and otherwise to promote the implementation of the plans and recommendations of the commission and the economic and industrial development of the district;(n) to sponsor conferences, institutes, seminars and training programs on behalf of the district and the cities and towns therein for the purpose of developing the capabilities of commission members, commission staff, other public officials and employees and development organizations, to assist in preparing and implementing the plans and recommendations of the commission;(o) to undertake comprehensive and special planning and economic development programs and projects for any part or parts of the district, and, for such purpose to assist intermunicipal cooperation and to delineate, establish and administer subregional district organizations as administrative subdivisions of the district and commission.
Except as otherwise prohibited by law said district and commission is further authorized to act as and to assume the duties, obligations and responsibilities of an economic development district designated pursuant to the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965.
The commission shall report annually on or before February first to the city councils and town meetings of the cities and towns in the district as to the plans and recommendations of the commission and the status thereof. The commission shall make and publish such reports as the commission shall deem appropriate for the purpose of accomplishing, promoting and explaining the objectives and recommendations of the district.
Said district may not authorize debt in anticipation of revenue to be received by the district unless the regional planning and economic development commission of said district so votes in accordance with section eight.
Chapter 40B: Section 15. Executive officers; committees; meetings; rules and records; expenses Section 15. The commission shall elect annually at its meeting held in the month of June by and from its members a chairman, a vice-chairman, a secretary and a treasurer, each of whom shall hold office until his successor is elected and qualified. The commission shall from time to time fill any vacancy in such an office for the unexpired term thereof.
The immediate past chairman shall be an officer ex-officio.
The commission may also elect an assistant treasurer who may exercise all the powers and duties of the treasurer in the absence of the treasurer.
The commission shall meet during the months of February, April, June and October and at such other times as the commission shall determine.
The commission shall establish rules of procedure for its activities and the activities of all committees, and shall keep a complete and accurate record of the substance of its meetings, transactions, resolutions, findings and determinations, all of which shall be a public record.
The executive director, treasurer and assistant treasurer shall give the commission a bond, with a surety company authorized to transact business in the commonwealth as surety for the faithful performance of their duties in such sum and upon such conditions as the commission may require.
There may be an executive committee, elected annually, consisting of (1) the officers of the commission, who shall serve as the officers of the executive committee, (2) four members of the commission who shall be elected by a majority vote of the commission and who shall be selectmen or designees of selectmen, (3) four members of the commission who shall be elected by a majority vote of the commission and who shall be representatives of the planning boards, and (4) the mayor or city manager or his designee of each city serving as a member of the commission; provided, however, that each redevelopment area within the district as designated by the Secretary of Commerce of the United States pursuant to the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965, shall be entitled to have at least one member on the executive committee among the members who are either mayors or their designees or the selectmen or their appointees.
The commission may appoint from among its members such other special and standing committees as it shall deem necessary and all such committees shall exercise such powers, discharge such responsibilities, and perform such duties as the commission may delegate thereto by vote or by its by-laws. The commission, at its discretion, may appoint additional persons to any such committee from outside the membership of the commission; provided, that in no case shall the number of such additional persons exceed two thirds of the number of commission members on such standing and special committees, and if the application of the two-thirds percentage results in a fractional number, in order to facilitate such appointment the number of such additional persons on said committees may be the next highest digit.
The members of the commission shall serve without compensation, but the officers shall receive payment for necessary expenses, including travel incurred in the performance of their duties.
The commission shall establish such technical advisory committees as may be needed to assist the executive director in planning and developing the programs and projects of the commission. The commission, at its discretion, may appoint additional persons to any committee from outside the membership of the commission. The chairman, commissioner or head of any state, county or municipal agency, and any public authority operating within the district if permitted by its trust indentures to do so, shall delegate one or more well qualified representatives from the agency or authority to serve on any of the said technical advisory committees when so requested by the commission.
Chapter 40B: Section 16. Executive director; employees; tenure; compensation Section 16. The commission shall employ, and may remove, an executive director, who shall be qualified by education, training and experience in economic development, regional and program planning, and community relations. The executive director, on behalf of and with the approval of the commission, shall employ and appoint all other employees of the commission, including temporary or part-time personnel. The executive director and other employees of the commission shall not be subject to chapter thirty-one nor to section nine A of chapter thirty. The commission shall determine and establish the compensation and other terms, conditions and benefits of employment for all employees of the commission.
