UPDATE: Hospital proposal fails during six-hour meeting

Nov 15, 2022

UPDATE

LAKEVILLE — During a sometimes contentious six-hour Special Town Meeting Nov. 14, voters rejected a proposal from Rhino Capital to build two warehouses on the site of the former Lakeville Hospital at 43 Main St. 

In total, 497 residents voted against the plan and 292 voted in favor of it. This fell well short of a majority vote, for an issue which required a two-thirds approval to pass.

“It’s not right for Lakeville,” said hospital abutter Janice Scott, who spoke about how the proposal does not fit into Lakeville’s Master Plan. She said that the major takeaway of the master plan is to keep Lakeville’s small-town feel despite a growing population.

Opponents of the plan worried about traffic and noise stemming from the project, as well as questioning whether allowing one warehouse in town would start a wave of warehouse development.

The plan’s supporters wanted to see the hospital buildings demolished and the landfill on the property cleaned. Representatives of Rhino Capital, which owns the parcel, said the company would completely clean the site if the warehouse proposal was approved.

Some residents supported the plan during the meeting.

“For the past 38 years, I’ve watched the site of the prior Lakeville Hospital deteriorate to the horrendous eyesore that it is right now,” said resident Susan Hladik. “I really feel that it’s an embarrassment to us and to our town. Something needs to be done with it, and I feel like the time to do it is right now.”

Rhino proposed building two 201,000-square-foot warehouses on the property. The developers said the warehouses would add $500,000 in taxes.

Rhino made some changes to the plan prior to the vote in an effort to accommodate neighbors’ concerns. Plans for a single warehouse were changed to two smaller buildings, more measures were added to control traffic, a landscaped area was planned to create a buffer and more aesthetic appeal, and truck loading docks were moved further away from abutting homes. 

Resident John Jenkins said that while he believes the plan developers had good intentions, he also thinks approving the warehouse would be the latest in a “series of poor decisions” by the town.

Article 15, if passed, would have allowed warehouses as primary uses in mixed-use zones. Approval of the article would have allowed Rhino’s proposal to enter a site plan review process with the town of Lakeville.

The future of the site remains uncertain. Officials from Rhino previously stated that the land could be sold to a developer looking to build affordable housing if the plan failed.

Town Meeting voters passed a motion preventing Rhino Capital representatives from presenting the plan and speaking at the meeting, because those individuals did not live in town. Planning Board Chair Mark Knox presented the plan to voters instead.

Before the vote, Select Board Chair Rich LaCamera said that if the hospital development plan fails and dense multi-family housing is built instead, the Freetown-Lakeville School District student body would increase dramatically and result in raised taxes. 

Due to the strong emotions the issue evoked, Select Board Member Lia Fabian made a motion to have the vote taken privately so that residents’ individual views would not be known. Fabian said she heard that some voters felt apprehensive about voting publicly.

But that motion failed. “If they want to have the gumption to vote for it, then I want everyone to see that vote,” said resident Brynna Donahue. “They can stand up for it, or they don’t vote.”

Monday’s vote represents the latest chapter in a long-standing issue to determine the fate of the hospital site.

The hospital, run by the state, opened in 1910 and closed in 1992. The buildings contain asbestos, as they were built before the United States restricted its use in 1989, which has led to questions about clean-up.

There have been three development plans for the site. All of which, including Rhino’s plan, have now failed. 

“I’d like to thank those Lakeville residents who believed in our goal of cleaning up the hospital site and came out to Town Meeting to vote. We really appreciate their support,” said Rhino Capital Head of Construction and Development Tyler Murphy.