Julie Hebert

The Plainville Master Plan serves as a roadmap for the town's direction over approximately ten years, focusing on preserving its rural character, historical assets, and natural resources. The plan aims to enhance the quality of life through a vibrant, walkable town center, improved infrastructure, and expanded recreational spaces. It also promotes responsible growth by providing diverse housing options for all ages and fostering economic development in established corridors. Key strategic areas include maintaining open spaces, modernizing facilities, fostering community spirit, and improving safety and transportation networks.

The Kelley Boulevard Area Plan serves as a roadmap for transforming the Kelley Boulevard area into a vibrant, walkable, and economically thriving community. It focuses on land use planning, transportation improvements, and regulatory changes, including preparing a conceptual land use plan, identifying transportation enhancements for connectivity and livability, and developing policies to encourage future housing. Key recommendations involve revisions to zoning codes to allow mixed-use and multifamily residential development, right-size parking, and adjust dimensional elements to support multimodal options and increased density. The plan's vision is to create a pedestrian-friendly environment with diverse land uses and improved multimodal transportation options, guided by stakeholder engagement.

The Annual Town Meeting covered a wide range of topics, including budget approvals for various town departments (police, fire, schools, public works, human services, culture & recreation, debt service, insurance & benefits), the transfer of funds between accounts, capital outlay projects, and the acceptance of new roads. Discussions also included the establishment of reserve funds for energy mitigation, special education, compensated balances, and OPEB. Several articles addressed enterprise funds (water, sewer, cable, solid waste), and amendments to bylaws regarding dog licensing deadlines and zoning regulations for the Town Center District were approved. The meeting also authorized the Select Board to apply for grants and enter into longer-term contracts.