reglab/statecodes huggingface dataset:
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts › Chapter 41 - Officers and Employees of Cities, Towns and Districts › Section 67 - One Superintendent of Streets for Two or More Towns

Section 67. The selectmen of two or more towns may unitedly, subject to the approval of the department of highways, appoint and fix the compensation of a superintendent of streets who shall exercise the same powers and duties and be otherwise subject to the same provisions of law as if appointed in each of such towns. His compensation shall be paid by said towns in such proportions as the selectmen may unitedly determine.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts › Chapter 41 - Officers and Employees of Cities, Towns and Districts › Section 68 - Superintendent of Streets; Powers and Duties

Section 68. The superintendent of streets shall, under the direction of the selectmen, have full charge of all repairs and labor upon public ways and sidewalks, and, if no other provision is made, of repairs upon sewers and drains; and in relation to such matters he shall have the powers, perform the duties and be subject to the liabilities and penalties of surveyors of highways and road commissioners.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts › Chapter 41 - Officers and Employees of Cities, Towns and Districts › Section 69 - Superintendent of Water or Sewer Department

Section 69. If a town votes under section twenty-one to have its selectmen act as water and sewer boards, water commissioners or sewer commissioners, the selectmen may appoint a suitable person to act as superintendent of the water or sewer department or designate the superintendent of streets so to act if the town has voted to have its selectmen appoint such officer, who, subject to the control of the selectmen, shall have all necessary powers therefor.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts › Chapter 41 - Officers and Employees of Cities, Towns and Districts › Section 69a - Water Commissioners; Election; Tenure; Quorum; Vacancies

Section 69A. Any town establishing a water supply or water distributing system under authority of section thirty-nine A of chapter forty may establish a board of three water commissioners or authorize its selectmen to act as such. Such commissioners shall, in the first instance, be elected by ballot to hold office, one until the expiration of three years, one until the expiration of two years, and one until the expiration of one year, from the next succeeding annual town meeting; and at the annual town meeting held on the day on which the shortest of such terms expires, and at each annual town meeting thereafter, one such commissioner shall be elected by ballot for the term of three years. A majority of said commissioners shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. After the election of a board of water commissioners under authority of this section, any vacancy occurring in said board from any cause may be filled for the remainder of the unexpired term by said town at any legal town meeting called for the purpose. Any such vacancy may be filled temporarily in the manner provided by section eleven, and the person so appointed shall perform the duties of the office until the next annual meeting of said town or until another person is qualified. Nothing herein contained shall prevent action under section twenty-one or sixty-nine.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts › Chapter 41 - Officers and Employees of Cities, Towns and Districts › Section 69b - Water Commissioners; Powers and Duties

Section 69B. The water commissioners, or the selectmen authorized to act as such, in a town establishing a water supply or water distributing system under authority of section thirty-nine A of chapter forty shall have exclusive charge and control of the water department and water system, subject to all lawful by-laws and to such instructions, rules and regulations as the town may from time to time impose by its vote. They may establish fountains and hydrants, may relocate or discontinue the same, may regulate the use of the water and fix and collect just and equitable prices and rates for the use thereof, and shall prescribe the time and manner of payment of such prices and rates. The income of the water works shall be appropriated to defray all operating expenses, interest charges and payments on the principal as they accrue upon any bonds or notes issued for the purpose of a municipal water supply. If in any fiscal year there should be a net surplus remaining after providing for the aforesaid charges for that fiscal year, such surplus, or so much thereof as may be necessary to reimburse the town for moneys theretofore paid on account of its water department, shall be paid into the town treasury. If in any fiscal year there should be a net surplus remaining after providing for the aforesaid charges and for the payment of any such reimbursement in full, such surplus may be appropriated for such new construction, extraordinary maintenance, or repairs, as the water commissioners, or selectmen authorized to act as such, with the approval of the town, may determine upon; and in case a net surplus should remain after payment for such new construction, extraordinary maintenance, or repairs, the water rates shall be reduced proportionately. Said commissioners, or the selectmen authorized to act as such, shall annually, and as often as the town may require, render a report upon the condition of the works under their charge, and an account of their doings, including an account of the receipts and expenditures.
The provisions of this section relative to the powers and duties of the water commissioners, or the selectmen acting as such, shall also apply to the commission, board or person having charge and control of the water department or water system of any city, town, or district established under special law, notwithstanding any contrary provision therein, upon the acceptance of this section by such city, town, or district.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts › Chapter 41 - Officers and Employees of Cities, Towns and Districts › Section 69c - Submission of Adoption of Board of Public Works to Electorate; Ballot

