Session Laws

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. The deputy commissioner of the division of capital planning and operations is hereby authorized and directed, notwithstanding the provisions of sections forty E through forty I inclusive of chapter seven of the General Laws, to acquire by purchase, gift, land exchange, or eminent domain pursuant to chapter seventy-nine of the General Laws, or to acquire by lease for up to ninety-nine years, lease or purchase, or otherwise, any and all interests in a site to be approximately fifty acres, more or less, as determined by said deputy commissioner, within a portion of land bounded by the property lines adjacent to Texas drive on the west, north and east and Maine avenue on the south, including the northerly portion of Alabama street, Nebraska street and Colorado street, all within the following described land together with any necessary easements, wherever located, and licenses in connection therewith to be used as the site for a Hampden county jail and house of correction, to be designed and constructed, notwithstanding the provisions of any municipal zoning ordinance or law, but pursuant to applicable general or special laws, including section four of chapter six hundred fifty-eight of the acts of nineteen hundred and eighty-six:

Starting at a stone bound, the most westerly common point between Parcel #1 and Parcel #2, as shown on a certain plan entitled "Ludlow, Massachusetts Plan of Land for Westover Metropolitan Development Corporation, dated January 13, 1976, revised December 10, 1976, known as Drawing No. LU-L-2531, made by Pharmer Engineering Corporation, Holyoke, Massachusetts, W. D. Pharmer, Registered Engineer"; thence running

N. 41 degrees 37' 19" W., a distance of 730.15' to a stone bound; thence

N. 34 degrees 35' 28" E., a distance of 457.74' to a stone bound; thence

N. 34 degrees 45' 28" E., a distance of 1,524.17' to a point; thence

N. 50 degrees 17' 17" E., a distance of 144.02' to a point; thence

N. 49 degrees 53' 36" E., a distance of 80.22 to a point; thence

N. 50 degrees 11' 31" E., a distance of 58.95' to a point; thence

N. 70 degrees 04' 19" E., a distance of 281.23' to a point; thence

N. 70 degrees 10' 49" E., a distance of 1,218.24' to a point; thence

N. 70 degrees 13' 51" E., a distance of 1,150.49' to a point; thence

S. 69 degrees 58' 45" E., a distance of 149.48' to a point; thence

S. 30 degrees 58' 53" E., a distance of 1,114.31' to a point; thence

S. 15 degrees 19' 54" E., a distance of 100.44' to a point; thence

S. 00 degrees 02' 29" E., a distance of 2,393.65' to a point; thence

S. 14 degrees 26' 55" W., a distance of 100.56' to a point; thence

S. 29 degrees 07' 08" W., a distance of 2,104.73' to a point; thence

S. 68 degrees 11' 20" W., a distance of 139.42' to a point; thence

N. 72 degrees 54' 33" W., a distance of 1,498.22' to a point; thence

N. 04 degrees 40' 50" W., a distance of 1,305.52' to a point; thence

N. 38 degrees 55' 53" W., a distance of 216.03 to a point; thence

N. 75 degrees 31' 35" W., a distance of 1,284.45' to a stone bound, said stone bound being the point of beginning, containing 362.85 acres of land, more or less, being the premises identified as Parcel #2 conveyed to the Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company by deed of the Westover Metropolitan Development Corporation dated March 1, 1977, and recorded in the Hampden County Registry of Deeds at Book 4391, Pages 116-130; provided, however, that appraisals obtained in connection with any eminent domain acquisition from the town of Ludlow of deed restrictions relating to such property shall take into account any loss of future property tax revenues to said town of Ludlow for the site of the jail and house of correction and for property immediately adjacent thereto.

SECTION 2. The deputy commissioner of the division of capital planning and operations is hereby authorized and directed, notwithstanding the provisions of sections forty E through forty I inclusive of said chapter seven of the General Laws, to grant and to acquire, whether by purchase, gift, lease, land exchange, eminent domain pursuant to chapter seventy-nine of the General Laws, or otherwise, any and all interests in land, including but not limited to all easements necessary for utility, road, and other purposes, all licenses, mineral rights and water rights, as are required in connection with the design, construction and operation of the correctional facilities authorized by sections one through five inclusive of said chapter six hundred and fifty-eight of the acts of nineteen hundred and eighty-six.

