LAKEVILLE — Lakeville’s Planning Board opposes a Special Town Meeting article proposing to rezone 155 acres of open land near County Street and Route 140 from residential to industrial.

The unanimous vote to reject the article was taken during a Planning Board meeting on Thursday, Oct. 13.

The land is owned by Muhammad Itani, who has developed single-family homes in Easton and Dighton, according to construction information website BuildZoom.

Itani petitioned the Planning Board to allow him to develop the land, according to Planning Board Chair Mark Knox. The Planning Board asked the Town Council, KP Law, to write an article for the Town Meeting warrant so that residents could have their say on the future of the land.

The Planning Board wanted to explore options to develop parcels of land around major roads and highway exits, as this property is. But the board voted against the article because members had concerns over it.

Planning Board Member Peter Conroy said he would not feel comfortable rezoning the land without a building plan to map out the land’s future use.

“This is open-ended,” Conroy said. “It could be sold the day after Town Meeting.”

Planning Board Member Michele MacEachern voiced her concerns over how development would impact natural land features including rare plants.

“I think it’s an important natural feature of Lakeville,” MacEachern said. “I think it should be protected.”

Building types that fall under industrial zoning include warehouses, distribution centers, manufacturing plants, research laboratories, and towers over 45 feet tall, according to Lakeville’s zoning bylaws, although a separate warrant article, if approved, would require a special permit for warehouses larger than 100,000 square feet.

Cora Pierce, a representative of the Rhode Island-based Narragansett Indian Tribe, called the space Lakeville’s “most valuable piece of land” in her public comments.

Pierce recommended using the land for ecotourism, the practice of responsible travel to natural areas, and said the land contains stone landscapes and spaces that tribes used for meetings. 

“When I heard that this site was possible being turned to industrial, it terrified me,” Pierce said. “It’s a very sacred piece of land and I would hate to see it turned into industrial use.”

Pierce also told the Planning Board that the town would have to do archeological surveys on the entire 300-acre property, not just the 155 acres that would be rezoned. She said the surveys would cost millions of dollars.

“I have no intention of voting yes on this,” Conroy said.

Special Town Meeting will be held Nov. 14 at Apponequet Regional High School.