Section 69C. By vote of a town meeting called for the purpose in any town at least ninety days before an annual town meeting, or, in the case of a town which voted thereon and the vote was not in the affirmative, upon request by petition of ten per cent of the qualified voters of any town filed with the selectmen at least sixty days before an annual town meeting, the selectmen shall include in the warrant for such annual meeting for submission to the voters the following question, to be placed on the official ballot in towns using such ballots:—''Shall sections sixty-nine C to sixty-nine F, inclusive, of chapter forty-one of the General Laws, providing for the establishment of a board of public works exercising the powers of certain other departments and town officers be accepted?'' If a majority of the votes cast in answer to such question is in the affirmative, this section and sections sixty-nine D to sixty-nine F, inclusive, shall become fully effective beginning with, and for the purposes of, the next annual town election.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts › Chapter 41 - Officers and Employees of Cities, Towns and Districts › Section 69d - Board of Public Works; Membership; Election; Tenure; Powers and Duties

Section 69D. Any town which has accepted the provisions of sections sixty-nine C to sixty-nine F, inclusive, shall elect in the following manner a board of public works, hereinafter called the board, to consist of three members. The initial members thereof shall be elected, one to serve for one year, one for two years, and one for three years, from the date of the annual meeting at which they are elected, and thereafter when the term of any member expires, his successor shall be elected to serve for three years. In all cases the members shall serve until their successors are elected and qualified. The members of the board shall, after each election, elect one of their members to act as chairman for the ensuing year.
Upon the election and qualification of the members of the board, the board shall have all the powers and duties now or from time to time vested by general law or special act in the following boards, departments and offices, or in boards, departments and offices having corresponding powers and duties in said town, to wit:—road commissioners, surveyors of highways, superintendent of streets, water commissioners, sewer commissioners, municipal light board or commissioners, park commissioners, cemetery commissioners, tree warden, moth superintendent and forestry department, and such boards, departments and offices shall thereupon be abolished. No contracts or liabilities then in force shall be affected by such abolition, but the board of public works shall in all respects be the lawful successor of the boards, departments and offices so abolished.
The board shall have such additional powers with respect to the furnishing of engineering services, the collection and disposal of garbage and refuse, the maintenance and repair of town buildings and property, and the performance of such duties of any other boards, departments and offices of the town as may be reasonably related to the duties and responsibilities of a board of public works, as the town may, from time to time, by by-law provide, any other provisions of law to the contrary notwithstanding.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts › Chapter 41 - Officers and Employees of Cities, Towns and Districts › Section 69e - Superintendent of Public Works; Appointment; Powers and Duties

Section 69E. The board shall appoint and fix the compensation of a superintendent of public works, who shall exercise and perform, under the supervision and direction of the board, such of the powers, rights and duties transferred to it under section twenty-one or section sixty-nine D as it may from time to time designate. He shall be responsible for the efficient exercise and performance of such powers, rights and duties and shall hold office subject to the will of the board. He shall be specially fitted by education, training and experience to perform the duties of said office, and may or may not be a resident of the town. During his tenure he shall hold no elective or other appointive office, nor shall he be engaged in any other business or occupation. He shall give to the town 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 board may require, and shall, subject to the approval of the board, appoint such assistants, agents and employees as the exercise and performance of his powers, rights and duties may require. He shall keep full and complete records of the doings of his office and render to the board as often as it may require a full report of all operations under his control during the period reported upon; and annually, and from time to time as required by the board, he shall make a synopsis of such reports for publication. He shall keep the board fully advised as to the needs of the town within the scope of his duties, and shall furnish to the board each year upon its request a carefully prepared and detailed estimate in writing of the appropriations required during the next succeeding fiscal year for the proper exercise and performance of all said powers, rights and duties.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts › Chapter 41 - Officers and Employees of Cities, Towns and Districts › Section 69f - Submission to Voters of Revocation of Acceptance; Conditions; Effect

