Weston Conservation Commission Names Parcel Nine Top Priority in Land Swap

WESTON — August 13, 2024 — Weston Conservation Commission backs Parcel Nine as its top pick in a mandated Article 97 land swap tied to water tank replacements. Chair Rees Tulloss and members including Eileen Fava and Alison Fronk Barlow coalesced around an L-shaped, roughly five-acre portion of Parcel Nine near Ash Street — explicitly named as a conservation priority in the town's 2017 Open Space and Recreation Plan — ahead of a joint August 27 meeting with the Select Board. The School Committee wrote to the commission asking that Parcel Seven, near the school campus, be largely excluded from consideration given its potential future use for educational or municipal purposes; members said the request "seems reasonable." The commission also voted 5-0 to reject a request by the applicant at 518-540 South Avenue to substitute alternate stormwater condition language in an already-issued order of conditions under DEP File 337-1480, with staff noting the project is already under multiple appeals with the DEP. A Negative 3 Determination for a new in-ground pool at 501 Glenn Road passed 6-0, and the commission continued a wetland delineation hearing for 175 Lexington Street to August 27 after Cambridge Water Department gauge data indicated that a stream on the property previously mapped as intermittent likely flows year-round — a finding that would impose a 200-foot riverfront area protection zone on the parcel.