Mass. Gen. Laws » Part I Title XXII Chapter 166
Massachusetts General Laws

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 166, § 22 (2026)

Consent of municipal officers to construct or alter lines

✓ current as of July 2026
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Section 22. A company desiring to construct a line for such transmission upon, along, under or across a public way shall in writing petition the board of aldermen of the city or the selectmen of the town where it is proposed to construct such line for permission to erect or construct upon, along, under or across said way the wires, poles, piers, abutments or conduits necessary therefor. A public hearing shall be held on the petition, and written notice of the time and place of the hearing shall be mailed at least seven days prior thereto by the clerk of the city or by the selectmen of the town to all owners of real estate abutting upon that part of the way upon, along, across or under which the line is to be constructed, as such ownership is determined by the last preceding assessment for taxation. After a public hearing as aforesaid, the board of aldermen or the selectmen may by order grant to the petitioner a location for such line, specifying therein where the poles, piers, abutments or conduits may be placed, and in respect to overhead lines may also specify the kind of poles, piers or abutments which may be used, the number of wires or cables which may be attached thereto, and the height to which the wires or cables may run.

After the erection or construction of such line, the board of aldermen or selectmen may, after giving the company or its agents an opportunity to be heard, or upon petition of the company without notice or hearing, by order permit an increase in the number of wires or cables, and direct an alteration in the location of the poles, piers, abutments or conduits or in the height of the wires or cables. The board of aldermen or selectmen may, on written petition by two or more companies subject to this chapter, and having locations in any of the public ways of such city or town, without notice or hearing, by order transfer any such location from one of such companies to either or any of the other petitioners, or by order authorize any such company to attach its wires and fixtures to existing poles, piers or abutments of either or any of the other petitioners, or to maintain its wires or cables in the conduits of either or any of said other petitioners, or by order grant to said companies joint or identical locations for the maintenance of said existing poles, piers, abutments or conduits, to be used in common by them. The board of aldermen or selectmen may, on written petition by a company subject to this chapter having a location, or by two or more such companies having joint or identical locations, in any of the public ways of a city or town, in any case where a private way has been accepted as a public way, by order, without notice or hearing, grant a location or joint or identical locations to such company or companies for the maintenance of its or their poles, piers, abutments or conduits which were being maintained in such private way at the time of its acceptance as a public way. The board of aldermen or selectmen may, on written petition by two or more companies subject to this chapter, and after notice to abutting land owners and a hearing as hereinbefore provided, by order grant to said companies joint or identical locations for the erection or construction of poles, piers, abutments or conduits, to be owned and used in common by them. No order of the board of aldermen or selectmen shall be required for renewing, repairing or replacing wires, cables, poles, piers, abutments, conduits or fixtures once erected or constructed under the provisions of law, or for making house connections or connections between duly located conduits and distributing poles.

The order granting a location or an alteration or transfer thereof, or authorizing an increase in the number of wires or cables or attachments, such as are hereinbefore described, shall be recorded by the city or town clerk in books kept exclusively therefor, and where notice has been given as hereinbefore provided the clerk of the city or the chairman or a majority of the selectmen shall certify on said record that the order was adopted after due notice and a public hearing as hereinbefore prescribed, and no such order shall be valid without such certificate. The company or companies in whose favor the order is made shall pay for such record the fees provided by clause (62) of section thirty-four of chapter two hundred and sixty-two.