Section 69F. Any town which has accepted the provisions of sections sixty-nine C to sixty-nine F, inclusive, may, after the expiration of three years from the date of such acceptance, upon petition of ten per cent of the qualified voters of the town filed with the selectmen at least sixty days before an annual town meeting, vote at an annual meeting to revoke such acceptance, and the question of such revocation shall be submitted to the voters in the form of the following question:—''Shall the acceptance by the town of sections sixty-nine C to sixty-nine F, inclusive, of chapter forty-one of the General Laws providing for the establishment of a board of public works exercising the powers of certain other departments and town officers be revoked?'' If a majority of the votes cast in answer to said question is in the affirmative, then at the next annual town election held after said vote to revoke, the town shall elect such officers as are necessary to exercise and perform the powers, rights and duties transferred to the board of public works by said sections. Such action shall not affect any contract or liability then created or existing. All general laws respecting town administration and town officers, and any special laws relative to said town, the operation of which has been suspended or superseded by the acceptance of said sections sixty-nine C to sixty-nine F, inclusive, shall then be in full force and effect. Any by-law inconsistent with such special or general laws shall be revoked thereby. Any subsequent vote to revoke the acceptance of said sections shall not be taken more often than once in three years.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts › Chapter 41 - Officers and Employees of Cities, Towns and Districts › Section 69g - Office of Lands and Natural Resources; Establishment; Powers and Duties; Director and Assistants

Section 69G. Every city or town may establish an office of lands and natural resources. Said office shall have charge of such lands as may be committed to its care and may perform such maintenance and improvement work on other municipal lands as may be permitted by the board, department, commission or committee in charge thereof. Said office shall exercise the duties of tree warden and superintendent of insect pest control, and upon the establishment of said office and offices of tree warden and superintendent of insect pest control shall be abolished. Said office shall be under the control of a director qualified by training and experience in the field of arboriculture and licensed by the pesticide board in the department of environmental protection. The city manager or the town manager in a city or town having such manager, the mayor in any other city and the selectmen in any other town shall appoint said director for a term of three years. The commissioner of environmental management shall be notified in writing forthwith by the city or town clerk of said appointment and the name and address of said director. The director may appoint such assistants as appropriations permit. He shall have control of all sums appropriated for and to be expended by the office and may apply for and receive such federal, state and county assistance as may be available. Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to affect the powers and duties of a conservation commission established under section eight C of chapter forty.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts › Chapter 41 - Officers and Employees of Cities, Towns and Districts › Section 70 - Planning Board; Duties

Section 70. Every city and every town having a population of more than ten thousand at the last preceding national census shall, and towns having a population of less than ten thousand may, create a planning board, which shall make careful studies of the resources, possibilities and needs of the town, particularly with respect to conditions injurious to the public health or otherwise in and about rented dwellings, and make plans for the development of the municipality, with special reference to proper housing of its inhabitants. In cities the said board shall be appointed by the mayor, subject to confirmation by the council, and in towns shall be elected at the annual town meeting or be appointed in such manner as an annual town meeting may determine.
No planning board shall be established under this section after December thirty-first, nineteen hundred and thirty-six, but any such board established under this section or corresponding provisions of earlier laws and existing on said date shall continue until its existence is terminated under section eighty-one B.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts › Chapter 41 - Officers and Employees of Cities, Towns and Districts › Section 71 - Annual Report

[ Text of section effective until May 30, 2023. For text effective May 30, 2023, see below.]
Section 71. Every planning board shall make a report annually to the city council or to the annual town meeting, giving information regarding the condition of the town and any plans or proposals for its development and estimates of the cost thereof. Every such planning board shall file with the director of housing and community development a copy of each report made by it.
Chapter 41: Section 71. Annual report
[ Text of section as amended by 2023, 7, Sec. 196 effective May 30, 2023. See 2023, 7, Sec. 298. For text effective until May 30, 2023, see above.]
Section 71. Every planning board shall make a report annually to the city council or to the annual town meeting, giving information regarding the condition of the town and any plans or proposals for its development and estimates of the cost thereof. Every such planning board shall file with the secretary of housing and livable communities a copy of each report made by it.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts › Chapter 41 - Officers and Employees of Cities, Towns and Districts › Section 72 - Ordinances and By-Laws

