Whitman Board Votes to Foreclose on Contaminated South Avenue Property Near Train Station

WHITMAN — December 30, 2025 — Whitman Select Board votes to foreclose on contaminated South Avenue property and approves middle school financing backstop. The board voted unanimously Tuesday to direct its tax title attorney to begin foreclosure proceedings on a roughly two-and-a-half-acre parcel near the MBTA commuter rail station that has accumulated $791,977.25 in back taxes and interest, with Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter citing MassDevelopment and EPA brownfields grants of up to $4 million as the path to the estimated $617,000 cleanup. Separately, the board approved an intermunicipal agreement allowing Whitman to borrow on behalf of the Whitman-Hanson Regional School District if the district's audited financials are not complete before bond anticipation notes come due in late February or early March 2026 — a financing crisis bond counsel Richard Manley of Troutman Pepper Locke traced to the district's inability to obtain a credit rating after missing fiscal years 2023 and 2024 audits. The board also voted unanimously to pursue temporary art installations at the shuttered Park Avenue School while prioritizing demolition of the structure and a long-term community center — explicitly rejecting a sale of that property.