SECTION 3. Section four of chapter six hundred and fifty-eight of the Acts of 1986 is hereby amended by striking out the first sentence in its entirety and inserting in place thereof the following:- The secretary of the executive office of human services is authorized to expend no more than ninety million dollars for the purpose of a grant program to assist Hampden county in undertaking feasibility studies, acquiring land, providing technical assistance or expertise, making preliminary plans, and designing, or constructing a jail and house of correction not to exceed the maximum number of beds as determined by the study, including initial furnishings and equipment, including an amount of four million dollars for the acquisition from the town of Ludlow of deed restrictions relating to the site, and further including related costs to mitigate impacts of the facility on the town of Ludlow not to exceed six million dollars; provided, that the six million shall not come from the infrastructure grant program established by Section eleven of Chapter seven hundred and ninety-nine of the acts of nineteen hundred and eighty-five; provided further, however, that the design and planning for said jail and house of correction shall include provisions to house female inmates sufficient to meet the needs of the region; and provided, that said facility shall include housing units at all security levels; and provided further, that the sheriff of Hampden county shall implement procedures to favor residents of the town of Ludlow in the hiring of up to twenty-five percent of the new employees for said jail and house of corrections; and provided that an environmental impact report shall be prepared for said facility, pursuant to sections sixty-one to sixty-two H of chapter thirty.

SECTION 4. The first sentence of section twelve of said chapter six hundred and fifty-eight is hereby amended by striking the word "twenty-three" and inserting in place thereof the word:- sixty-two.

SECTION 5. Section 5 of chapter 347 of the acts of 1982 is hereby amended by striking out the third paragraph, as most recently amended by section 41 of chapter 208 of the acts of 1988, and inserting in place thereof the following paragraph:-

When in making the grants authorized by this section, if the secretary approves a grant for the acquisition of land, the planning and construction of a jail in the town of Dartmouth, the secretary shall also approve a grant of not more than thirty million dollars for the design and construction of an interceptor sewer to service the facilities on the property where the facility is to be constructed, and to include the design and construction for an addition to the present sewerage treatment plant, and the interceptor sewerage needs of that section of the town of Dartmouth along Faunce Corner Road, through which the interceptor sewer runs, including the acquisition of such traditional land and interests therein as may be necessary for the installation of said interceptor sewer, by purchase, by eminent domain under chapter seventy-nine of the General Laws, or otherwise; provided, that no payment shall be made for the acquisition of such additional land and interests therein until three independent appraisals of the value of the property have been made by qualified disinterested appraisers; and, provided further, however, that notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, any land taken by eminent domain proceedings or any interest therein so taken for jail purposes under this section which are determined to be not needed for said purposes, shall be conveyed by the commonwealth to the Dartmouth Industrial Development Foundation, Inc.

SECTION 6. Upon the completion of the new Hampden County Correctional Institution at Ludlow and within sixty days of the issuance of the appropriate certificates of occupancy the following actions shall occur: (1) All inmates then incarcerated in the County Correctional Institution at Springfield shall be transferred to the facility in Ludlow; (2) All other correctional related activities of any type or nature including, but not limited to, administrative; program; medical; and pre-release shall be transferred from the Springfield facility to the Ludlow jail; (3) The present Correctional Institution at Springfield shall cease to be used as a correctional facility by Hampden county, the commonwealth or any agency, subdivision or contractual entity of the state or county.

SECTION 7. A study shall be made by the secretary of administration and finance and presented to the house and senate committees on ways and means, to assess the annual loss of revenue that the town of Ludlow or the Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company will incur due to the loss of taxable industrial land if the proposed new Hampden county jail and house of corrections is placed in the town of Ludlow.

Within sixty days of completion of the study, a payment in lieu of tax based on a fair market appraisal shall be established, by the secretary of administration and finance, to be made to the town of Ludlow annually.

SECTION 8. The secretary of administration and finance shall review and provide the house and senate committees on ways and means with a report on the recommendation of the Hampden county commissioners relative to the siting of the new Hampden county jail and house of corrections at the Taylor Street site in the city of Springfield, and the effect of that recommendation on the siting process.

SECTION 9. A study shall be made by the secretary of administration and finance to provide the house and senate committees on ways and means with the specific amount of money that will be required to fund the new Hampden county jail and house of corrections in accordance with, but not limited to, the siting, construction, and other relative costs.

SECTION 10. The secretary of administration and finance shall provide the house and senate committees on ways and means with the exact surveyed boundaries of the proposed eminent domain land taking for the new Hampden county jail and house of corrections in the town of Ludlow.

SECTION 11. An economic impact study shall be made by the secretary of administration and finance, and presented to the house and senate committees on ways and means, to assess the impact that the proposed new Hampden county jail and house of corrections will have upon the town of Ludlow. The study shall include, but not be limited to; transportation, fire and police, traffic, water and sewerage, and other relative costs.