HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3719        FILED ON: 2/19/2021

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 339

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Tackey Chan

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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act relative to large project based licenses.

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PETITION OF:

HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3719        FILED ON: 2/19/2021

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 339

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninety-Second General Court
(2021-2022)

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An Act relative to large project based licenses.

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. Chapter 138 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2018 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after Section 15F, the following section:-

Section 15G. (a) As used in this section, the following words shall have the following meanings: 

“Gross leasable area” or “GLA”, the total amount of floor space available to be rented in a commercial property designed for tenant occupancy and exclusive use, including any basements, mezzanines, or upper floors.

“Large community”, a city or town of 500,000 or more residents.

“Mixed-Use development”, a pedestrian-oriented real estate project with planned integration of a combination of retail, office, residential, hotel, recreation or other functions.

“Qualifying project”, a real estate development project in a large community consisting of a building or group of buildings under common or affiliated ownership with a total combined gross floor area of at least 700,000 square feet and including at least 125,000 square feet of commercial space calculated as of the date of the project's receipt of Boston Redevelopment Authority Board, doing business as the Boston Planning and Development Agency, approval; or a shopping center or mixed-use development or redevelopment with a GLA of 150,000 square feet in a small community.

“Restricted project-based licenses,” licenses pursuant to section 12 within a qualifying project for: (i) the sale of all alcoholic beverages to be drunk on the premises; or (ii) the sale of wines and malt beverages to be drunk on the premises.

“Shopping center”, a group of retail and other commercial establishments that is planned, developed, owned and managed as a single property, typically with on-site parking provided.

“Small community”, a city or town of less than 500,000 residents.

“Umbrella license”, a license granted to the owner of a qualifying project under which additional restricted project-based licensees operating within the qualifying project may be added.

(b) The licensing authority of a city of town may grant an umbrella license to an owner of a qualifying project subject to the approval of the commission. The licensing authority may grant restricted project-based licenses pursuant to section 12 of chapter 138 to applicants operating within a qualifying project that is in possession of an umbrella license, subject to the approval of the commission. The licensing authority shall not approve the addition of restricted project-based licensees operating outside of the qualifying project’s umbrella license and shall not approve the transfer of an umbrella license to a location outside of the initial qualifying project. An umbrella license or any of its restricted project-based licenses shall be nontransferable to any person, corporation, or organization operating outside of the qualifying project or alternate location within the qualifying project and shall be marked as such on its face. Notwithstanding this paragraph or any other special or general law to the contrary, umbrella licenses or restricted project-based licenses shall not be subject to or counted against the municipal quota set forth in section 17. An umbrella license or a restricted project-based license issued under this paragraph, if cancelled, revoked, or no longer in use at the location of original issuance, shall be returned physically, with all the legal rights, privileges and restrictions pertaining thereto, to the licensing authority. 

A city or town that wishes to opt into this section may do so by adopting an ordinance or by-law through the local legislative body. 

The owner of a qualifying project shall pay a licensing fee of $150,000 for the umbrella license to be paid within 30 days, and annually thereafter, after the award of the license.