Lakeville special town meeting approves 40R housing overlay, infrastructure transfers; voters reject appointive clerk and treasurer proposals

A special Town of Lakeville meeting on matters posted in the warrant signed April 11, 2018, approved a mix of zoning, infrastructure and housekeeping items while rejecting two proposals to convert elected finance and clerk positions to appointed posts.

The meeting approved a 40R smart-growth overlay district that makes an upcoming mixed-income housing development eligible for state incentives. The planning board and finance committee recommended the change, and the moderator ordered a counted two-thirds vote; the article passed unanimously after tellers’ counts. Selectman Aaron Burke said making the area 40R “is more or less the same development, but we can qualify for state funding based on that designation.”

Voters also approved a set of transfers and capital authorizations the meeting considered routine. The town approved an article to transfer unanticipated FY2018 costs among general-fund line items (housekeeping), and a separate transfer of $50,000 from the sale-of-real-estate account to renovate town office space to accommodate the assessor’s office. Both votes were carried unanimously.

A larger infrastructure vote authorized spending $170,000 from the Water Infrastructure Stabilization Fund to design and construct a water-main extension on Bedford Street to serve the new police station. Because state law requires a two-thirds majority for such spending, the meeting conducted a counted vote; the moderator declared the article passed by more than the required two-thirds (the moderator recorded one opposed).

Other measures approved included: authorization for the board of selectmen to enter a contract exceeding three years with ABC Disposal Services Inc. for solid-waste collection; acceptance of a deed in lieu of foreclosure under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 60, §77C for a 21.75-acre parcel to be managed by the conservation commission for conservation and passive recreation; assorted zoning bylaw amendments (including changes about drive-through facilities, fast-food/restaurant definitions and fuel/filling-station rules);…