CPC pulls Birch Lane affordable housing project from spring Town Meeting

WESTON — March 9, 2020 — Weston CPC declines to advance $1.7M Birch Lane affordable housing project. The Community Preservation Committee on March 9 informally agreed not to bring the Weston Affordable Housing Foundation's two-cottage Birch Lane proposal to its March 23 public hearing or spring Town Meeting, citing per-unit construction costs of roughly $600,000 — two to three times comparable Weston projects at Viles Street (about $260,000/unit) and Pine Street (about $375,000/unit). Members questioned the Historical Commission's preservation case after WAHF's Peter Foley confirmed original siding, windows and fieldstone foundations would all be replaced. "The only things that are going to be preserved are deep in the structure of the house that will never be observed," one member said. Attorney Eric Holbert, representing an abutter, said neighbors back moving the cottages off the right-of-way but oppose any back-lot development. The committee separately approved a $30,000 administrative request for the town's Housing Production Plan.