Lakeville Planning Board places data center bylaw on Town Meeting warrant

Planning Board · Meeting of April 9, 2026

Lakeville Planning Board advances data center bylaw and overhauls subdivision open-space rules. The board voted unanimously Thursday to place a data center zoning bylaw on the spring Town Meeting warrant, which closes April 13, and received a comprehensive first full presentation of a revised open space residential development bylaw from SRPEDD senior planner Alexander Bergstrand, who reduced the minimum triggering parcel size from 200 acres to 15 acres and added a mandatory five-step ecological design process. Of total land area, 50 percent must be preserved as open space under the revised draft, with no more than half of that allowable as wetlands, a provision aimed at protecting productive upland around the Assawompset Pond complex, identified by residents as the top community priority.

Board members pushed Bergstrand to add explicit contiguity language ensuring open space is preserved as a unified parcel rather than a buffer strip, a change he agreed to make. The board also voted unanimously to appoint Michelle McEachern as chair and John Cabral as vice chair after newly elected member Donna Gahill joined as a full member, and said farewell to departing planning staff Kathy Mard, who is leaving for a position in Wareham.

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Source: the Planning Board meeting of April 9, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.