Weston Conservation Commission Rejects Buffer Waiver Request for Zero Hemlock Road

WESTON — March 28, 2023 — Weston Conservation Commission unanimously rejects a buffer waiver tied to a proposed trail easement at Zero Hemlock Road. The 5-0 vote at the March 28 meeting blocks property owner Richard Barno from pursuing a subdivision buffer waiver before the Planning Board, at least under his current application, after commissioners said the proposed quid pro quo — an access easement over Barno's land in exchange for the commission's cooperation — offered the public no guaranteed conservation benefit. Chair Joe Berman, serving as acting chair, moved the motion himself, saying he saw no way the waiver helped "the woods" or the public interest. The same meeting featured a presentation by Member Glenn Butcher urging residents to support a proposed local wetlands protection bylaw at the annual Town Meeting, which would extend protections to vernal pools and isolated vegetated wetlands and codify the commission's existing 25-foot no-disturb zone as enforceable regulation — a step Butcher noted more than 200 of Massachusetts's 351 cities and towns have already taken.