Section 72. Cities and towns may make ordinances and by-laws for carrying out the purposes of section seventy and of sections eighty-one A to eighty-one GG, inclusive, and they may appropriate money therefor. The planning board of a town, established under section seventy or corresponding provisions of earlier laws, may be authorized by vote of the town to act as park commissioners therein, and may be vested with all the powers and duties of park commissioners in towns.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts › Chapter 41 - Officers and Employees of Cities, Towns and Districts › Section 73 - Board of Survey; Membership; Length of Existence; Suspension of Powers and Duties

Section 73. In cities which accept this section by vote of the city council or have accepted corresponding provisions of earlier laws, the mayor, with the approval of the city council, may in January in any year appoint three inhabitants thereof to be a board of survey. Of the members first appointed one shall serve for one year, one for two years, and one for three years from the first day of the following February, and thereafter, in January of each year, one member of said board shall be appointed to serve for three years from the first day of February after his appointment, or until his successor is qualified. If a vacancy occurs a member shall be appointed in the manner provided herein to serve for the remainder of the term. The city engineer shall act as clerk of the board. The compensation of the members of the board shall be fixed by the city council. In towns which accept this section or have accepted corresponding provisions of earlier laws, the selectmen shall constitute a board of survey.
No board of survey shall be established under this section after December thirty-first, nineteen hundred and thirty-six; but any such board established under this section or corresponding provisions of earlier laws or by a special act and existing on said date shall continue until its existence is terminated under section eighty-one B. Every board of survey of a city or town which has not accepted the provisions of sections eighty-one K to eighty-one GG, inclusive, or corresponding provisions of earlier laws, shall transmit to the register of deeds of the county or district in which such city or town is situated and to the recorder of the land court within sixty days after the first day of January, nineteen hundred and fifty-four, a statement that there is in such city or town a board of survey and that the city or town has not in the opinion of said board accepted said sections, including a copy certified by the clerk of such city or town of the vote accepting this section or corresponding provisions of earlier laws, or a reference to any special statute under which such board is established. Unless such statement is so transmitted the powers and duties of such board of survey shall be suspended in and in respect to such city or town, until such statement has been sent to such register of deeds and such register has entered such statement in a book in the same manner as is provided in section eighty-one X in the case of planning boards established under section eighty-one A.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts › Chapter 41 - Officers and Employees of Cities, Towns and Districts › Section 74 - Approval of Plans Filed by Citizens

Section 74. After the establishment of a board of survey no person shall open a private way for public use without first submitting to said board suitable plans thereof in accordance with such rules and regulations as the board may prescribe. In cities such plans shall be so prepared as to show the profiles of such way and the method of drainage of the adjacent or contiguous territory. Upon the receipt of said plans, with a petition for their approval, the board shall give a public hearing thereon, after giving notice of the same by publication once in each of two successive weeks in a newspaper published in the city or town, the last publication to be at least two days before the hearing; and after the hearing, the board may alter such plans, and may determine where such ways shall be located and the width and grades thereof, and shall indicate any modifications on said plans. The plans as approved or modified by the board shall then be signed by the board, and in cities shall be filed in the office of the city engineer, and in towns in the office of the town clerk; and the officer with whom they are filed shall attest thereon the date of filing; and thereafter no way in the territory to which the plans relate shall be laid out or constructed except in accordance therewith, or with further plans subsequently approved by the board.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts › Chapter 41 - Officers and Employees of Cities, Towns and Districts › Section 75 - Preparation of Plans by Board

