{"data":{"id":"us-ma/mass.-gen.-laws-ch.-138-16c","jurisdiction":"us-ma","citation":"Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 138, § 16C","heading":"Licenses for premises located near schools or churches","body":"Section 16C. Premises, except those of an innholder and except such parts of buildings as are located ten or more floors above street level, located within a radius of five hundred feet of a school or church shall not be licensed for the sale of alcoholic beverages unless the local licensing authority determines in writing and after a hearing that the premises are not detrimental to the educational and spiritual activities of said school or church; but this provision shall not apply to the transfer of a license from premises located within said distance to other premises located therein, if it is transferred to a location not less remote from the nearest school or church than its former location. Any applicant who has been denied a license under this section shall have the right to an appeal under section sixty-seven.\nIn this section a church shall mean a church or synagogue building dedicated to divine worship and in regular use for that purpose, but not a chapel occupying a minor portion of a building primarily devoted to other uses, and a school shall mean an elementary or secondary school, public or private, giving not less than the minimum instruction and training required by chapter seventy-one to children of compulsory school age. This section shall not apply to an extension of licensed premises provided said extension does not exceed fifty feet.","path":["Part I","Title XX","Chapter 138"],"source_url":"https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXX/Chapter138/Section16C","current_through":"amendments passed before May 31, 2026","vintage":"","retrieved_at":"2026-09-17T05:23:15Z","sha256":"9c037905ceba57f92e6a1bd66e95aed0ecc4dadec30135541b3b11cef8d316cc","source_id":"us-ma","stale":false,"prev":"us-ma/mass.-gen.-laws-ch.-138-16b","next":"us-ma/mass.-gen.-laws-ch.-138-16d"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}