The board of aldermen or selectmen may under this section authorize the attachment of the wires and fixtures of a street railway or electric railroad company to the poles, piers and abutments of another owner, or the attachment of the wires and fixtures of another owner to the poles, piers and abutments of such company, and may grant joint or identical locations for the erection or construction of poles, piers, or abutments to be owned and used in common by such company and other owners, and locations for the transmission lines and telephone, signal and feed wires of such company in public ways or parts thereof, other than those public ways in which the tracks of such company are laid, and locations for additional poles to support, or alterations of locations for existing poles supporting, trolley or span wires; and all locations granted to a street railway or electric railroad company hereunder shall be subject only to revocation as provided in sections seventy-seven and eighty-two of chapter one hundred and sixty-one; but nothing contained in this section save as hereinbefore expressly set forth shall be held to apply to the poles, wires and other appliances and equipment which a street railway or electric railroad company, by a grant of location, or extension or alteration thereof, under any general or special law now or hereafter in force relating to street railways or electric railroads may be authorized to construct, maintain and operate in a public way; and no terms, restrictions and obligations, other than those imposed upon a grant of location for a street railway or electric railroad, or an extension or alteration thereof, under any general or special law now or hereafter in force relating thereto, shall be imposed upon locations granted to a street railway or electric railroad company hereunder, save locations for its transmission lines or telephone, signal or feed wires in public ways other than those public ways in which the tracks of such company are laid.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 11 cases, 1928–2002 · leading case: Cablevision of Boston, Inc. v. Pub. Improvement Comm'n, 38 F. Supp. 2d 46 (D. Mass. 1999).
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Cablevision of Boston, Inc. v. Pub. Improvement Comm'n, 38 F. Supp. 2d 46 (D. Mass. 1999). · cites it 4× “It does that pursuant to M.G.L. c. 166, § 22, which provides municipalities the power to issue what are called “grants of location” for new conduit and establishes the legally required procedure for doing so.”
New England Power Co. v. Bd. of Selectmen, 449 N.E.2d 648 (Mass. 1983). · cites it 4× “G. L. c. 166, § 22. 2 The single justice reserved decision and reported this case to the full court on a statement of agreed facts.”
Selectmen of Topsfield v. Dep't of Pub. Utils., 166 N.E. 739 (Mass. 1929). · cites it 4× “In each case the validity of the location which the selectmen of Boxford and Wenham granted to the Company is attacked because, as aUeged, the *346 public hearing on the petition was held without following the statutory requirement of G. L. c. 166, § 22, that “written notice of…”
Gillis v. Mass. Cablevision, Inc., 340 N.E.2d 872 (Mass. 1976). · cites it 2× “television lines to be laid under any public way or place, and may establish reasonable regulations for the erection and maintenance of all lines for the transmission of intelligence by.”
United Elec. Light Co. v. Deliso Constr. Co., 52 N.E.2d 553 (Mass. 1943). “The plaintiff’s manholes and conduits could be found to have been lawfully laid in the public way in accordance with permits duly granted in 1900 and 1921 by the proper municipal authorities to whom that power had been granted by *316 R.”
Sanker v. Town of Orleans, 538 N.E.2d 999 (Mass. App. Ct. 1989). “Whatever the exact boundaries of the “discretionary” concept, we agree with the judge that a municipality carries out a discretionary function where, as in the present case, it approves the location of utility poles according to the procedures prescribed by G. L. c. 166, § 22,…”
Town of Framingham v. Dep't of Pub. Utils., 244 N.E.2d 281 (Mass. 1969). “We pass to a consideration of further contentions of the towns raising questions somewhat similar to those already discussed. They assign as error the refusal of the Department to grant certain requests for rulings dealing with permissions to cross public lands under G.”
Greater Boston Real Est. Bd. v. Dep't of Telecomm. & Energy, 438 Mass. 197 (Mass. 2002). “93, § 2, dealing with the location of wires in public ways; G. L. c. 166, § 22, inserted by St. 1849, c.”
Boston Edison Co. v. Town of Sudbury, 253 N.E.2d 850 (Mass. 1969). “All of said wires, of which three (3) are to be under and twenty-one (21) are to be above ground, shall be located within a strip 250 feet wide, the side lines of which are shown on a plan made by dated 19 on file with said petition.”
Lynch v. Lowell Elec. Light Corp., 160 N.E. 413 (Mass. 1928). “93, and continuing through many statutes and amendments to statutes to and including G. L. c. 166, § 22, the Legislature has from time to time authorized the construction of lines for transmitting electricity along, under and across the public ways, “by the erection or…”
Riley v. New England Tel. & Tel. Co., 234 N.E.2d 746 (Mass. 1968). “” G. L. c. 166, § 22 (as amended through St.”
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