Freetown Planning Board Continues Two Subdivisions, Passes on 61A Land Purchase

FREETOWN — December 3, 2024 — Freetown Planning Board continues two subdivisions after falsified certified mail receipt surfaces. At the December 3 meeting, the board voted unanimously to push the three-lot 11 Walnut Street subdivision — applicant Michael Bicho, represented by Robert Perui of Hope Engineering Incorporated — to December 17, 2024, after abutter Christine Johansson of Mill Street told members she never received a hearing notice and that the certified mail receipt on file bore a signature that "we did not sign." The board also continued the eight-lot 32 Middleboro Road subdivision to January 7, 2025, for lack of engineering feedback, and unanimously declined the town's Chapter 61A right of first refusal on a two-thirds-acre cranberry bog portion at 81 Middleboro Road where owners Elton and Anarie Ashley plan to install solar panels. The chair separately flagged that Freetown charges $100 per lot in subdivision filing fees against roughly $1,000 per lot in neighboring Lakeville, Berkley, and Dighton — a gap he called "free money" left on the table.