Chapter 40B: Section 17. Contracts; expenditures and obligations Section 17. The commission is authorized to enter into contracts and agreements with any department, agency or subdivision of federal or state government and any individual, corporation, association or public authority to provide or to receive services, facilities, staff assistance or money payments in connection with the work of the commission, and the commission may contribute or receive services, facilities, staff assistance or money payments as consideration in such contracts or agreements. The commission shall approve all contracts which shall be signed by the chairman and treasurer.
The commission may make expenditures and incur obligations for services and other expenses, subject to the following conditions and limitations: The commission may expend such amounts in addition to its annual assessment upon the cities and towns in the district as the commission may receive under any federal or state law, or by gift, grant, contract or agreement from any source, including grants, bequests, gifts or contributions made by any individual, corporation, association, public authority or department, agency or subdivision of the federal or state government.
Chapter 40B: Section 18. Estimate of costs; fiscal year; assessment; limitation; payment; reserve funds; audit Section 18. The commission so established shall not later than fifty days from the issuance of a certificate of organization by the state secretary prepare an estimate of the amount of money required to pay the costs and expenses of the district for the current fiscal year and, in the case of the district being dissolved for the purpose of organizing a district in accordance with section nine, the costs and expenses of said predecessor district incurred during the current fiscal year for which funds are not otherwise available, and, after first subtracting from such estimate of costs the amount of unexpended monies in the custody of the commission which were previously received by the predecessor district from member cities and towns for the expenses of the current fiscal year, the commission shall apportion, assess and certify for payment the amount so determined in accordance with this section.
Each city and town treasurer shall not later than thirty days from the receipt of said certification pay the amount so apportioned and certified from any monies available in the treasury of each such city or town, and the board of assessors of each such city or town shall include said amount in the assessment for the annual tax levy if such tax levy has not been assessed, but otherwise shall include said amount in the next annual tax levy in addition to any amount to be raised for the purposes of the commission for the next fiscal year in accordance with this section.
The commission shall operate on a fiscal year beginning with July first and ending with the following June thirtieth. The commission shall, annually in the month of October, estimate the amount of money required to be assessed upon the cities and towns in the district necessary to pay the cost and expenses of the district for the following fiscal year. The amount so determined for the district shall not exceed a sum equivalent to thirty cents per capita of the population of the district or fifty thousand dollars, whichever is the greatest amount; and said amount shall be apportioned and assessed upon each city and town in the district in the proportion which the population of each such city or town bears to the total population of the district, provided, however, that the population of the district and of each city and town shall be the population as determined by the most recent national decennial census exclusive of the population in any county, state or federal institutions otherwise included in such census. The amounts so apportioned for each city and town shall, prior to December thirty-first of each year, be certified by the district treasurer to the treasurers of each city and town within the district. Each city and town treasurer shall pay the amount so apportioned by the district treasurer not later than July tenth of the fiscal year for which the apportionment is made, and shall make such payment from any monies available in the treasury of each such city or town. The district treasurer shall submit a duplicate copy of the aforementioned certification to the board of assessors of each city and town, and each such board of assessors shall include said amounts in the assessment for the annual tax levy according to the procedures specified in section twenty-one of chapter fifty-nine; provided, however, that if the annual tax levy is determined by any such board of assessors prior to receiving a copy of said certification, the board of assessors shall include as money to be raised in the tax levy an amount equal to twenty cents per capita of the population of the city or town as determined aforesaid, and, if said amount is less than the amount actually certified by the district treasurer, the difference shall be included as money to be raised in the next annual tax levy.
Payments for the expenses of the district shall be made by the treasurer or assistant treasurer only upon a warrant for such payment approved by a majority of the commission or, if so delegated, by a majority of the executive committee or by a majority of such other committee as the commission may delegate by its by-laws to exercise such approval.
Said regional planning and economic development district may accumulate reserve funds for, but not limited to, the purposes of funding the purchase and replacement of capital equipment and participating in state and federal programs, provided, that such accumulated reserve funds may not exceed the estimated proportion of the district commission’s costs and expenses to be paid by the member cities and towns during the next fiscal year.
The director of accounts in the department of corporations and taxation shall annually cause an audit to be made of the accounts of the commission. A report thereon shall be made to the chairman of the commission and a copy thereof shall be sent in a city having a city manager to said city manager and in all other cities to the mayor, the board of selectmen of each town and to each planning board in the district.
Chapter 40B: Section 19. Data exchange between agencies Section 19. There shall be a mutual exchange between the commission and all agencies of the commonwealth and of each political subdivision thereof within the district, of data, records, and information within their knowledge and control pertaining to the district, or to parts thereof which may be required for the preparation of programs designed to achieve the purposes of this chapter.
