West Bridgewater Select Board votes to place MBTA zoning on October 20 special town meeting warrant

WEST BRIDGEWATER -- September 24, 2025, West Bridgewater Select Board reverses course on MBTA zoning, placing compliance articles on an October 20 special town meeting warrant. All three members of the board, who had voted against the MBTA Communities Act overlay in May, unanimously backed the change Wednesday, citing a state decision to withhold $1.2 million from Winthrop as evidence that noncompliance carries direct financial consequences. Chair Jeff Ryan acknowledged the tension, saying the state's approach "seems to fall flat in some form of democracy" but that voting no "would be detrimental to vote against this from a fiscal perspective." The board also placed an accessory dwelling unit zoning update and a $99.35 fire department invoice on the warrant, approved roughly $5,100 in opioid settlement funds for AED units at the West Bridgewater Country Club, and signed off on a $5,450 amendment to an engineering agreement with GPI for the River Street Sidewalk project. The Planning Board is required to hold a public hearing on the two zoning articles on October 15, and the town's MBTA compliance deadline is December 31, 2025, leaving no time for a re-vote if the special town meeting fails to act.