2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XVII - Public Welfare › Chapter 121b - Housing and Urban Renewal › Section 23 - Municipal Powers

Section 23. For the purpose of complying with the conditions of federal legislation, or in lieu of a contribution, loan or grant in cash to an operating agency organized within its limits, or to aid and cooperate in the planning, construction or operation of any project of such an agency, a city or town, or the appropriate board or officer thereof on behalf of such city or town, may upon such terms, and with or without consideration, do or agree to do any or all of the following things, as such city, town, board or officer, as the case may be, may determine:—
(a) Sell, convey or lease any of its interests in any property, or grant easements, licenses or any other rights or privileges therein to such agency or to the federal government;
(b) Cause parks, playgrounds or schools, or water, sewer or drainage facilities, or any other public improvements which it is otherwise authorized to undertake, to be laid out, constructed or furnished adjacent to or in connection with a housing, clearance, relocation or urban renewal project;
(c) Lay out and construct, alter, relocate, change the grade of, make specific repairs upon or discontinue, public ways and construct sidewalks, adjacent to or through a housing, clearance, relocation or urban renewal project;
(d) Adopt ordinances or by-laws under section twenty-five to thirty A, inclusive, of chapter forty or repeal or modify such ordinances or by-laws; establish exceptions to existing ordinances and by-laws regulating the design, construction and use of buildings; annul or modify any action taken or map adopted under sections eighty-one A to eighty-one J, inclusive, of chapter forty-one;
(e) Cause public improvements to be made and services and facilities to be furnished to or for the benefit of an operating agency for which betterments or special assessments may be levied or charges made, and assume or agree to assume such betterments, assessments or charges;
(f) Purchase and hold any of the bonds or notes of an operating agency and exercise all of the rights of a holder of such bonds or notes;
(g) Make available to an operating agency the services of its agencies, officers and employees;
(h) Cause private ways, sidewalks, footpaths, ways for vehicular travel, playgrounds, or water, sewer or drainage facilities and similar improvements to be constructed or furnished within the site of a project for the particular use of the project or of those dwelling therein;
(i) Enter into agreements with an operating agency, the term of which agreements may extend over the period of a loan to the operating agency by the federal government, respecting action to be taken by such city or town pursuant to any of the powers granted by this chapter; and
(j) Do any and all other things necessary or convenient to aid and cooperate in the planning, construction or operation of a housing, clearance, relocation or urban renewal project within its limits.
The entering of a contract under this section between a city or town and the federal government or between a city or town and an operating agency shall not be subject to any provision of law relating to publication or to advertising for bids.