Carver Planning Board Declines Mayflower Road Land Purchase, Defers Four Other Permits

CARVER -- March 10, 2026, Carver Planning Board declines farmland purchase option and continues four development permits to March 24. The board voted 5-0 to waive the town's right of first refusal on seven lots being withdrawn from Chapter 61A agricultural status on Mayflower Road, with members citing an unaffordable purchase price and insufficient wetland mapping. Two solar projects, Fullist Stone Street Solar LLC and William Street Solar 2 LLC, were continued after a peer reviewer from Fuss and O'Neill flagged an unresolved setback question along the Carver-Middleborough town line, and public commenter Meg Sheehan of the Community Land and Water Coalition raised concerns about prior unpermitted sand and gravel mining into the Plymouth-Carver sole source aquifer at the Fullist Street site. A 12-unit 55-and-over townhouse proposal at 7 and 9 Silver Street was also continued after discussion of an eight-to-12-foot natural vegetation buffer, well short of the 32-foot waiver the applicant requested, and well-impact concerns raised by private resident Catherine Harrelson of Plymouth. The board closed the public hearing on a second ADU application at 15 Pleasant Street from David Baston, accepting the Zoning Board of Appeals' determination that an existing interior space constitutes a first ADU over the objection of Building Commissioner Rod Palmer. All four continued items, plus a draft decision for the previously heard Tremont Street Solar 1 LLC project, are now stacked on the March 24, 6:30 p.m. agenda alongside a food truck permit for John Gillis of Get in My Belly, a meeting the board noted was filling up rapidly as a new town planner was set to start the following Monday.