Massachusetts General Laws

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 121B, § 46 (2026)

Powers of urban renewal agency

✓ current as of July 2026
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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.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 4 cases, 1986–2019 · leading case: Marchese v. Bos. Redevelopment Auth., 130 N.E.3d 1222 (Mass. 2019).
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Marchese v. Bos. Redevelopment Auth., 130 N.E.3d 1222 (Mass. 2019). · cites it 10× “To facilitate improvements to this area of Fenway Park, in 2003, the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) 1 exercised its eminent domain powers as an *1225 urban renewal agency pursuant to the demonstrations clause of the urban renewal statute, G. L. c. 121B, § 46 ( f ), and…”
Anderson Street Assocs. v. City of Boston, 817 N.E.2d 759 (Mass. 2004). “121B, § 4, and an “urban renewal agency” pursuant to G. L. c. 121B, § 46. In March, 1978, pursuant to G.”
Boston Redevelopment Auth. v. Charles River Park \C\" Co.", 490 N.E.2d 810 (Mass. App. Ct. 1986). “121A, §§ 10 and 15, with G. L. c. 121B, § 46) and the approval process for a project (compare St.”
Commonwealth v. Boston Redevelopment Auth., 633 N.E.2d 1043 (Mass. 1994). · cites it 2× “The deed provides that the terms and conditions of the LDA are binding on all persons dealing with the granted premises and are enforceable by the BRA as stated in the LDA.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.