reglab/housing_qa huggingface dataset:
MA Gen L ch 44b § 14 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 44b - Community Preservation|Section 14 - State Grants

Section 14. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, every city and town may accept sections 3 to 7, inclusive, and may thereupon receive state grants under section 10. A city or town that accepts said sections 3 to 7, inclusive, shall not be precluded from participating in state grant programs.  State grant programs may include local adoption of this chapter among the criteria for selection of grant recipients. Funds in the Community Preservation Fund may be made available and used by the city or town as the local share for state or federal grants upon recommendation of the community preservation committee and the legislative body, as provided for in section 5, if such grants and such local share are used in a manner consistent with the recommendations of the community preservation committee.
MA Gen L ch 44b § 15 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 44b - Community Preservation|Section 15 - Tort Liability for Destruction of Real Property Purchased With Funds From Chapter

Section 15. (a) A person who, without permission, knowingly carries away or steals, mutilates, destroys, damages, causes to be damaged or cuts any tree, shrub, grass or any other portion of real property purchased by a city or town with funds derived from this chapter shall be liable to the city or town in tort for such actions.  (b) Damages, including punitive damages for willful or wanton violation of this chapter or any rule or regulation issued or adopted hereunder, may be recovered in a civil action brought by the city or town or, upon request of the city or town, by the attorney general. The city or town or, upon request of the city or town, the attorney general, may bring an action for injunctive relief against any person violating this chapter or any rule or regulation issued hereunder. The superior court shall have jurisdiction to enjoin violations, to award damages and to grant such further relief as it may deem appropriate.  (c) Any damages, penalties, costs or interest thereon recovered pursuant to this section shall be deposited into the Community Preservation Fund of the city or town in which the violation occurred.
MA Gen L ch 44b § 16 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 44b - Community Preservation|Section 16 - Amendments to Amount and Computation of Surcharge; Revocation of Secs. 3 to 7

Section 16. (a) At any time after imposition of the surcharge, the legislative body may approve and the voters may accept an amendment to the amount and computation of the surcharge, or to the amount of exemption or exemptions, in the same manner and within the limitations set forth in this chapter, including reducing the surcharge to 1 per cent and committing additional municipal funds pursuant to subsection (b.5) of section 3.  (b) At any time after the expiration of five years after the date on which sections 3 to 7, inclusive, have been accepted in a city or town, said sections may be revoked in the same manner as they were accepted by such city or town, but the surcharge imposed under section 3 shall remain in effect in any such city or town, with respect to unpaid taxes on past transactions and with respect to taxes due on future transactions, until all contractual obligations incurred by the city or town prior to such termination shall have been fully discharged.
MA Gen L ch 44b § 17 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 44b - Community Preservation|Section 17 - Rules and Regulations

Section 17. The commissioner of revenue shall have the authority to promulgate rules and regulations to effect the purposes of this chapter.
MA Gen L ch 45 § 1 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 45 - Public Parks, Playgrounds and the Public Domain|Section 1 - Definitions

Section 1. In this chapter ''town'' shall not include city. In this chapter ''park'' shall include a city or town common dedicated to the use of the public, or appropriated to such use without interruption for a period of twenty years.
MA Gen L ch 45 § 2 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 45 - Public Parks, Playgrounds and the Public Domain|Section 2 - Board of Park Commissioners; Membership; Tenure; Vacancies; Removals

Section 2. A town may elect a board of park commissioners, consisting of three or five persons and prescribe their terms of office, or the members of a town planning board or department of public works, or road commissioners may if so authorized by vote of the town act as park commissioners therein. In a town which has not elected a board of park commissioners or has not authorized the town planning board so to act, the selectmen shall act as such board of park commissioners and have authority to approve or disapprove the acquisition of lands by eminent domain as set forth in section seventy-nine of chapter ninety-two and shall have all other powers and duties of a park commission. The mayor of a city may, with the approval of the city council, appoint a board of park commissioners for said city, consisting of five persons, who shall hold office for terms of one, two, three, four and five years respectively from the first Monday in May next following such appointment, or until their successors are qualified; and thereafter the mayor shall annually, before the first Monday in May, with like approval appoint one such commissioner for a term of five years from said first Monday in May. No member of the city council, clerk or treasurer of such city or town shall be such commissioner. In cities a vacancy in such board shall be filled in like manner for the residue of the unexpired term. A commissioner may be removed by a vote of two thirds of the voters of a town, or by a vote of two thirds of all the members of a city council. Such commissioners shall serve without compensation.
MA Gen L ch 45 § 3 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 45 - Public Parks, Playgrounds and the Public Domain|Section 3 - Acquisition of Property for Parks

