Carver Planning Board splits 3-2 on Rochester Road land plan, continues four items to Sept. 16

CARVER -- September 9, 2025, Carver Planning Board endorses contested land plan 3-2, tables four items to September 16. The board split along a 3-2 vote Tuesday to endorse an Approval Not Required plan for lots on Rochester Road and Pine Street, overruling Town Planner Thomas Bott's recommendation to withhold endorsement because, in his reading of case law dating to 1998, adequate access does not exist to the buildable portion of Lot 3-2. The board then unanimously continued a minor modification for the FOSDIC solar project at 96 Purchase Street after Member Shea demanded confirmation that new battery storage containers, described as over 30 feet long and containing more than 58,000 pounds of chemicals, sit more than 100 feet from upland bogs and that a catch-and-containment system be engineered. The most contentious item was Article 8, which would add earth removal as a permitted use in the Green Business Park Zoning District to allow Route 44 Development LLC to remove approximately 480,000 cubic yards of material from a hill on the urban renewal site; Shea called the proposal "spot zoning," Licensed Site Professional Jim Begley of MT Environmental Restoration testified that PFAS contamination has been remediated and signed off by MassDEP, and two residents raised water-quality concerns during public comment. An accessory dwelling unit bylaw amendment responding to the Attorney General's July 30 partial approval letter and a rezoning request for the Cranberry Acres Jellystone Park campground on Shoestring Road, sought to enable on-site alcohol sales at the $25 million seasonal facility, were also continued, all four items to a special meeting September 16, 2025, at 7 p.m. at Carver Town Hall.