Section 2. The purpose of this chapter is to permit a city or town to plan jointly with cities or towns to promote with the greatest efficiency and economy the co-ordinated and orderly development of the areas within their jurisdiction and the general welfare and prosperity of their citizens.
Chapter 40B: Section 20. Definitions Section 20. The following words, wherever used in this section and in sections twenty-one to twenty-three, inclusive, shall, unless a different meaning clearly appears from the context, have the following meanings:—“Low or moderate income housing”, any housing subsidized by the federal or state government under any program to assist the construction of low or moderate income housing as defined in the applicable federal or state statute, whether built or operated by any public agency or any nonprofit or limited dividend organization.
“Uneconomic”, any condition brought about by any single factor or combination of factors to the extent that it makes it impossible for a public agency or nonprofit organization to proceed in building or operating low or moderate income housing without financial loss, or for a limited dividend organization to proceed and still realize a reasonable return in building or operating such housing within the limitations set by the subsidizing agency of government on the size or character of the development or on the amount or nature of the subsidy or on the tenants, rentals and income permissible, and without substantially changing the rent levels and units sizes proposed by the public, nonprofit or limited dividend organizations.
“Consistent with local needs”, requirements and regulations shall be considered consistent with local needs if they are reasonable in view of the regional need for low and moderate income housing considered with the number of low income persons in the city or town affected and the need to protect the health or safety of the occupants of the proposed housing or of the residents of the city or town, to promote better site and building design in relation to the surroundings, or to preserve open spaces, and if such requirements and regulations are applied as equally as possible to both subsidized and unsubsidized housing. Requirements or regulations shall be consistent with local needs when imposed by a board of zoning appeals after comprehensive hearing in a city or town where (1) low or moderate income housing exists which is in excess of ten per cent of the housing units reported in the latest federal decennial census of the city or town or on sites comprising one and one half per cent or more of the total land area zoned for residential, commercial or industrial use or (2) the application before the board would result in the commencement of construction of such housing on sites comprising more than three tenths of one per cent of such land area or ten acres, whichever is larger, in any one calendar year; provided, however, that land area owned by the United States, the commonwealth or any political subdivision thereof, or any public authority shall be excluded from the total land area referred to above when making such determination of consistency with local needs.
“Local Board”, any town or city board of survey, board of health, board of subdivision control appeals, planning board, building inspector or the officer or board having supervision of the construction of buildings or the power of enforcing municipal building laws, or city council or board of selectmen.
Chapter 40B: Section 21. Low or moderate income housing; applications for approval of proposed construction; hearing; appeal Section 21. Any public agency or limited dividend or nonprofit organization proposing to build low or moderate income housing may submit to the board of appeals, established under section twelve of chapter forty A, a single application to build such housing in lieu of separate applications to the applicable local boards. The board of appeals shall forthwith notify each such local board, as applicable, of the filing of such application by sending a copy thereof to such local boards for their recommendations and shall, within thirty days of the receipt of such application, hold a public hearing on the same. The board of appeals shall request the appearance at said hearing of such representatives of said local boards as are deemed necessary or helpful in making its decision upon such application and shall have the same power to issue permits or approvals as any local board or official who would otherwise act with respect to such application, including but not limited to the power to attach to said permit or approval conditions and requirements with respect to height, site plan, size or shape, or building materials as are consistent with the terms of this section. The board of appeals, in making its decision on said application, shall take into consideration the recommendations of the local boards and shall have the authority to use the testimony of consultants. The board of appeals shall adopt rules, not inconsistent with the purposes of this chapter, for the conduct of its business pursuant to this chapter and shall file a copy of said rules with the city or town clerk. The provisions of section eleven of chapter forty A shall apply to all such hearings. The board of appeals shall render a decision, based upon a majority vote of said board, within forty days after the termination of the public hearing and, if favorable to the applicant, shall forthwith issue a comprehensive permit or approval. If said hearing is not convened or a decision is not rendered within the time allowed, unless the time has been extended by mutual agreement between the board and the applicant, the application shall be deemed to have been allowed and the comprehensive permit or approval shall forthwith issue. Any person aggrieved by the issuance of a comprehensive permit or approval may appeal to the court as provided in section seventeen of chapter forty A.
