CPC reviews $1 million Birch Lane duplex and Case Estates tree request

WESTON -- January 25, 2021, Weston CPC weighs $1.02 million Birch Lane duplex and sets March 22 public hearing. The Community Preservation Committee on Jan. 25 took up a scaled-back Weston Affordable Housing Foundation plan for a two-unit, three-bedroom rental duplex on land donated by Polly Dixon, budgeted at $510,000 per unit plus $45,500 demolition and $15,000 landscaping; an upgrade of Birch Lane to town standards is excluded and will be funded separately by WAFI. The Affordable Housing Trust voted unanimously to back the project with one WAFI-conflicted abstention, and the Historical Commission unanimously found the two existing cottages historically significant before continuing its hearing. Attorney Eric Goldberg, representing five neighboring households, called the landscape line inadequate, noting "I've seen single trees cost upwards of $10,000." The CPC also heard a $3,215 request from Tree Advisory Group chair Lori Hess to preserve a rare butternut and a persimmon at the Case Estates, and a $30,000 annual renewal with the Regional Housing Services Office, down $2,000 on a 30-hour reduction.