Standard-Times: Packed Lakeville Town Meeting goes into overtime
By DAN McDONALD
dmcdonald@s-t.com
October 19, 2010 12:00 AM

LAKEVILLE — A crowd of more than 1,400 turned out at a special Town Meeting Monday night to vote on two of the most pivotal issues in the town's recent history — Sysco and full school regionalization.

As of press time, Town Meeting was in the midst of discussing Sysco Boston's $110 million proposal for a 650,000-square-foot food distribution center on Route 105. The company needed a two-thirds majority vote to change zoning of the site of the old Lakeville Hospital for the project to move forward.

Around 10:30 p.m., there was a call for a vote by secret ballot and officials expected it to take at least 45 minutes to count.

After that, Town Meeting still had to tackle the full regionalization of the Freetown-Lakeville school district and there were rumblings that the meeting would continue well into the night.

Town residents packed the high school gymnasium and their cars filled the Apponequet parking lots and nearby streets. Some residents had to be seated in the two "overflow rooms," the school's auditorium and cafeteria. Resident Dick Scott said he thought it was the largest Town Meeting in Lakeville history.

Before the meeting, groups of Sysco opponents and proponents lined the walkway to the high school, handing out leaflets and making their last-minute pitches. One group, the Lakeville Residents for Responsible Growth, set up a large flat-screen television just outside the high school's entrance that played a continuous loop of Lakeville residents voicing their opposition to the project.

The literature of the opposition continued to highlight their concerns about environmental harm, noise and traffic.

Inside the school, proponents drove home the jobs and revenue the project would bring to town.

Resident Kevin St. George said the town needs a new police station and that the Sysco project is one "way we can get money." He was far from alone, as the Board of Selectmen and the Finance Committee both expressed support for the project.

The opponents' argument came down to one point: The old hospital site is simply not appropriate for the project.

"We're going to change Main Street in Lakeville forever," Nelson Pratt said. "There's no going back."

The revenue from the project, said John Jenkins, who opposes the project, is equal to "less than 2 percent" of the town's budget, his point being that the community impact of the proposal outweighs the potential financial gains.

"This is not a home run for Lakeville financially," Jenkins said.

Others refuted Jenkins' statement, saying that 2 percent is not a figure that should be scoffed at.

Freetown and Lakeville school administration already is regionalized in Grades 5-12. Freetown and Lakeville elementary schools, however, still operate in their respective administrative silos. Proponents say regionalizing, which is what Article 7 calls for, would allow the district to streamline the administration of education in both towns. It also could provide more flexibility with class sizes on the elementary level. No vote was taken on that as of press time.

Other articles dealt with $102,530 approved for financial "housekeeping" including wage transfers, and the designation of Chrisjenn Brooke Drive as a public way. Two other road requests were tabled indefinitely.