Section 75. The board of survey may, and in cities, upon the vote of the planning board and the city council, shall, from time to time cause plans to be made of such territory or sections of lands in the city or town as the board of survey or the planning board may deem necessary, showing thereon the location of such ways, whether already laid out or not, as, in the opinion of the board, the interest of the public may or will require in such territory, showing clearly the direction, width and grades of each way, and in cities a plan of drainage, and said board may incur such expenses as it may deem necessary therefor, not exceeding the amount appropriated for the purpose. In cities such plans shall be prepared by the city engineer, under the direction of the board. Before causing such plans to be made, the board shall give a public hearing thereon, which shall be advertised in the manner prescribed in the preceding section, and shall, after the making of any such plan, give a hearing thereon, advertised in like manner, and keep the plan open to public inspection for one month after the first advertisement of the hearing. After the hearing, and after any alterations deemed necessary by said board have been made, the same shall be approved, signed, marked, filed and attested as provided in respect to the plans mentioned in the preceding section.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts › Chapter 41 - Officers and Employees of Cities, Towns and Districts › Section 76 - Substitution of New Plans

Section 76. The board of survey may from time to time make new plans in place of plans filed in accordance with the two preceding sections, or make changes on plans so filed; provided, that any action involving new plans or changes in plans already duly attested and filed shall be made only after the notice and hearing, and in all other respects in the manner specified in section seventy-four; and the last plan so made, or the plan with the changes last made thereon and duly attested and filed, shall be the plan governing the future development of the territory affected.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts › Chapter 41 - Officers and Employees of Cities, Towns and Districts › Section 77 - Construction or Alteration of Public Ways; Restrictions

Section 77. The powers of the city council or of the selectmen in regard to highways shall not be abridged by sections seventy-three to eighty-one, inclusive, in any manner, except as provided herein, and the powers conferred by said sections shall be in addition to other powers possessed by cities and towns. No public way shown on any plan filed as aforesaid shall hereafter be laid out, located anew, altered or widened, and no such way, whether already or hereafter laid out, shall be constructed by any public authority except in accordance with the plan duly attested and recorded under said sections. If any person shall open for public travel any private way the location, direction, width, grades and in cities the plan of drainage of which have not previously been approved in writing by the board of survey in the manner provided in said sections, neither the city or town nor other public authority shall place any public sewer, drain, water pipe or light in, or do any public construction work of any kind, or make repairs, on such private way; provided, that this section shall not prevent the laying of a trunk sewer, drain, water or gas main if required by engineering necessities for the accommodation of other territory.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts › Chapter 41 - Officers and Employees of Cities, Towns and Districts › Section 78 - Recordation of Plan; Necessity of Approval by Board

Section 78. No register of deeds shall record any plan showing thereon proposed ways in any town having a board of survey, unless there is endorsed thereon a certificate of said board, or other proper officer by it designated, that all laws applicable to such plan have been complied with. The clerk of each town shall notify the register of deeds of the district where such town is situated of the acceptance by such town of section seventy-three or corresponding provisions of earlier laws, or of any special act establishing a board of survey therein, and also the name of the officer designated by said board to approve plans hereunder.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts › Chapter 41 - Officers and Employees of Cities, Towns and Districts › Section 79 - Entry Upon Lands by Board of Survey for Examinations and Surveys

Section 79. Boards of survey, their officers and agents may, so far as they deem it necessary in carrying out sections seventy-three to eighty-one, inclusive, enter upon any lands and there make examinations and surveys, and place and maintain monuments and marks.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts › Chapter 41 - Officers and Employees of Cities, Towns and Districts › Section 80 - Establishment and Discontinuance of Exterior Way Lines

Section 80. A town which accepts section seventy-three or has accepted corresponding provisions of earlier laws or has accepted any special act authorizing the creation of a board of survey therein may establish, in the manner provided for the laying out of town ways, the exterior lines of any way, the plan of which is approved under section seventy-four or seventy-five or under such special act; and thereafter no structure shall be erected or maintained between the exterior lines of the way so established, except that buildings or parts of buildings existing at the time of the establishment of said lines may remain and be maintained to such extent and under such conditions as may be prescribed by the board of survey of such town. Lines established under this section may be discontinued in the manner provided for the discontinuance of a highway or a town way. This section shall not apply to cities.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts › Chapter 41 - Officers and Employees of Cities, Towns and Districts › Section 81 - Damages

