Planning Board challenges Drabbington Lodge unit cut, sees lost safe harbor

WESTON -- January 22, 2025, Weston Planning Board pushes back as Drabbington senior project drops from 20 to 17 units. Chair Leslie Glynn told developer Bob Parsekian the reduction at the former Drabbington Lodge at 135 North Ave. cost the town an expected year of "safe harbor" from unfriendly 40B filings, calling it a broken "promise to the town." Town Planner Imaikalani Aiu reported that the sale of 751 Boston Post Road to Modera closed the day before the meeting but that Weston will remain at roughly 8.1 percent affordable. Tom, chair of the Weston Elderly Housing Committee, defended the 17-unit plan as more "fiscally viable" for a Brook School-operated master lease and warned that state and federal regulators "don't particularly like towns gaming the unit counts." The board continued the hearing to Feb. 5 and signaled it will revisit timing alongside the six-unit zero Wellesley Street Habitat project. Aiu separately said the town must submit an MBTA 3A action plan by Feb. 13 and comply by July 14.