2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XIV - Public Ways and Works › Chapter 91 - Waterways › Section 9a - Construction or Reconstruction of Piers and Waterfront Terminal Facilities; Written Contracts

Section 9A. The department may adopt a program of construction or reconstruction of piers and other waterfront terminal facilities at any port of the commonwealth after holding hearings, public or private, due notice whereof shall have been given, at which hearings all persons interested may be heard and, if such program relates to the port of Boston, after consulting with and securing the advice and judgment, by report or otherwise, of the Boston Port Authority. After the adoption of any such program, the department is hereby empowered to lay out and construct or reconstruct any particular facilities aforesaid included in such program, to acquire as hereinafter provided any facilities proposed to be reconstructed which are not then owned by the commonwealth, and to execute a contract for the use of any facilities to be constructed or reconstructed hereunder; provided, that no action obligating the commonwealth to any expenditure under this section shall be taken until the department, in the name and on behalf of the commonwealth, shall have executed a written contract, approved by the governor and council, with some responsible party, for the use of the particular facilities proposed to be constructed or reconstructed hereunder, for a term not exceeding forty years and containing provisions for the payment of rental as hereinafter provided, nor unless sufficient funds shall have been made available for such project under a loan authorized by the general court. Prior to executing such a contract for the use of facilities proposed to be constructed or reconstructed at the port of Boston, the department shall consult with and secure the advice and judgment, by report or otherwise, of the Boston Port Authority relative to the advisability and feasibility of entering into such contract, with special reference to the effect such action may have on the commerce or progress of the port. Every such contract shall provide that the lessee of the facilities shall pay a rental determined by the department to be sufficient to pay all interest charges as they accrue on account of moneys borrowed by the commonwealth and used in the construction or reconstruction of such facilities and for the acquisition of property in connection therewith, and to pay the principal amounts of the money so borrowed and used as they become due and, in addition, to defray so much of the expenses of the department as may in its opinion be properly allocable to the construction or reconstruction of such facilities and the acquisition of property in connection therewith.
Subject to this section, the department, in the name and on behalf of the commonwealth, may take by eminent domain under chapter seventy-nine of the General Laws, or acquire by purchase, lease or otherwise, such property and such rights and easements therein as the department may from time to time consider necessary for the construction or reconstruction of any particular facilities included in a program adopted under this section; and the foregoing shall authorize the commonwealth to acquire in the manner hereinbefore provided any particular pier or other waterfront terminal facility included in any such program, for the purpose of reconstructing the same.