Freetown Select Board renews Excel Recycling license despite neighbor fire complaints

FREETOWN — April 9, 2025 — Freetown Select Board renews Excel Recycling's junk dealer's license unanimously despite neighbor fire, odor, and debris complaints. Abutters, including resident Charlie Sullivan, argued that shredded "fluff" from the High Street facility caused a roughly 4-acre brush fire on his property and has contaminated neighboring land for years; Fire Chief Matt Costa said the cause could not be definitively determined. Town Counsel Rogers of KP Law advised the board that revoking the license would likely trigger years of litigation and that renegotiating operating conditions with Excel voluntarily through legal counsel is the more viable path. The board also received a proposed FY2026 budget of $32,772,123 from Town Administrator Deborah Pettey, who warned that the Bristol Plymouth Regional Vocational School assessment is expected to roughly double to approximately $3.5 million next year and that ongoing teacher union negotiations leave the regional school district budget unsettled. The board voted unanimously to include an MBTA zoning bylaw article in the annual town meeting, scheduled for the first Monday in June 2025, and referred the bylaw language to the Planning Board for a required public hearing.