Section 3. Any such board may locate public parks within its city or town and for that purpose may take in fee by eminent domain under chapter seventy-nine or by purchase, gift, devise or otherwise, land which it considers desirable therefor, or may take bonds for the conveyance thereof to its city or town, but any such taking by eminent domain or by purchase shall be subject to the provisions of section fourteen of chapter forty. A city or town may take and hold in trust or otherwise any grant, gift, bequest or devise, made for the purpose of laying out or improving any parks therein.
MA Gen L ch 45 § 4 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 45 - Public Parks, Playgrounds and the Public Domain|Section 4 - Connecting Ways; Extent of Power of Eminent Domain

Section 4. Such boards may connect any public park or way, under their control, with any part of the city or town for which they are appointed by taking over any connecting ways, or part thereof leading to such park, and may accept and add to such park any way or part thereof, adjoining and parallel with any boundary line of the same; but the consent of the public authorities having control of such way, and the written consent of a majority of the owners of land abutting thereon, shall first be obtained. They shall have the same power and control over such ways as they have over parks, and a town may invest them with the control, improvement and maintenance of any of the ways thereof for the purpose of carrying out this section. If any such way or part thereof shall pass from the control of any such board, the power and authority over the same shall revert to the public authorities having control of ways in the town in which such way is located.
MA Gen L ch 45 § 5 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 45 - Public Parks, Playgrounds and the Public Domain|Section 5 - Powers and Duties of Boards of Park Commissioners

Section 5. Such boards may lay out and improve public parks, make rules for their use and government, appoint all necessary engineers, surveyors, clerks and other officers, including a police force to act in such parks, define their powers and duties and fix their compensation and do all acts needful for the proper execution of their powers and duties. They shall have the authority given to the mayor, aldermen, selectmen, road commissioners and tree warden respectively by section seven of chapter eighty-four and by chapter eighty-seven, in places under their jurisdiction. Subject to appropriation, such boards shall also have the power to conduct park programs and recreation activities at places other than such public parks.
MA Gen L ch 45 § 5a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 45 - Public Parks, Playgrounds and the Public Domain|Section 5a - Leasing of Concessions; Bids

Section 5A. Whenever the board or officer having charge of the public parks in a city or town having a population of more than fifty thousand determines to lease concessions in any such park, said board or officer shall invite sealed proposals for such leasing which shall be publicly opened and read and shall award the contract for any such concession to the highest responsible bidder who, in the opinion of said board or officer, would be the most suitable from the standpoint of character, reputation and experience to operate such concession, provided, however, that the provisions of this section shall not apply to an award of such a lease to a nonprofit organization or group organized for the purpose of promoting the assistance of youth programs.
MA Gen L ch 45 § 6 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 45 - Public Parks, Playgrounds and the Public Domain|Section 6 - Funds Received for Betterments; Disposition

Section 6. All amounts received for betterments which accrue by the laying out of parks under this chapter shall be applied to the payment of park loans.
MA Gen L ch 45 § 7 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 45 - Public Parks, Playgrounds and the Public Domain|Section 7 - Erection of Buildings in Parks

Section 7. Land taken for or held as a park under this chapter shall be forever kept open and maintained as a public park, and no building which exceeds six hundred square feet in area on the ground shall be erected on a common or park dedicated to the use of the public without leave of the general court; but, except in parks in Boston and in parks comprising less than one hundred acres in extent, structures for shelter, refreshment and other purposes may be erected of such material and in such places as, in the opinion of the fire commissioners, if any, do not endanger buildings beyond the limits of such park. The superior court shall have jurisdiction in equity, upon petition of not less than ten taxable inhabitants of the city or town in which such common or park is located, to restrain the erection of a building on a common or park in violation of this section.
MA Gen L ch 45 § 8 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 45 - Public Parks, Playgrounds and the Public Domain|Section 8 - Use of Parks by Military Forces

