Mass. Gen. Laws » Part I Title XVII Chapter 121B
Massachusetts General Laws

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 121B, § 48 (2026)

Public hearing; notice; urban renewal plans; approval; acquisition of property

✓ current as of July 2026
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Section 48. No urban renewal project shall be undertaken until (1) a public hearing relating to the urban renewal plan for such project has been held after due notice before the city council of a city or the municipal officers of a town and (2) the urban renewal plan therefor has been approved by the municipal officers and the department as provided in this section.

Whenever a public hearing on an urban renewal plan is held, notice thereof shall be sent to the Massachusetts historical commission together with a map indicating the area to be renewed.

Whenever the urban renewal agency determines that an urban renewal project should be undertaken in the city or town in which it was organized, it shall apply to the municipal officers for approval of the urban renewal plan for such project. Such application shall be accompanied by an urban renewal plan for the project, a statement of the proposed method for financing the project and such other information as the urban renewal agency deems advisable.

Every urban renewal plan approved by the municipal officers shall be submitted to the department together with such other material as the department may require. If the urban renewal plan includes proposed commercial or industrial uses, the department shall provide notice of such urban renewal plan to the secretary of the executive office of economic development.

The department shall not approve any urban renewal plan unless the planning board established under the provisions of section seventy or eighty-one A of chapter forty-one for the city or town where the project is located has found and the department concurs in such finding or, if no planning board exists in such city or town, the department finds that the urban renewal plan is based upon a local survey and conforms to a comprehensive plan for the locality as a whole. The department shall likewise not approve any urban renewal plan unless it shall have found (a) the project area would not by private enterprise alone and without either government subsidy or the exercise of governmental powers be made available for urban renewal; (b) the proposed land uses and building requirements in the project area will afford maximum opportunity to privately financed urban renewal consistent with the sound needs of the locality as a whole; (c) the financial plan is sound; (d) the project area is a decadent, substandard or blighted open area; (e) that the urban renewal plan is sufficiently complete, as required by section one; and (f) the relocation plan has been approved under chapter seventy-nine A.

Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary in this chapter, whenever an urban renewal plan entails the renewal of an area exclusively or primarily through the development of commercial or industrial uses, the department shall assign the responsibilities of this paragraph to the secretary of the executive office of economic development, with written notice to the applicant. Upon such assignment the secretary of economic development shall exercise all authority and assume all responsibilities of the department as granted or provided for by this chapter with respect to such urban renewal plan.

Within sixty days after submission of the urban renewal plan, the department shall give written notice to the urban renewal agency of its decision with respect to the plan. If the department shall disapprove any such plan, it shall state in writing in such notice its reasons for disapproval. A plan which has not been approved by the department when submitted may be again submitted to it with such modifications, supporting data or arguments as are necessary to meet its objections. The department may hold a public hearing upon any urban renewal plan submitted to it, and shall do so if requested in writing within ten days after submission of the plan by the urban renewal agency, the mayor or city council of the city or selectmen of the town in which the proposed project is located, or twenty-five or more taxable inhabitants of such city or town.

Any provision to the contrary notwithstanding, when the location of a proposed urban renewal project has been determined, the urban renewal agency may, without awaiting the approval of the department, proceed, by option or otherwise, to obtain control of such property within the urban renewal project area as is necessary to carry out the urban renewal plan; but it shall not, without the approval of the department, unconditionally obligate itself to purchase or otherwise acquire any such property except as provided in section forty-seven.

When the urban renewal plan or such a project has been approved pursuant to this section and notice of such approval has been given to the urban renewal agency, such agency may proceed at once to acquire real estate within the location of the project, either by eminent domain or by grant, purchase, lease, gift, exchange or otherwise.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 14 cases, 1971–2019 · leading case: Benevolent & Prot. Order of Elks, Lodge No. 65 v. Plan. Bd., 531 N.E.2d 1233 (Mass. 1988).
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Benevolent & Prot. Order of Elks, Lodge No. 65 v. Plan. Bd., 531 N.E.2d 1233 (Mass. 1988). · cites it 9× “The plaintiffs assert constitutional deficiencies and violations of statutory requirements in proceedings before local authorities 5 under G. L. c. 121B, § 48 (1986 ed.), and in the review and approval of the project by the Secretary of the Executive Office of Communities and…”
Boston Edison Co. v. Boston Redevelopment Auth., 371 N.E.2d 728 (Mass. 1977). · cites it 2× “G.L.c. 121B, § 48. There is also no express statutory provision for judicial review of the action of the department.”
Reid v. Acting Comm'r of the Dep't of Cmty. Affairs, 284 N.E.2d 245 (Mass. 1972). · cites it 3× “The Park Plaza Urban Renewal Project has reached the stage where the Department of Community Affairs (the department) is required to hold a “public hearing” upon the plan therefor (the plan) pursuant to the sixth paragraph of G. L. c. 121B, § 48, as amended through St.”
Marchese v. Bos. Redevelopment Auth., 130 N.E.3d 1222 (Mass. 2019). “" G. L. c. 121B, § 48. Additionally, an urban renewal plan cannot be approved until the Department of Housing and Community Development makes several findings, including explicit findings that "the proposed land uses and building requirements in the project area will afford…”
Comm'r of the Dep't of Cmty. Affairs v. Boston Redevelopment Auth., 289 N.E.2d 867 (Mass. 1972). · cites it 3× “121, § 26KK, and not, as the plaintiff suggests, on the basis of G. L. c. 121B, § 48. Prior to November 19, 1969, the subject of land *612 assembly and redevelopment was covered by G.”
Boylston Dev. Grp., Inc. v. 22 Boylston Street Corp., 591 N.E.2d 157 (Mass. 1992). “G. L. c. 121B, § 48 (1990 ed.). The Silver Slipper further notes that the definition of “relocation payments" in c.”
St. Botolph Citizens Comm., Inc. v. Boston Redevelopment Auth., 429 Mass. 1 (Mass. 1999). “Under G. L. c. 121B, § 48, a taking is valid if the EOCD makes a preliminary finding that an area is “blighted,” and thus “detrimental to the safety, health, morals, welfare or sound growth of a community.”
Town of Warren v. Hazardous Waste Facility Site Saf. Council, 466 N.E.2d 102 (Mass. 1984). “121B, § 48, to hold in conjunction with the department’s responsibility to approve or disapprove an urban renewal plan, was part of an “adjudicatory proceeding,” which would require that the hearing be conducted in compliance with the procedures mandated by G. L. c. 30A, §§ 10,…”
Murphy v. Plan. Bd., 874 N.E.2d 455 (Mass. App. Ct. 2007). “45, §§ 3, 5; G. L. c. 121B, §§ 48, 50. The judge noted that in executing its “distinct but closely related function” of reviewing and approving definitive subdivision plans, a planning board has authority under G.”
Raso v. Lago, 958 F. Supp. 686 (D. Mass. 1997). · cites it 2× “and the absence of a statutory requirement that the [DCA] explain its findings, see G.L. c. 121B, § 48, do not indicate a legislative intent to preclude review.”
Cayon v. City of Chicopee, 277 N.E.2d 116 (Mass. 1971). “, G. L. c. 121B, § 48, inserted by St. 1969, c.”
Cent. Steel Supply Co. v. Plan. Bd., 447 Mass. 333 (Mass. 2006). · cites it 12× “These regulations provide that such changes do not require new or renewed findings of eligibility for urban renewal under G. L. c. 121B, § 48. It is undisputed that the 2002 major plan change to the 1980 plan was substantial.”
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