Chapter 40B: Section 22. Appeal to housing appeals committee; procedure; judicial review Section 22. Whenever an application filed under the provisions of section twenty-one is denied, or is granted with such conditions and requirements as to make the building or operation of such housing uneconomic, the applicant shall have the right to appeal to the housing appeals committee in the department of housing and community development for a review of the same. Such appeal shall be taken within twenty days after the date of the notice of the decision by the board of appeals by filing with said committee a statement of the prior proceedings and the reasons upon which the appeal is based. The committee shall forthwith notify the board of appeals of the filing of such petition for review and the latter shall, within ten days of the receipt of such notice, transmit a copy of its decision and the reasons therefor to the committee. Such appeal shall be heard by the committee within twenty days after receipt of the applicant’s statement. A stenographic record of the proceedings shall be kept and the committee shall render a written decision, based upon a majority vote, stating its findings of fact, its conclusions and the reasons therefor within thirty days after the termination of the hearing, unless such time shall have been extended by mutual agreement between the committee and the applicant. Such decision may be reviewed in the superior court in accordance with the provisions of chapter thirty A.
Chapter 40B: Section 23. Hearing by housing appeals committee; issues; powers of disposition; orders; enforcement Section 23. The hearing by the housing appeals committee in the department of housing and community development shall be limited to the issue of whether, in the case of the denial of an application, the decision of the board of appeals was reasonable and consistent with local needs and, in the case of an approval of an application with conditions and requirements imposed, whether such conditions and requirements make the construction or operation of such housing uneconomic and whether they are consistent with local needs. If the committee finds, in the case of a denial, that the decision of the board of appeals was unreasonable and not consistent with local needs, it shall vacate such decision and shall direct the board to issue a comprehensive permit or approval to the applicant. If the committee finds, in the case of an approval with conditions and requirements imposed, that the decision of the board makes the building or operation of such housing uneconomic and is not consistent with local needs, it shall order such board to modify or remove any such condition or requirement so as to make the proposal no longer uneconomic and to issue any necessary permit or approval; provided, however, that the committee shall not issue any order that would permit the building or operation of such housing in accordance with standards less safe than the applicable building and site plan requirements of the federal Housing Administration or the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency, whichever agency is financially assisting such housing. Decisions or conditions and requirements imposed by a board of appeals that are consistent with local needs shall not be vacated, modified or removed by the committee notwithstanding that such decisions or conditions and requirements have the effect of making the applicant’s proposal uneconomic.
The housing appeals committee or the petitioner shall have the power to enforce the orders of the committee at law or in equity in the superior court. The board of appeals shall carry out the order of the hearing appeals committee within thirty days of its entry and, upon failure to do so, the order of said committee shall, for all purposes, be deemed to be the action of said board, unless the petitioner consents to a different decision or order by such board.
Chapter 40B: Section 24. Metropolitan area planning council; composition; appointments; vacancies Section 24. There shall be a metropolitan area planning council, in this section and in sections twenty-five to twenty-nine, inclusive, called the council. Said council shall consist of one representative from each city and town of the metropolitan area planning district who shall be appointed by the mayor or, if the city has a manager, by the city manager, and in the case of a town, by the board of selectmen or, if the town has a manager, by the town manager, twenty-one persons to be appointed by the governor of which number there shall be sufficient representation of minority and low-income groups so as to substantially represent their viewpoints in the area to be served by the council; and the following officers or their respective designees who shall be members ex officiis: — the chairman of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, the chairman of the Massachusetts Port Authority, the chairman of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, the commissioner of the metropolitan district commission, the chairman of the board of directors of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, the commissioner of highways, the director of economic development, the director of housing and community development, the commissioner of environmental protection, the chairman of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, the commissioner of public works of the city of Boston and the executive director of the Boston Water and Sewer Commission.
Upon the expiration of the term of any appointed member, his successor shall be appointed in like manner for a term of three years. The appropriate appointing authority shall fill any vacancy for the remainder of the unexpired term.
Chapter 40B: Section 25. Council; officers; meetings; rules of procedure; report; treasurer’s bond; powers and duties Section 25. The council shall elect annually by and from its members a president, vice-president, secretary and a treasurer, each of whom shall hold his office until his successor is elected and qualified. Election of said officers shall be held annually in the month of May, and the officers elected shall commence their terms on the fourth Wednesday of May.
The council shall meet three times a year at the call of the president and at such other times as the council may determine.
It shall establish rules of procedure for its activities and the activities of the executive committee and shall keep a record of its meetings, transactions, resolutions, findings and determinations, all of which shall be a public record. The council shall make an annual report to the general court.
