2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XVII - Public Welfare › Chapter 121b - Housing and Urban Renewal › Section 46 - Powers of Urban Renewal Agency

Section 46. An urban renewal agency shall have all the powers necessary or convenient to carry out and effectuate the purposes of relevant provisions of the General Laws, and shall have the following powers in addition to those specifically granted in section eleven or elsewhere in this chapter:—
(a) to determine what areas within its jurisdiction constitute decadent, substandard or blighted open areas;
(b) to prepare plans for the clearance, conservation and rehabilitation of decadent, substandard or blighted open areas, including plans for carrying out a program of voluntary repair and rehabilitation of buildings and improvements, plans for the enforcement of laws, codes and regulations relating to the use of land and the use or occupancy of buildings and improvements, plans for the compulsory repair and rehabilitation of buildings and improvements, and plans for the demolition and removal of buildings and improvements;
(c) to prepare or cause to be prepared urban renewal plans, master or general plans, workable programs for development of the community, general neighborhood renewal plans, community renewal programs and any plans or studies required or assisted under federal law;
(d) to engage in urban renewal projects, and to enforce restrictions and controls contained in any approved urban renewal plan or any covenant or agreement contained in any contract, deed or lease by the urban renewal agency notwithstanding that said agency may no longer have any title to or interest in the property to which such restrictions and controls apply or to any neighboring property;
(e) to conduct investigations, make studies, surveys and plans and disseminate information relative to community development, including desirable patterns for land use and community growth, urban renewal, relocation, and any other matter deemed by it to be material in connection with any of its powers and duties, and to make such studies, plans and information available to the federal government, to agencies or subdivisions of the commonwealth and to interested persons;
(f) to develop, test and report methods and techniques and carry out demonstrations for the prevention and elimination of slums and urban blight;
(g) to receive gifts, loans, grants, contributions or other financial assistance from the federal government, the commonwealth, the city or town in which it was organized or any other source; and
(h) In any city whose population exceeds one hundred and fifty thousand, to own, construct, finance and maintain intermodal transportation terminals within an urban renewal project area. As used in this clause an ''intermodal transportation terminal'' shall mean a facility modified as necessary to accommodate several modes of transportation which may include, without limitation, inter-city mass transit service, rail or rubber tire, motor bus transportation, railroad transportation, and airline ticket offices and passenger terminal providing direct transportation to and from airports.