Section 81. Sections seventy-three to seventy-nine, inclusive, shall not authorize the taking of land nor authorize a town to lay out or construct any way which may be indicated on any plan until such way has been laid out as a highway; nor shall said sections render a town liable for damages except such as may be sustained under section seventy-six by reason of the making and filing of any new plan or by reason of changes made in any plan already duly attested and filed, and for such damages as may be sustained by reason of the acts of the board of survey, its officers and agents under section seventy-nine. Any person injured in his property as aforesaid or by the establishment or discontinuance of exterior lines under section eighty may recover the damages so caused under chapter seventy-nine.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts › Chapter 41 - Officers and Employees of Cities, Towns and Districts › Section 81aa - Board of Appeals; Rules; Meetings; Powers and Duties; Hearings

Section 81AA. The board of appeals appointed under section eighty-one Z shall adopt rules not inconsistent with this section and sections eighty-one Y and eighty-one Z, for conducting its business and otherwise carrying out the purposes of said sections. Meetings of the board shall be held at the call of the chairman and also when called in such other manner as it shall determine in its rules. Such chairman, or, in his absence, the acting chairman, may administer oaths, summon witnesses and call for the production of papers. All hearings of the board shall be open to the public. The board shall cause to be made a detailed record of its proceedings, showing the vote of each member upon each question, or, if any member is absent or fails to vote, indicating such fact, and setting forth clearly the reason or reasons for its decisions, and of its other official acts, copies of all of which shall be immediately filed in the office of the city or town clerk and shall be public records.
Before taking any action under section eighty-one Y, the board of appeals shall hold a hearing at which parties in interest shall have an opportunity to be heard, in person or by agent or attorney. Notice of the time and place of such hearing and of the subject matter, sufficient for identification, 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 the hearing or if there is no such newspaper in such city or town then 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. The board may require the appellant to pay the expense of giving such notice. The board may, as a condition of granting a permit under section eighty-one Y, impose reasonable requirements designed to promote the health, convenience, safety and general welfare of the community and to benefit the city or town.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts › Chapter 41 - Officers and Employees of Cities, Towns and Districts › Section 81b - Planning Board; Powers and Duties

Section 81B. In any city or town in which a planning board is established under section eighty-one A, if any of the powers and duties of planning boards or boards of survey are being exercised and performed by a planning board established under section seventy or corresponding provisions of earlier laws, or by a board of survey established under section seventy-three or corresponding provisions of earlier laws or by a special act, or by the board of selectmen acting as a planning board, or by any other board, all such powers and duties shall cease to exist, when the members of the planning board established in such city or town under section eighty-one A take office; and thereupon the planning board established therein under section eighty-one A shall have and exercise all the powers and duties theretofore conferred and imposed by general law upon planning boards and boards of survey in cities and towns, as the case may be, and all the powers and duties of any such board theretofore conferred and imposed by special law upon any board of the city or town, with respect to any matters pending before any of said boards at the time of the establishment of the planning board in such city or town under section eighty-one A, as well as the powers imposed by this section and sections eighty-one C to eighty-one GG, inclusive. The officer or person having custody of the records or plans, or both, of the former board shall turn them over to the officer or person entitled to custody of the records and plans of the planning board established under section eighty-one A.
Planning boards established under section eighty-one A, their officers and agents, may, so far as they deem it necessary in carrying out sections eighty-one A to eighty-one J, inclusive, enter upon any lands and there make examinations and surveys, and place and maintain monuments and marks; but any person injured in his property by such entry or other acts without his consent may recover the damages so caused under chapter seventy-nine. The superior court for the county in which the land affected by any of the provisions of sections eighty-one A to eighty-one J, inclusive, lies, sitting in equity and the land court, shall have jurisdiction on petition of a planning board established under section eighty-one A, to enforce any of the provisions of said sections, and any ordinances or by-laws made thereunder, and may restrain by injunction violations thereof.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts › Chapter 41 - Officers and Employees of Cities, Towns and Districts › Section 81bb - Appeal to Superior Court; Counsel; Costs; Surety or Bond; Speedy Trial