Section 8. Without the consent of such board no military organization shall camp, parade, review, or perform any military evolution or exercise in, or enter, any park laid out as aforesaid, except in case of riot, insurrection, rebellion or war.
MA Gen L ch 45 § 9 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 45 - Public Parks, Playgrounds and the Public Domain|Section 9 - Annual Reports of Park Commissioners

Section 9. Such boards shall make reports of their respective doings and detailed statements of all receipts, expenditures and liabilities for the preceding financial year, in towns at the annual town meetings and at such other times as the town directs, and in cities to the city council annually within thirty days after the end of the financial year.
MA Gen L ch 45 § 11 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 45 - Public Parks, Playgrounds and the Public Domain|Section 11 - Restrictions on Height of Buildings on Parkways

Section 11. In a city which by a vote of its city council, or in a town which by vote of a town meeting, accepts this section, or has accepted corresponding provisions of earlier laws, the park commissioners may, in accordance with section thirty-seven of chapter eighty-two, establish a building line distant at no point more than twenty-five feet from any exterior line of a way under their control or the part of a public way on which a park abuts; and the extreme height to which buildings upon such ways may be erected shall be seventy feet exclusive of such steeples, towers, domes, cornices, parapets, balustrades, sculptured ornaments, chimneys and roofs as such board may approve.
MA Gen L ch 45 § 12 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 45 - Public Parks, Playgrounds and the Public Domain|Section 12 - Authorization for Improvement of Open Spaces

Section 12. A city or town having public grounds or open spaces in any of its public ways, which have been or may be designated by it as not needed for public travel, may give the improvement thereof to corporations within its limits organized under section four of chapter one hundred and eighty, which, under the direction of the city council, selectmen or road commissioners, shall have the use, care and control thereof and may grade, drain, curb and fence the same, set out shade or ornamental trees, lay out flower plats and otherwise improve them.
MA Gen L ch 45 § 13 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 45 - Public Parks, Playgrounds and the Public Domain|Section 13 - Trespassing in Parks; Destruction of Park Property; Penalty

Section 13. Any person who wilfully or maliciously drives cattle, horses or other animals, or any vehicle, on or across such grounds or ways, or destroys or removes any fence or railing on such grounds or ways, or plays games thereon, or otherwise interferes with or injures the work of the corporation having the care of the property so injured, shall be punished by a fine of not more than twenty dollars, which shall be paid over to such corporation.
MA Gen L ch 45 § 15 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 45 - Public Parks, Playgrounds and the Public Domain|Section 15 - Playgrounds for Minors

Section 15. Every town having a population of more than five thousand which accepts this section, and every city and town having such population which has accepted corresponding provisions of earlier laws, shall provide and maintain at least one public playground conveniently located and of suitable size and equipment, for the recreation and physical education of the minors of such city or town, and at least one other playground for every additional twenty thousand of its population.
MA Gen L ch 45 § 16 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 45 - Public Parks, Playgrounds and the Public Domain|Section 16 - Procedure for Accepting Law Requiring Playgrounds for Minors

Section 16. In towns which have a population of more than five thousand and which have not already satisfied the provisions of the preceding section or corresponding provisions of earlier laws, upon petition to the selectmen by ten per cent of the voters filed fifteen days before the day of the annual election of town officers, the following question shall be submitted to the town at the next annual meeting or shall be placed on the official ballot, if any, at the next town election: ''Shall section fifteen of chapter forty-five of the General Laws, requiring certain towns to provide public playgrounds, be accepted by this town?'' Said section shall take effect in any town to which it applies upon its acceptance by a majority of the voters voting as aforesaid.
MA Gen L ch 45 § 17 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 45 - Public Parks, Playgrounds and the Public Domain|Section 17 - Temporary Playgrounds

