Carver Town Meeting Rejects MBTA Zoning Law in 394-26 Landslide Vote

CARVER -- October 7, 2025, Carver town meeting overwhelmingly rejected the MBTA Communities Act zoning bylaw Tuesday, 394 to 26, while approving a $33.8 million battery storage tax deal. The October 7 special town meeting drew roughly 440 residents to Carver Middle High School, where voters also turned down a motion to indefinitely postpone the MBTA article, 240 to 181, before defeating it outright. Town Counsel Greg Corbo warned that the town faces loss of state grants and a likely Attorney General lawsuit if it remains non-compliant past the December 31, 2025, deadline, noting the SJC has upheld the law and that "if you pass a bylaw and a map before December 31st, you retain control." Select Board Chairman Mark Townsend called the law "terrible" but said the board placed it on the warrant only to let voters decide. A battery energy storage pilot agreement with Cranberry Point Energy Storage, LLC, passed 347 to 64, locking in $1,690,000 in annual payments for 20 years. Non-binding referenda supporting the sale and dissolution of the Carver-Marion-Wareham Regional Refuse Disposal District, which would yield roughly $500,000 to the town, passed 211 to 37 and 228 to 21. A petition to rezone land around Jellystone Park to allow alcohol sales failed 33 to 216, well short of the two-thirds threshold required for a zoning change.