Carver Planning Board Continues MBTA Hearing With No Site Chosen One Week Before Town Meeting

CARVER -- September 30, 2025, Carver Planning Board continues MBTA Communities zoning hearing one week before a special town meeting, with no site selected and unit-count projections far above the board's 235-unit target. Town Planner Andrew Bott told the board Tuesday that consultant Barrett Planning Group's compliance model puts the primary candidate site, 30-32 West Street, at a maximum build-out capacity of 482 units, more than double the state minimum, prompting Chair Marianne DeBoat to declare the figure "completely unacceptable" and to question the reliability of the consultant's prior assurances. The board directed Barrett Planning Group to attempt to reduce West Street's capacity to 250 units or fewer, or to model two alternative sites, One Meadowbrook Way, owned by the Carver Housing Authority, and a Spring Street location previously modeled at 227 units, and report back at a continued hearing on October 6, the day before the October 7 special town meeting. State Representative Steven Gasky attended and confirmed that school, road, and public safety grants cannot be withheld by the state for noncompliance with the MBTA Communities Law. The board also unanimously approved a special permit for Haley Shainess to operate a doggy daycare at 74 Rochester Road with a 10-dog daytime maximum and three-dog overnight boarding cap, and formally signed a 0-5 denial decision for a duplex special permit at 167 Center Street.