Section 17. If in a town in the metropolitan parks district, or in any city, tenement buildings are built about or contiguous to open spaces, the owners of such buildings may apply to the park commissioners, if any, or, in a city or town of said district having no park commission, to the metropolitan district commission, and said boards may, with the approval of the board of health of the city or town, take a lease of such open spaces for a neighborhood playground for a term not exceeding fifteen years, subject to renewal, at a rental not exceeding the taxes thereon. The owners of such buildings shall have the care and control thereof under the supervision of the park commissioners, or if there are none, of the selectmen.
MA Gen L ch 45 § 17a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 45 - Public Parks, Playgrounds and the Public Domain|Section 17a - Use of Streets for Recreation or Playground Purposes

Section 17A. For the purpose of promoting recreation, play or sport, the city of Boston, by written order of its commissioner of transportation and written approval by its police commissioner, any other city by ordinance and any town by by-law may provide for the closing to vehicular traffic, during periods of time specified in such order, ordinance or by-law, of any public way or part thereof within the limits of such city or town, except a state highway or a parkway or boulevard, having due regard in every instance to the rights of abutting owners and the general public in the use of such way or part thereof.
MA Gen L ch 45 § 18 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 45 - Public Parks, Playgrounds and the Public Domain|Section 18 - Persons Entitled to Use Playgrounds

Section 18. This chapter shall not be construed to prohibit the use of any playgrounds or recreation centers by adults or children of special age groups at the discretion of the body having the grounds or premises in charge.
MA Gen L ch 45 § 18a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 45 - Public Parks, Playgrounds and the Public Domain|Section 18a - Chain Link Metal Basketball Nets Prohibited

Section 18A. A chain link metal basketball net shall not be used in a public park, playground, or recreation center.
MA Gen L ch 45 § 19 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 45 - Public Parks, Playgrounds and the Public Domain|Section 19 - Acquisition of Property; Use

Section 19. A town, by a two thirds vote at an annual town meeting, or a city, by a two thirds vote of the city council, may determine to take or purchase land within its limits, which shall be a public domain, and any appropriate money and accept gifts of money and land therefor. Such public domain shall be devoted to the culture of forest trees, or to the preservation of the water supply of such city or town, and the title thereto shall vest in the city or town in which it lies, except that cities or towns owning land within the territorial limits of other cities and towns for water supply purposes may, as herein provided, convert such land into a public domain and retain the title thereto.
MA Gen L ch 45 § 20 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 45 - Public Parks, Playgrounds and the Public Domain|Section 20 - Method of Acquisition

Section 20. If a city or town has determined to take land for a public domain as provided by the preceding section, the aldermen or the selectmen shall within ten days adopt an order for the taking of such land in fee by eminent domain under chapter seventy-nine.
MA Gen L ch 45 § 21 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 45 - Public Parks, Playgrounds and the Public Domain|Section 21 - City or Town Forests; Management

Section 21. The selectmen in the town and the mayor and the city council in a city shall appoint a special town forest committee to manage and care for that portion of the public domain known as the city or town forest; provided, however, that a town may vote to designate the conservation commission of said town to manage and care for such town forest; provided, further, that a town may vote to authorize said conservation commission to appoint such forest committee; and provided, further, that in a city, the mayor and the city council may appoint a forester or other board or officer to provide such management and care of such forest. Such forest shall exclude lands held within the watershed of any pond, stream, reservoir, well or other water used by a city of town as a source of water supply. The special town forest committee shall be composed of three members who shall choose their own chairman, and shall serve without compensation. One member of said committee shall be appointed each year for a term of three years, except that, when first appointed, one shall be appointed for a term of three years, one for a term of two years and one for a term of one year.
MA Gen L ch 45 § 22 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 45 - Public Parks, Playgrounds and the Public Domain|Section 22 - Buildings; Erection; Lease

Section 22. Any city or town owning a public domain may lease any building thereon, and it may erect thereon any building for public instruction and recreation. All sums derived from rents or from the sale of the products of any such domain shall be applied, so far as may be necessary, to the management thereof.
MA Gen L ch 45 § 23 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 45 - Public Parks, Playgrounds and the Public Domain|Section 23 - Limitation on Use of Funds

Section 23. No land shall be taken or purchased for a public domain, no building erected thereon and no expenditures authorized or made or liability incurred therefor until an amount sufficient to cover the estimated expense thereof has been appropriated therefor as provided in section nineteen, and all contracts made for expenditures in excess thereof shall be void. The expenditures shall not exceed the appropriations therefor.