The Town of Lakeville Planning Board reviewed a revised stormwater management bylaw at its Oct. 9 meeting, discussing edits from town council and technical consultants and agreeing to finalize a clean draft for submission as a placeholder for the spring 2026 town meeting.

Board members and staff focused on drafting and procedural issues rather than adopting the bylaw at the meeting. Town counsel’s reviewer, Greg Corbeau, recommended moving some provisions — specifically the material listed in sections 7 and 8 — out of the bylaw and into accompanying rules and regulations so those items (including a fee schedule) can be updated through a public hearing process rather than requiring a town‑meeting vote.

The change would let the stormwater authority and administration update technical rules and fees through the regulations process instead of repeating a full bylaw adoption each time, the board said.

Members discussed a number of drafting clarifications requested during review: clearer triggering language in Section 5 (several members asked to change phrasing so the bylaw applies when “any of the following activities” is present rather than implying all listed items must be met); inserting a missing period at the end of the stormwater‑permit definition; and harmonizing language about concurrent reviews so references to other town boards (for example, Conservation Commission and planning board site‑plan review) are consistent across the document.

The board also discussed operational details the draft assigns to the implementing authority. Those include requiring an as‑built submission and peer review before issuance of a final letter or certificate of completion, a template letter to certify completion, and an inspection/operation and maintenance plan that will include inspection schedules and funding for maintenance. The board asked the drafter to consolidate overlapping references to “inspection and maintenance agreements” and “operation and maintenance plans” into a single, clear set of requirements.

Procedural items raised in the discussion included how abutter notices will be specified (board members cited the planning board’s typical 300‑foot notice for site plans, 500 feet for subdivisions and Conservation Commission’s 100‑foot standard) and how public hearings will be advertised; one member asked that the bylaw language mirror the state advertising requirement rather than simply saying “14 days.” The draft also references the state stormwater handbook so regulations can point to state guidance that may change over time.

Kathy Murray, the planning board clerk, said she had circulated the draft to the building commissioner and to the consultant working on the rules and regulations, noting, “I sent over the draft to Serped as well because they're working on the rules and regs.”

On fees and peer review authority, staff reviewed two legal bases mentioned in the draft: a board‑adopted 53G peer‑review fee provision referenced in the packet and a separate general‑law authority (chapter 83 was cited during the meeting) that can authorize rules for sewers and drains; board members asked staff to confirm whether the draft needs to include the full statutory language or just the applicable portion. Members also noted that town council previously advised the bylaw needed edits to be enforceable and acceptable to the Attorney General and that those edits have been incorporated.

Next steps: the board asked staff to incorporate the drafting fixes discussed, to seek clarifications from SERPed (the rules/regulations consultant) and from town counsel on a small number of open items, and to send a cleaned draft to the town administrator with a request to place a placeholder for spring town meeting. The board did not take a formal vote to adopt the bylaw at the Oct. 9 meeting.

The board signaled that substantial additional edits would trigger a further review by town counsel before any final submission to town meeting.