Mass. Gen. Laws » Part I Title XX Chapter 148
Massachusetts General Laws

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 148, § 56 (2026)

Parking space business; licenses; fees; term; suspension and revocation; unlicensed business

✓ current as of July 2026
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Section 56. In any city or town which accepts the provisions of this section, no person shall engage in the business of conducting or maintaining an open-air parking space without a license therefor granted, in the city of Boston, by its commissioner of transportation, and in any other city or town, by the local licensing authority, approved in all cases by the head of the fire department. Each license granted under this section and the application therefor shall specify all the premises to be occupied by the licensee for the purpose of conducting the licensed business, the total area of the space therein to be actually used for parking or storing vehicles, and the maximum number of vehicles to be parked or stored in such area. The fee for each such license shall be such amount as may be established by the authority granting the license, and said authority may reasonably classify said licenses and fees. Licenses granted hereunder shall expire on April thirtieth following the date of issue, or on such date as may be specified therein, and may be suspended or revoked by such authority and by the head of the fire department. Whoever, not being licensed, engages in a business required by this section to be licensed, or is concerned therein, or, being licensed, violates any condition of his license or engages in such business, or is concerned therein, and any other place than that designated in his license or after notice to him that his license has been suspended or revoked, shall be punished by a fine of not more than three hundred dollars. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any open-air parking space established under paragraph (g) of section three of chapter one hundred and sixty-one A or under paragraph (g) of section six of chapter one hundred and sixty-one B and maintained or conducted by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority or by an authority created under said chapter one hundred and sixty-one B or a lessee or licensee thereof.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 6 cases, 1973–2009 · leading case: Route One Liquors, Inc. v. Sec'y of Admin. & Fin., 439 Mass. 111 (Mass. 2003).
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Route One Liquors, Inc. v. Sec'y of Admin. & Fin., 439 Mass. 111 (Mass. 2003). · cites it 3× “” Since 1971, the town of Foxborough (town) has issued licenses for persons to *115 operate commercial parking lots within the vicinity of the stadium, pursuant to G. L. c. 148, § 56. Licenses are issued annually at a rate of six dollars a space.”
Woods Hole, Martha's Vineyard & Nantucket S.S. Auth. v. Town of Falmouth, 907 N.E.2d 1124 (Mass. App. Ct. 2009). · cites it 3× “” 2 The Town asserts that Article V is authorized by virtue of G. L. c. 148, § 56, as amended through St.”
Cooley v. Bettigole, 301 N.E.2d 872 (Mass. App. Ct. 1973). · cites it 2× “2 of the lease and banded together to oppose, by written petition and otherwise, the defendant’s then pending application to the city council of Springfield for a license to operate the lot under the provisions of G. L. c. 148, § 56 (as most recently amended by St.”
Bettigole v. City Council of Springfield, 295 N.E.2d 171 (Mass. App. Ct. 1973). · cites it 2× “This petition for certiorari was entered in the Superior Court in Hampden County on May 20, 1971, praying that the court quash the decision of the respondent city council of Springfield denying a *817 license to the petitioner to conduct an open-air parking space (G. L. c. 148,…”
Fitz-Inn Auto Parks, Inc. v. City of Boston, 448 N.E.2d 1258 (Mass. 1983). “It claims, however, that § 31C does not authorize regulation of the use of land and that § 31C deals only with direct sources of pollution and not with parking lots which produce no emissions directly.”
Madigan v. Zoning Bd. of Appeals, 372 N.E.2d 281 (Mass. App. Ct. 1978). “The concluding portion of § 30 of the ordinance (see exhibit B attached to the plaintiff’s affidavit) sets out a number of main uses in connection with which an owner must provide off-street parking, as well as the minimum number of parking spaces required in connection with…”
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