Section 81BB. Any person, whether or not previously a party to the proceedings, or any municipal officer or board, aggrieved by a decision of a board of appeals under section eighty-one Y, or by any decision of a planning board concerning a plan of a subdivision of land, or by the failure of such a board to take final action concerning such a plan within the required time, may appeal to the superior court for the county in which said land is situated or to the land court; provided, that such appeal is entered within twenty days after such decision has been recorded in the office of the city or town clerk or within twenty days after the expiration of the required time as aforesaid, as the case may be, and notice of such appeal is given to such city or town clerk so as to be received within such twenty days. The court shall hear all pertinent evidence and determine the facts, and upon the facts so determined, shall annul such decision if found to exceed the authority of such board, or make such other decree as justice and equity may require. The foregoing remedy shall be exclusive, but the parties shall have all rights of appeal and exceptions as in other equity cases.
A city or town may provide any municipal officer or board with legal counsel for appealing, as provided in this section, a decision of a board of appeals or a planning board and for taking such other subsequent action as parties in other equity cases are permitted to take.
Costs shall not be allowed against the planning board or board of appeals unless it shall appear that such board acted with gross negligence or in bad faith.
The court shall require nonmunicipal appellants 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 any costs incurred by the appellee as a result of the appeal of a decision approving a subdivision plan if it appears to the court that said appellant or appellants acted in bad faith or with malice in making the appeal to the court.
All issues in any proceeding under this section may be advanced for speedy trial over other civil actions and proceedings.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts › Chapter 41 - Officers and Employees of Cities, Towns and Districts › Section 81c - Studies and Reports of Board; Acting as Park Commissioners

[ Text of section effective until May 30, 2023. For text effective May 30, 2023, see below.]
Section 81C. The planning board established under section eighty-one A shall from time to time make careful studies and when necessary prepare plans of the resources, possibilities and needs of the city or town, and, upon the completion of any such study, shall submit to the city council or selectmen a report thereon, with its recommendations. A copy of each completed study shall be furnished to the department of housing and community development. Said planning board shall report annually to the city council or to the annual town meeting, giving information regarding the condition of the city or town and any plans or proposals for its development and estimates of the cost thereof, and shall at the same time furnish a copy of its report to the department of housing and community development. The planning board of a town established under section eighty-one A may be authorized by vote of a town meeting to act as park commissioners therein, and may be vested with all the powers and duties of park commissioners in towns.
Chapter 41: Section 81C. Studies and reports of board; acting as park commissioners
[ Text of section as amended by 2023, 7, Sec. 197 effective May 30, 2023. See 2023, 7, Sec. 298. For text effective until May 30, 2023, see above.]
Section 81C. The planning board established under section eighty-one A shall from time to time make careful studies and when necessary prepare plans of the resources, possibilities and needs of the city or town, and, upon the completion of any such study, shall submit to the city council or selectmen a report thereon, with its recommendations. A copy of each completed study shall be furnished to the executive office of housing and livable communities. Said planning board shall report annually to the city council or to the annual town meeting, giving information regarding the condition of the city or town and any plans or proposals for its development and estimates of the cost thereof, and shall at the same time furnish a copy of its report to the executive office of housing and livable communities. The planning board of a town established under section eighty-one A may be authorized by vote of a town meeting to act as park commissioners therein, and may be vested with all the powers and duties of park commissioners in towns.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts › Chapter 41 - Officers and Employees of Cities, Towns and Districts › Section 81cc - Powers of Planning Boards; Entry on Lands

Section 81CC. Planning boards and their officers and agents may, as far as they deem it necessary in carrying out the subdivision control law, enter upon any lands and there make examinations and surveys and place and maintain monuments and marks.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts › Chapter 41 - Officers and Employees of Cities, Towns and Districts › Section 81dd - Application of Law; Damages