The treasurer shall give the council a bond, with a surety company authorized to transact business in the commonwealth as surety, for the faithful performance of his duties in such sum and upon such conditions as the council may require.
The council shall maintain the fullest cooperation with cities and towns in the district and shall render them all possible assistance in their planning activities, especially when two or more of the municipalities have common problems.
The council shall have and exercise the same powers and duties of the regional planning and economic development district as set forth in section fourteen.
Chapter 40B: Section 26. Establishment; composition Section 26. There is hereby established a metropolitan area planning district, in this section and sections twenty-seven to twenty-nine, inclusive, called the district, consisting of the following cities and towns:—and any other city which by vote of its city council and any other town which by vote of a town meeting applies to the council to be included in the district and whose application is approved by a majority vote of the council; provided, that any such city or town is within an area which is being urbanized and which adjoins the metropolitan area planning district and has common or related urban planning problems.
The district shall constitute a public body politic and corporate and, if designated by the Secretary of Commerce of the United States, shall be an economic development district in accordance with the provisions of the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965.
Chapter 40B: Section 27. Mutual exchange of data, etc. between council and other governmental agencies Section 27. There shall be a mutual exchange, between the council and all offices, boards, commissions, departments, divisions and agencies of the commonwealth, and all offices, boards, commissions and departments of each political subdivision of the commonwealth within the district, and all public authorities operating within the district, of data, records and information within their knowledge and control pertaining to the district, or to parts thereof, which may be required for the preparation of plans made pursuant to section twenty-five; provided, however, that no such public authority shall be required to expend any funds for such purposes in contravention of its trust indentures.
Chapter 40B: Section 28. Executive committee of council; composition; powers and duties; executive director; staff; technical advisory committees Section 28. There shall be an executive committee which shall be composed of a chairman, who shall be the president of the council, a vice-chairman, who shall be the vice-president of the council, a secretary, who shall be the secretary of the council, and a treasurer, who shall be the treasurer of the council. In addition, five members shall be elected from the representatives of cities; provided, that one such member elected shall be the representative of the city of Boston; five members shall be elected from representatives of the towns; five members shall be elected from the persons appointed by the governor; five members shall be elected from the ex officiis members. In addition, the immediate past president, if a council member, shall serve on the executive committee with full voting rights. Each member of the committee shall serve for a term of one year or until a successor has been duly qualified, except for the immediate past president, who shall serve so long as he remains the immediate past president and a member of the council.
Action taken by the executive committee shall be in the name of and in behalf of the council. The executive committee shall engage, and may remove, an executive director, who shall be specially qualified by education, training and experience in the fields of regional planning and community relations, and shall determine his salary, and shall approve the selection and compensation of a technically qualified staff to discharge the professional duties of the council. The executive committee shall be responsible for the supervision of the executive director and for the preparation of an annual budget, to be submitted to the council for its consideration, for the disbursements of council funds, and for the performance of such other duties as may be assigned by the council. The members of the executive committee shall serve without compensation, but shall be reimbursed for necessary expenses, including travel, incurred in the performance of their duties. The executive director shall be responsible to the executive committee and shall act for said committee at its direction. The executive director shall not be subject to chapter thirty-one nor to section nine A of chapter thirty.
The executive director, with the approval of the executive committee, shall appoint, and may remove, as members of the staff, such officers and employees as the work of the council may require, who shall not be subject to chapter thirty-one nor to section nine A of chapter thirty.
The executive director, with the approval of the executive committee, may hire temporary or part-time experts or consultants who shall not be subject to the provisions of chapters thirty-one and thirty-two.
The executive committee shall establish such technical advisory committees as may be needed to assist the executive director in exploring, planning and developing the programs and projects of the council. The chairman, commissioner or head of any state, county or municipal body or public authority operating within the district, if permitted by its trust indentures so to do, shall delegate one or more well qualified representatives from his agency to serve on any of said technical advisory committees when so requested by the executive committee.
Chapter 40B: Section 29. Inter-agency agreements; expenditures; assessments; gifts, grants, etc.
; fund Section 29. The council is authorized to enter into contracts and agreements with any department, agency or subdivision of the federal or state government and any individual, corporation, association or public authority to provide or receive services, facilities, staff assistance or money payments in connection with the work of the council, and the council may contribute or receive services, facilities, staff assistance or money payments as consideration in such contracts and agreements.
