Plympton Planning Board Joins Opposition to Ricketts Pond Open Space Rollback

PLYMPTON — April 7, 2026 — Plympton Planning Board joins three other town bodies in opposing a state-level open space rollback at the Ricketts Pond 40B development. Voting unanimously on seven separate actions at its April 7 meeting, the board authorized a letter to the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act office arguing that approximately 33 acres of open space committed in the project's 2018 MEPA permit must be preserved, not absorbed into the proposed 30-duplex, 60-unit development on the Plympton-Carver line. Resident Jared Anderson of 45 Elm Street appeared to explain the situation, telling the board that "the original deal was 33 acres of open space and we'd like to keep it that way." The board also directed the owner of the Main and Mayflower development to return with a revised landscaping plan elevating plantings above a flood-prone area — where 21 of 74 installed plants have died — and notified the Lake Street project owner that five dead eastern white pines must be replaced, doubling the count in the inspector's own report. The board separately voted to forward a dark sky bylaw complaint about a library light to the town's zoning enforcement officer and to resend its prior legal-position letter to the Zoning Board of Appeals ahead of a Barker House special permit hearing set for April 14.