Residents will vote yay or nay to $22 million fire station at Special Town Meeting

LAKEVILLE — Funding for a new fire station tops the agenda at the Nov. 12 Special Town Meeting. 

Voters will be asked whether to approve borrowing $21,409,960 to design, construct, equip and furnish a new Lakeville fire station. This amount is slightly more than the $19.5 million that town officials cited as the estimated cost of the project after the Town Meeting in June. 

If approved, Lakeville voters will be asked to vote on funding the project through a debt exclusion. A debt exclusion, as opposed to a Proposition 2 ½ override, allows a town to temporarily levy limit without changing the levy limit for future years. A Special Town Meeting where voters will approve or deny the debt exclusion will be held in January. 

The space limitations of the current facility are one of the primary reasons a new station is needed, according to Lakeville Fire Chief Michael O’Brien. The facility, deemed ‘inadequate’ in a 2022 feasibility study, was built in 1894 and has served as Lakeville’s fire station since 1953.

Fire engines barely fit in their designated bays and the building has no real bunk room for firefighters, O’Brien has said. 

Lakeville residents will also be asked at Special Town Meeting to authorize adding a definition of accessory dwelling units to the town’s bylaw. 

The same agenda item asks voters to give the planning board authority over site plan review of the first accessory dwelling unit. It also asks that a second accessory dwelling unit require a special permit. 

According to Planning Board Chair Michelle MacEachern, this legislation serves as “initial guidelines” for the state law, which allows for housing units of up to 900 square to be constructed by right on properties in areas zoned for single-family homes. 

Voters will also be asked to authorize implementing legislation that would allow for additional real estate property tax breaks for military personnel, veterans and their spouses. If approved,  this legislation, called the “Hero Act,” would mean partially and totally disabled veterans in Lakeville would receive a 100% increase in tax exemptions. Additional exemptions would enter into effect in 2026, according to the article. 

Board of Assessor’s Chair John Olivieri recommended the town support a 100% increase in property tax breaks because of “everything veterans have done for our country.” Select Board Vice Chair Lia Fabian supported the Board of Assessors recommendation. 

Dissolving the Parks Department enterprise fund is an item that voters will also weigh in on. A vote in support of this item would result in Parks Department revenues being incorporated back into the town’s general fund, as opposed to being held in a separate account. 

Another item on the agenda would repeal a bylaw currently in place that prohibits residents from amending articles on the Town Meeting floor. This article is sponsored by the Select Board. 

Other agenda items include:

Amending the town’s zoning map to change the zoning for 15.9 acres of land along Route 44 near the Lakeville-Taunton line from Business and/or Residential to Industrial. This article is sponsored by the Planning Board. According to Planning Board Chair Michelle MacEachern, allowing for industrial use in this part of town is in line with Lakeville’s 2030 Master Plan. 

Voting on approval to transfer ownership of several parcels of land owned by the town’s Treasurer Collector to the Select Board. Once owned by the Select Board, these parcels would be auctioned off as a way to generate more revenue for the town, according to select board members. 

Allowing trust funds owned by the town to be invested under the standards of the Massachusetts Prudent Investor Act. This gives town officials the ability to invest funds in a more prudent way, according to town Treasure/Collector Erika Correia.

Approval of the transfer of $16,369.18 from Free Cash and $337.75 from Park Retained Earnings to cover unpaid bills from 2023. 

A vote to transfer an unused balance of $148,933.96, approved at Annual Town Meeting in 2020, for repairs to Lakeville’s Department of Public Works building. 

A vote to raise $71,231 through taxation to supplement funding for certain town department services that was already approved at Annual Town Meeting.