The council may expend for services and other expenses such amounts as are assessed and collected from its member cities and towns together with such amounts as the council may receive under any federal or state law or by gift, grant or contract from any source including grants, bequests, gifts, or contributions made by any individual, corporation, association, public authority, or agency or subdivision of the federal or state governments; provided, however, that any such assessment on such city or town shall not exceed any per capita amount fixed by the council, from time to time, based on the population of such city or town, exclusive of the number of inmates of institutions therein. Such assessment shall not exceed a sum equivalent to fifteen cents per capita for the fiscal year nineteen hundred and seventy-five. Any increase over a previous year’s assessment may only be made by a two-thirds vote of the representatives of cities and towns present and voting at a meeting duly called for the purpose of acting upon such an assessment. The state treasurer shall, subject to the aforesaid limitations, certify the amount to be assessed upon each city and town comprising the district, and said amount shall be paid by such city or town to the state treasurer as provided in section twenty of chapter fifty-nine. Any amounts paid by a city or town to the state treasurer, as provided in this section, shall be credited on the books of the commonwealth to a fund to be known as the Metropolitan Area Planning Council Fund. The state treasurer shall, upon receipt of any such funds and upon a warrant approved by the executive committee of the council, pay such funds over to the treasurer of said council for the operation of its activities.
placement Section 2A. No state agency shall place a city or town individually or severally, within a regional or district grouping without the consent of the governing body of such city or town. The governing body in a town shall be the town meeting and in a city, the city council.
jurisdiction area; rights and liabilities Section 3. Any group of cities, towns, or cities and towns may, by vote of their respective city councils or town meetings, vote to become members of and thus establish a planning district, which shall constitute a public body corporate. After a planning district has been thus established, any other city or town within the district area as hereinafter defined may by vote of its city council or town meeting apply for admission. Upon the affirmative vote of two thirds of the representatives of the cities and towns comprising the district, said city or town shall become a member thereof. The area of jurisdiction of said district shall be an area defined or redefined as an effective regional planning region by the Massachusetts office of business development. All rights, privileges and obligations applicable to the original members of the district shall be applicable to the new members.
employees; meetings Section 4. In each planning district so established there shall be a district planning commission consisting of one member of the planning board of each city and town voting to join such district, elected annually by said planning board and certified in writing to the district planning commission. Said member may be replaced by a two thirds vote of his planning board before the termination of his annual appointment. In the case of the planning board’s failure to elect a delegate in any year the previously named delegate shall continue to serve until his successor is qualified, as long as he shall remain a member of his local planning board. There may be an alternate designee, who may or may not be a planning board member, who shall be a resident of the city or town he represents, appointed annually and certified in writing to the district planning commission by the mayor in a city, confirmed by the council, or in the case of a city with a plan E form of government, appointed annually by the city manager, or in a town by the selectmen or in towns with a manager form of government, by the town manager, who may attend meetings of the district planning commission and who shall assume the rights and duties of the planning board member in his absence. The alternate designee shall be named in writing to the district planning commission annually in order that he may perform the duties and exercise the powers authorized in this section. In a member town which has not established a planning board, the selectmen shall annually appoint a member of the district planning commission. Such district planning commission shall annually elect a chairman, a vice chairman, a treasurer, and a clerk from among its members and alternate designees, and may elect an assistant clerk, from among such members and alternate designees. The treasurer and assistant treasurer shall give the commission a bond, with a surety company authorized to transact business in the commonwealth as surety, for the faithful performance of their duties in such sums and upon such conditions as the commission may require. The said commission may employ experts and clerical and other assistants. All meetings of the commission shall be held at the call of the chairman and at such other times as the commission may determine. A quorum of the commission shall consist of at least one fourth of the duly named members or alternate designees. Lack of a quorum shall not prevent the members at an officially called meeting from coming to order, making motions, discussing or passing a motion to continue said meeting to a later time. The commission shall establish rules of procedure for its activities and shall keep a record of its meetings, transactions, resolutions, findings and determinations, all of which shall be public records.