Section 81DD. The subdivision control law shall not abridge the powers of the city council, of the selectmen, or any other municipal officer, in regard to public ways in any manner except as herein provided, and shall not authorize the taking of land nor authorize a city or town to lay out or construct any way which may be indicated on any plan of a subdivision until such way has been laid out as a public way in the manner prescribed by law; nor shall action under such law render a city or town liable for damages; provided, however, any person injured in his property by reason of the modification, amendment or rescission of the approval of a plan under section eighty-one W without his consent in writing, or by entry of his land not within the limits of a subdivision as shown on a preliminary or definitive plan submitted by him for approval, may recover the damages so caused under chapter seventy-nine. The modification, amendment or rescission of the approval of a plan shall not entitle any person to damages, unless and to the extent that he shall have changed his position or made expenditures in reliance upon such approval. No damages shall be awarded for the modification, amendment or rescission of the approval of a plan obtained as a result of material misrepresentation of facts, whether willful or otherwise, by the persons submitting the plan.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts › Chapter 41 - Officers and Employees of Cities, Towns and Districts › Section 81ee - Recordation; Evidence That Subdivision Control Law Is in Effect; Suspension

Section 81EE. Every board having on the first day of January, nineteen hundred and fifty-four, powers of subdivision control shall, within sixty days thereafter transmit to the register of deeds and the recorder of the land court a statement stating that in the opinion of such board the subdivision control law is in effect in such city or town, including a copy certified by the clerk of such city or town of the vote of the city council or of the town meeting under which the subdivision control law in the opinion of such board went into effect, together with the date thereof, or a reference to any special statute under which subdivision control was established, in such city or town. The register of deeds and the recorder of the land court shall enter such statement in the book which he is required to keep under section eighty-one X. Unless such statement is transmitted as herein provided within sixty days after said date, or the clerk of such city or town has previously notified the register of deeds and recorder of the land court of the establishment of a planning board under the provisions of law in effect prior to said date, and included in his notice a statement of the date of such establishment, the operation of the subdivision control law in and in respect to such city or town shall be suspended until the clerk of such city or town has notified the register of deeds and recorder of the land court that the subdivision control law is in effect in his city or town in the manner provided in section eighty-one N. The register of deeds and the recorder of the land court shall each enter such notice in his records in the manner provided in section eighty-one X. Any planning board having powers of subdivision control on the first day of January, nineteen hundred and fifty-four, shall, within sixty days thereafter, transmit to the register of deeds and recorder of the land court a certified copy of its rules and regulations relating to subdivision control, which shall be kept by him in the same manner as copies of rules and regulations thereafter adopted, and unless such copy is so transmitted, the operation of the subdivision control law in and with respect to such city or town shall be suspended until the board so transmits such copy.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts › Chapter 41 - Officers and Employees of Cities, Towns and Districts › Section 81f - Alteration of Official Map; Damages for Injuries

Section 81F. A city or town so adopting an official map, by action of its city council or town meeting, may whenever and as often as it may deem it for the public interest, change or add to such map so as to place thereon lines and notations showing existing or proposed locations, not theretofore mapped, of new or widened public ways and new or enlarged parks, and proposed discontinuances in whole or in part of existing or mapped public ways and parks. No such change or addition shall become effective until after a public hearing in relation thereto before the city council or a committee thereof or before the selectmen, at which parties in interest shall have an opportunity to be heard. At least ten days' notice of such a public hearing shall be given by advertisement in an official publication of, or in a newspaper of general circulation in, the city or town and by mailing a copy of such advertisement to all owners of property abutting on such proposed improvement or discontinuance, as appearing upon the most recent tax list. Any way, which is not a public way, appearing on an official map of a city or town may be modified or removed therefrom by the planning board acting in accordance with the procedure set forth in section eighty-one W, so far as apt, provided that there is no objection at a public hearing by any person in interest. No such change or addition which has not been previously recommended by the planning board established under section eighty-one A shall be adopted until after a report thereon by said board, and no variance from a plan prepared or approved by said planning board shall be made except by a two thirds vote of all the members of a city council, or by a two thirds vote of a town meeting; provided, that the last mentioned requirement shall be deemed to be waived in case the matter has been referred to said board for a report and it has failed to report within thirty days thereafter. Any person injured in his property by a change in the official map under this section may recover the damages so caused under chapter seventy-nine.