Freetown Select Board Finalizes 28-Article Special Town Meeting Warrant for January 26

FREETOWN — January 5, 2026 — Freetown Select Board sets 28-article special town meeting warrant for January 26. The board voted unanimously Monday to finalize the warrant, which spans capital spending on a new fire engine, elementary school boiler replacement, police ATV, and fire station parking lot resurfacing, as well as multiple accessory dwelling unit zoning updates, MBTA Communities multifamily overlay district compliance, and acceptance of two new town roads. Two articles were stripped before the warrant closed: a proposed fingerprint licensing bylaw for the police department was pulled after Town Counsel raised unresolved questions, and a proposal to regulate ADU height and area was removed for further development, with both expected to return at a future town meeting. The board also voted unanimously to expend $4,800 from the selectmen's donation account to subsidize parking lot repairs at the East Freetown Congregational Church, whose lot serves as the primary parking for the White Library, and voted to sell a largely landlocked wetland parcel at Map 240, Lot 16 — appraised at $80,000 — after the Conservation Commission declined to acquire it under a newly enacted state tax-title law that would require the town to return net sale proceeds above its costs to the original delinquent owner.