Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 41 § 74
After the establishment of a board of survey no person shall open a private way for public use without first submitting to said board suitable plans thereof in accordance with such rules and regulations as the board may prescribe. In cities such plans shall be so prepared as to show the profiles of such way and the method of drainage of the adjacent or contiguous territory. Upon the receipt of said plans, with a petition for their approval, the board shall give a public hearing thereon, after giving notice of the same by publication once in each of two successive weeks in a newspaper published in the city or town, the last publication to be at least two days before the hearing; and after the hearing, the board may alter such plans, and may determine where such ways shall be located and the width and grades thereof, and shall indicate any modifications on said plans. The plans as approved or modified by the board shall then be signed by the board, and in cities shall be filed in the office of the city engineer, and in towns in the office of the town clerk; and the officer with whom they are filed shall attest thereon the date of filing; and thereafter no way in the territory to which the plans relate shall be laid out or constructed except in accordance therewith, or with further plans subsequently approved by the board.
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 41, § 74