powers and duties; reports Section 4A. Upon a two-thirds vote of all of the members of the district planning commission there may be established an executive committee, elected annually from the membership of the commission, and consisting of the chairman, vice chairman, if one is elected annually by the commission, the clerk, the assistant clerk, if one is elected annually, the treasurer and at least one but no more than seven members elected at large from the commission membership annually, so that there shall be an uneven number of members of said committee. Actions taken by said executive committee shall be in the name of and on behalf of the commission. Such actions may include one or more of the following listed functions, but only if authorized by a two-thirds vote of the commission’s total membership:—employment of technical staff members, and other professional and clerical assistants; retention of consultants; the disbursement of commission funds based upon a warrant approved by a majority of the executive committee; the borrowing of funds in anticipation of receipt of revenue; applications for federal, state and local aid; the preparation of reviews and comments on proposals of a regional or intercommunity nature, including those referred to the district planning commission under the provisions of Section 204 of the Demonstration Cities and Metropolitan Development Act of 1966, Title IV of the Inter-Governmental Cooperation Act of 1968, and Section 102 of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969; proposed zoning changes near municipal boundaries of member cities and towns; requests for planning related advice; and the establishment of various technical advisory committees. Said executive committee shall report its actions to the full commission at least quarterly, and its authority to exercise such functions heretofore authorized shall be reconfirmed by a two-thirds vote of all of the members annually. Additional functions may be authorized for the executive committee from time to time. Such additions shall also be by a two-thirds vote of the district planning commission membership. The authority given to the executive committee to act on behalf of the commission may be terminated for any function by a majority vote of the commission members and thirty days’ notice to said executive committee.
Section 4B. Each planning district may have a seal consisting of a circular die bearing the words, “Commonwealth of Massachusetts, __________ Regional Planning District, (insert year)”, which seal may be used whenever deemed advisable by the district planning commission on papers and documents issued or executed by the commission or by any officer or employee designated by the commission.
commanding officer as ex officio member of commission Section 4C. Whenever there is located, wholly or partially, within a planning district established hereunder, a federal military installation having a resident population of at least five hundred persons according to the most recent available federal decennial census, the district planning commission may vote to offer to the commanding officer of said federal military installation the privilege of membership for himself or his designee. Upon acceptance by the commanding officer of this offer, he shall be deemed a member ex officio of the district planning commission, and shall assume the same rights and duties as other commission members, except that this ex officio membership shall not continue except by an annual affirmative vote of the majority of the commission.
Section 5. A planning commission established hereunder shall make careful studies of the resources, problems, possibilities and needs of its district and, on the basis of such studies, shall prepare a comprehensive plan of development or a schematic study plan of such district or of such part or parts thereof as the commission may deem necessary and in such plans shall make such recommendations for the physical, social, governmental or economic improvement of the district as in their opinion will be in the best interest of the inhabitants of the district. Such plans and recommendations shall concern, among other things, the general use of the district, including land use, principal highways and expressways, bridges, airports, public utilities, public facilities, parks, recreational areas, public institutions and such other matters as in the opinion of said commission will be beneficial to the district and will promote with the greatest efficiency and economy the coordinated development of the district and the general welfare and prosperity of its people. Before the adoption of any such regional plan or a portion thereof, the district planning commission shall hold at least one public hearing thereon, notice of the time, place and subject of which shall be given. Written notice of such hearing shall be given to each planning board, board of selectmen, and city council. Notice of the time, place and subject of the hearing shall be published at least once in a newspaper having substantial circulation in the region at least ten days before such hearing. Adoption of such plan or portion thereof shall be by a majority vote of the representatives of the district planning commission. Such plan may be amended from time to time in the same manner as hereinbefore provided. A copy of the plan adopted by the commission or any amendments thereto signed by the chairman shall be filed with the town clerk of each member municipality not more than thirty days after commission action. Such plan or portion of a plan shall be a public record. Such district planning commission shall also assist the planning boards of the several cities and towns within the area of its jurisdiction in applying any district plans and recommendations so adopted to the local board’s area of jurisdiction.
Such planning commission shall report annually to the city councils and town meetings of the cities and towns within its district, showing the status of its plans and recommendations. Such plans and recommendations shall be advisory only.
Section 5A. Such commission may enter into an agreement with the water resources commission for the purpose of conducting water favorability studies under the direction of the water resources commission, as authorized by section nine of chapter twenty-one. The district’s share of the cost of such studies shall be assessed against the constituent cities and towns in accordance with the provisions of section seven of this chapter.
authorization to act Section 5B. A district planning commission may, by an affirmative vote of two thirds of the representatives of the cities and towns comprising the district, agree to act as, and to assume the duties, obligations, and responsibilities of, an economic development regional commission for as many of the cities and towns within its area of jurisdiction as it may deem proper and logical, subject to the availability of funds for such purpose; provided, however, that said cities and towns shall be eligible for designation as an economic development region, hereinafter called the region, in accordance with the provisions of the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965. Additional eligible cities and towns may be added to or deleted from the region by an affirmative vote of two thirds of the representatives of the cities and towns comprising the district.
