AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE LAYING OUT AND ACCEPTANCE OF CERTAIN WAYS BY THE CITY OF ATTLEBORO
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. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the city of Attleboro may lay out and accept as public ways any of the ways listed in a document on file with the city clerk.
The planning board for the city shall hold a public hearing on the issue of the laying out and acceptance as public ways of those ways so listed within 6 months after the effective date of this act, at which time interested persons shall be given an opportunity to be heard.
Within 21 days after the public hearing, the planning board shall submit a communication to the municipal council with its recommendation as to which ways so listed should be and laid out and accepted as public ways by the city. The communication from the planning board shall be referred to a standing committee of the municipal council or to a special committee appointed by the council president for the sole purpose of considering the proposal to lay out and accept as public ways the ways so listed. Within 45 days of the referral by the planning board, the municipal council shall hold a public hearing on the proposal.
Not less than 14 days before any such public hearing by the municipal council, written notice of the intention of the city to lay out and accept as public ways and the intention to hold a public hearing thereon shall be sent to the owners of land abutting or being a part of the ways so listed. In addition, a notice of the city's intention to lay out and accept the ways so listed shall also be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the city once in each of the 2 successive weeks, the first publication to be not less than 14 days before any public hearing. The notice shall also be posted on the bulletin board at the city clerk's office for a period of not less than 14 days before a public hearing.
The standing or special committee shall report to the full council within 14 days of the public hearing with recommendations as to which ways so listed should and should not be laid out and accepted as public ways by the city. The municipal council may then vote to adopt, amend, or reject the proposal to lay out and accept as public ways any or all of the ways listed.
Such vote by the municipal council shall be subject to the approval of the mayor as provided in section 3-6 of the Attleboro city charter. If the mayor approves the vote, or if the municipal council notwithstanding the mayor's disapproval shall again adopt said proposal by a two-thirds vote of the full council, the ways contained in the final proposal shall be considered laid out and shall be accepted as public ways.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage.
Approved, September 28, 2022.