Freetown Planning Board resumes Beech Bluff Farm composting hearing Tuesday, with a town engineering review ordered
The request shrank from 9.9 acres to 5.27. Neighbors have raised water, traffic and site activity, and the board has until Nov. 30 to decide. The same agenda carries Freetown's response to a gravel project next door in Lakeville.
FREETOWN A bid to run commercial composting on part of Beech Bluff Farm in East Freetown returns to the Planning Board on Tuesday, Oct. 20. In September the board put it off so an engineering firm working for the town could review the plan.
The applicant, Happy Trails Farm LLC, is seeking a special permit to compost on a 5.27-acre portion of the farm, off Chace Road at Assessors Map 241, Lot 41, the agenda says. Neighbors have raised water quality, truck traffic and site activity with the board since August. Chairman Chad Carvalho said in August that the board's focus is what materials come onto the site, and that a permit would come with "guidelines and limits set per the Board," according to the minutes.
What the farm proposes
The first application sought 9.9 acres, the farm's attorney told the board Aug. 4. After the property changed hands, an amended filing named Happy Trails Farm as the applicant and cut the area to 5.27 acres. He also presented a July 30 site plan, "Compost Area Evaluation," covering water management, odor and vector control, hours and the process.
The composting manager described the work. Food, leaves, grass and wood are mixed in windrows, checked for temperature and turned, and the process "takes three (3) months to complete, yielding clean compost suitable for sale to landscapers and golf courses," the minutes say. Asked by member Dave Crose about groundwater testing, the attorney said the state Department of Environmental Protection does not require it. When a resident said the applicant had no current DEP composting permit, Carvalho read a DEP reply on the applicant's permits saying a Solid Waste General Permit for 89 Chace Road has been active since 2022.
What neighbors and officials raised
In August, the owner said the biggest problem at the site had been deliveries of clam waste and shells, which brought odor and neighbors' objections, and that the previous owner had stopped all clam products. On Sept. 10, a Chace Road neighbor said the smell had subsided and the farm was "reasonably quiet," but he asked for traffic controls and raised Fall Brook and the area water supply. He also said trucks from Recycleworks, a company he said shares the farm's owner, were arriving in large numbers. The attorney had called Recycleworks "a separate entity" unrelated to the permit. On water, the attorney said the applicant would file a stormwater management plan for the engineering review.
Building Commissioner Carl Bizarro asked Sept. 10 whether a permit could allow unannounced inspections. The attorney objected that inspections without consent "would constitute a violation of his client's Fourth Amendment Right," the minutes say.
The engineering review
The board voted unanimously Sept. 10 to approve a scope of work for CEC, an independent engineering firm, to review the plan for the town. The cost was put at $8,500, with a change order if it runs over, and Town Planner Nancy Durfee said in August that the applicant pays. The vote covered the scope only. Town counsel had flagged CEC's draft contract for lacking indemnification terms, and it was to be finalized separately.
No review report was posted with the agenda, so it is not public whether CEC has finished. An extension signed in August gives the board until Nov. 30 to act.
A gravel project next door
Under new business, the agenda lists "30 Howland Road, Planning Board Response." Durfee told the board Sept. 1 that the gravel removal project proposed there, in Lakeville, covers about 500 acres, roughly 167 of them to be dug, with 6 million "square yards" of gravel removed, as the minutes put it. Citing school bus routes and newly paved roads, a draft letter sought a road bond, truck routes through Lakeville and noise and dust controls. The town administrator told selectmen Sept. 21 that Lakeville had received the letter and posted it online.
How to take part
The meeting starts at 6 p.m. at the Freetown Multi-Use Council on Aging, 227 Chace Road, East Freetown, and on Zoom, meeting ID 830 8835 0083, passcode 757463. (The agenda's remote-access notice still names the Police Station.) The Planning Board office is at 508-644-2201, ext. 6, or planning@freetownma.gov.
Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.
How we verified this
Every fact comes from the Freetown Planning Board's Oct. 20 agenda, its Aug. 4, Sept. 1 and Sept. 10 minutes, the Board of Selectmen's Sept. 21 minutes and the town directory, listed below. We read them on Oct. 18. We checked each date and weekday against a calendar and checked each claim against the documents. Individuals who spoke as residents, owners or applicants are not named. A question for the Planning Board office about the CEC review is logged but has not been sent. Not heard: no one was contacted.
Corrections
No corrections to this story. If something here is wrong, tell us. Every correction is dated on the story and listed in our public log.
Sources (6)
- Planning Board Meeting Notice, Tuesday, October 20, 2026 (agenda, 2 pages)Town of Freetown, clerk's stamp Oct. 15, 2026. Composting hearing, 5.27 acres, Map 241 Lot 41, 30 Howland Road item, time, place, Zoom. Read Oct. 18, 2026.
- Planning Board Minutes, Tuesday, August 4, 2026 (scanned, 7 pages)Town of Freetown, clerk's stamp Sept. 2, 2026. Amended application, 9.9 to 5.27 acres, site plan, process, DEP permit, clam waste, Recycleworks reply, Nov. 30 extension. Read Oct. 18, 2026.
- Planning Board Minutes, Thursday, September 10, 2026 (5 pages)Town of Freetown. CEC peer review scope vote, $8,500, contract, neighbor comments, inspection objection, continuance to Oct. 20. Read Oct. 18, 2026.
- Planning Board Minutes, Tuesday, September 1, 2026Town of Freetown. 30 Howland Road, Lakeville, acreage, gravel volume, concerns, draft letter. Read Oct. 18, 2026.
- Board of Selectmen Minutes, September 21, 2026 (8 pages)Town of Freetown. Letter to Lakeville received and posted. Read Oct. 18, 2026.
- Staff and department directory: Planning BoardTown of Freetown. Phone and email. Read Oct. 18, 2026.