Prohibited uses

The following uses shall not be permitted within the Town of Foster:

Acetylene gas manufacture

Acid manufacture

Adult entertainment uses involving nudity or partial nudity

Airport or heliport

Ammonia or bleach manufacture

Any use which is obnoxious by reason of the emission of gasses, odors, noise, dust, vibration or soot or by reason of the danger of fire or explosion

Asphalt manufacture of refining

Atomic energy processes and storage

Automobile, truck, or other vehicle junkyard

Brewery or distillery

Carbon black manufacture

Cement, lime, gypsum, pyroxylin, or plastic manufacture

Chlorine manufacture

Coal distillation and derivation of coal products

Commercial facilities established for the purpose of storage, processing, or disposal of organic and nonorganic waste

Commercial laundry (excepting a laundromat as provided for in section 38-191)

Commercial slaughterhouse

Creosote manufacture

Dormitory, except where accessory to a permitted use

Dry cleaning plant

Explosives manufacture

Fertilizer manufacture

Fossil fuel and nuclear power generating station

Glue manufacture

House trailer park or colony

House trailers/mobile homes (except as provided for in section 38-191)

Hydro fracking for the purpose of oil or gas extraction

Iron or steel foundry

Offal or dead animal processing, or treatment and distillation of bones, fats, or feathers

Oilcloth or linoleum manufacture

Paint manufacture

Petroleum refinery

Piggery

Potash manufacture

Racetracks of any description where a fee is charged or donations made (except as allowed under section 38-191)

Rendering or refining of fats, oils, or bones

Rubber manufacture or treatment

Smelter

Storage, processing, or disposal of hazardous waste or material

Tanning or curing of hides

Textile dyeing or finishing

Vehicle washing shop (except where public sewerage disposal is available and/or except where utilizing a water reclaim system)

Wastewater treatment facility or sewage sludge incinerator

Any use, not expressly permitted in this article, shall be presented by the property owner to the zoning enforcement officer. Upon application for the use not expressly permitted or at a pre-application conference, the administrative officer shall immediately transmit the application to the zoning enforcement officer.

Upon receipt of an application for a use not expressly permitted or following a pre-application conference regarding a use not expressly permitted, the zoning enforcement officer shall evaluate and determine whether the proposed use is of a similar type, character, and intensity as a listed use in section 38-191 requiring a special use permit. Upon such determination, the proposed use may be considered to be a use requiring a special use permit. If such determination is made, the application for the proposed use shall be heard as a special use permit for the use of a similar type, character, and intensity as listed in section 38-191 by the zoning board of review, or by the planning board pursuant to G.L. § 45-24-46.4 and G.L. § 45-23-50.1.

(Ord. of 6-23-1994, art. IV, § 14; Ord. of 8-27-2015(3); Ord. of 9-14-2023(2); Ord. of 1-11-2024(4); Ord. of 3-13-2025(3))