Marshfield Board of Public Works Caps Transfer Station Leaf Drop-offs at Two Per Week

MARSHFIELD — April 13, 2026 — Marshfield water district rules would sharply limit MBTA-zone housing density, a new engineering analysis finds. At the Monday, April 13 Board of Public Works meeting at 965 Plain Street, a staff engineer walked board members through a multi-slide analysis concluding that Water Resource Protection District nitrogen loading limits, wastewater requirements, and impervious surface restrictions would hold achievable multifamily density to roughly two to four units per acre in the MBTA Communities Act overlay zone — well below state expectations — while pushing total per-unit development costs to an estimated $375,000 to $525,000 before any building construction begins. The engineer noted that 40 to 70 percent of any parcel in the district would be consumed by required infrastructure, and that WRPD special-permit requirements apply even though the MBTA Act designates multifamily housing as of right. The board also unanimously approved four routine items: a $3,417.45 contract reduction on the Plymouth Avenue Pump Station sewer project funded through the State Revolving Fund, a $16,620.25 line-painting supply contract awarded to Franklin Paint of Franklin, a punch-card system capping residents at two leaf-and-yard-waste drop-offs per week at the transfer station, and a $4,630.77 water-bill abatement for an elderly resident whose late husband's unattended workshop had sustained an undetected pipe leak that discharged 454,000 gallons over a single billing cycle.