The district planning commission members and alternate designees of the cities and towns comprising the region shall constitute the economic development regional commission. In addition, such technical and advisory committees as are necessary and required by the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965 may be appointed in accordance with the provisions of said Act for the purpose of providing advice and guidance to the region.
The economic development regional commission may prepare economic development programs which shall be public records and may be changed or supplemented from time to time by a majority vote of the representatives of the cities and towns comprising the region. Said regional commission may conduct feasibility and implementation studies for public facilities and programs and develop public and private development projects which are consistent with and which aid in implementing the objectives of said commission. Said regional commission may advertise and otherwise promote the implementation of its plans and recommendations for the economic and industrial development of the region and may sponsor conferences, institutes, seminars and training programs on behalf of the region.
commissions Section 6. The several officers, boards, commissions, departments and divisions of the commonwealth and city and town officials may consult with any such district planning commission and shall furnish or make available to it on request all data and information within their knowledge and control pertaining to the area of jurisdiction of such commission.
disbursement of funds; receipt of gifts; contracts for planning studies and services Section 7. Said commission shall, annually in the month of February, estimate the amount of money required to pay the costs and expenses of the district for the following fiscal year, shall fix and determine the proportion of such costs and expenses to be paid by the constituent cities and towns thereof during such fiscal year which, however, shall not exceed any per capita limit established by the vote of two-thirds of the city councils and town meetings of member cities and towns, and shall certify the amount so determined for each city and town to the assessors thereof who shall include the sum in the tax levy of such fiscal year, provided that the per capita limit of any new member municipality shall not be less than the per capita cost to the member municipalities in the district at the time the new member joined the district. Such apportioned cost shall be on a per capita basis in direct proportion to the population of the city or town and the planning district as they appear in the most recent national census, exclusive of the inmates of county, state or federal institutions, and exclusive of the resident population of federal military installations to which the privilege of ex officio membership has been extended as provided in section four C; provided, however, that the national census or the annual national census estimate, whichever is the most recent, shall be used in any planning district in which the governing body of each city and town comprising such planning district accepts the provisions of this proviso. Upon order of the commission, the treasurer of each constituent municipality thereof shall, from time to time, subject to the provisions of section fifty-two and section fifty-six of chapter forty-one, pay to the district treasurer sums not exceeding the amount certified by the commission as the city’s or town’s share of the costs and expenses of the district. The commission is authorized to determine the amount of payment to be made to the district during the first year of membership of a new city or town in its respective district, but such payment shall not exceed any aforementioned per capita limits. Any such district planning commission established under the authority of this chapter is authorized to receive for its own uses and purposes any funds or moneys from any source, including grants, bequests, gifts or contributions made by the federal, state or municipal governments or by any individual, corporation or association. Any such district planning commission may contract with the federal or state government, or a city or town within such district, or with another district planning commission or planning council for the performance of planning studies and services within the limits of funds available to the district planning commission for such purposes. The treasurer of the district planning commission or, in his absence, the assistant treasurer shall disburse the moneys so received upon an order approved by the chairman of the commission when so authorized by a majority vote of said commission.
municipalities Section 8. The district may authorize debt by a majority vote of the commission in anticipation of revenue to an amount not in excess of that to be received during the current fiscal year from member cities and towns. Notes issued under authority of this section shall be in the name of and upon the full faith and credit of the district, and said notes shall be signed by the treasurer of the district, and the chairman of the district planning commission shall countersign and approve them in the presence of the clerk of the district who shall certify to the fact on the face thereof. Such notes shall be payable, and shall be paid not later than one year from their dates, and shall not be renewed or paid by the issue of new notes, except as provided in section seventeen of chapter forty-four.
Chapter 40B: Section 9. Southeastern regional planning and economic development district; establishment Section 9. The director of economic development may establish a regional planning and economic development district consisting of all the cities and towns in the Southeastern Massachusetts Regional Planning District established under this chapter, and the towns of Plymouth, Plympton, Carver and Kingston, to be known as the Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District, provided a determination is made by the United States Secretary of Commerce that said area is eligible for designation as an economic development district in accordance with the provisions of the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965.
Section 1. This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the Historic Districts Act.
commission Section 10. The commission shall have the following additional powers, functions and duties:—(a) If the commission determines that the construction or alteration for which an application for a certificate of appropriateness has been filed will be appropriate for or compatible with the preservation or
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