Lakeville seeks town planner and big projects consultant

By Robert Barboza

Posted Aug 21, 2020 

Redevelopment of Lakeville Hospital, Country Club and Island Terrace nursing home all on tap

LAKEVILLE – With three large scale commercial development projects coming down the road, town officials are in agreement that Lakeville has an immediate need for a town planner and some experienced consultants to help with local oversight of those big projects.

At a joint meeting of the Board of Selectmen and the Planning Board on Aug. 13, members agreed to begin drafting a job description for a permanent part-time town planner to help with the pending development boom, and to otherwise support a very busy planning department.

Chairman of Selectmen Richard LaCamera said town officials began discussing options for hiring a part-time planner during spring budget meetings. The town could also consider hiring a consulting firm with municipal planning expertise to provide needed services, it was suggested.

If Lakeville goes with the specialized consulting firm option, it should seek a company with previous Chapter 43D “priority development site” experience, Town Administrator Maureen Candito recommended. The reference was to the town’s designation of the former Lakeville Hospital parcels as priority development sites several years ago.

Last month, the prospective purchasers of most of the Lakeville Hospital site off Main Street, provided the first details on their planned redevelopment of the property. Rhino Capital, a Boston-based corporation specializing in the development and management of industrial space, is proposing the demolition of all the existing buildings on the 50-plus acre site, and the construction of a new 402,500 square foot building to be used for light manufacturing or a warehouse and distribution center.

The Chapter 43D designation allows for a streamlined municipal permitting process that guarantees local permitting decisions within 180 days. The town has already set up a local Plan Approval Authority (PPA) to review the hospital redevelopment plans; its first meeting is set for Sept. 15.

The PPA includes representatives from the Board of Selectmen, Planning Board, Conservation Commission, Public Works Department, Building Commissioner, and Board of Health.

Preliminary plans were filed in January for the re-development of the 8.2 acre former Island Terrace Nursing Home site with two three-story buildings housing 66 upscale condominium units for residents 55 and over. Still pending are concrete plans for the redevelopment of the Lakeville Country Club.

Selectmen reported in April that Hillwood Industrial Real Estate, based in Dallas, Texas, has an agreement to buy the golf course and two adjoining parcels of land for $7.2 million, with tentative plans to build a distribution center on the property.

“We need a planner to help us with these big projects,” sooner rather than later, Planning Board Chair Mark Knox said at the Aug. 13 joint meeting with selectmen. A short time later, Building Commissioner Nate Darling also agreed that a town planner was needed to help with the Planning Department’s steadily increasing workload.

Knox said the Planning Board will be hiring a consulting engineering firm to help them review the hospital redevelopment plans once the PPA has finished its work, and may need another experienced consultant to help it through its first expedited Chapter 43D review process.

LaCamera noted that the cost of any special consultants hired to review the hospital redevelopment plans can be charged back to the developer. He suggested that a newly-hired town planner not be asked to focus too much of their time on that project alone.

While also in joint session, the two boards voted unanimously to appoint resident John Lynch to fill the vacant seat on the Planning Board until the next annual election. Lynch is a retired construction project manager for the hotel and casino industry, and said during his video interview that he has plenty of time to dedicate to the volunteer job.

“I’ve got the experience – 42 years of experience – in purchasing, in contracting, in project development, that I think would be appropriate for what the Planning Board does,” Lynch told board members.

He seemed to have a good grasp on what the Planning Board does, having watched the videos of recent meetings. “It seems to me that you folks are totally overloaded with work,” and could use several more members to help with the workload, he suggested.

“I’m here to provide whatever time you folks need, and I’ll bring my expertise to help the town,” Lynch said before the vote.

The other volunteer for the temporary appointment was resident Nora Klein, who was unable to participate in the meeting due to a work commitment. She was encouraged to run for the remainder of the unexpired term in the next election.

LAKEVILLE HOSPITAL:  INTERESTING HISTORY: