Weston CPC approves appraisal funds for historic Merriam Street house

WESTON -- January 28, 2019, Weston's Community Preservation Committee approved two funding requests and heard detailed trail and land-history presentations at its January 28 meeting. The committee voted unanimously to authorize a $4,500 administrative appropriation for a Historic Commission appraisal of 261 Merriam Street, a 1901 Queen Anne house in the Silver Hill National Registered Historic District threatened by an adjacent 40B development. The committee also unanimously approved a $29,000 CPA request to continue the town's contract with the Regional Housing Services Office for affordable housing compliance work. The meeting's longest discussion focused on the Case Estates, where a presenter traced the property's purchase history from a $28.5 million Harvard asking price through years of pesticide-contamination litigation and an ultimate sale price of roughly $13.74 million, with Harvard spending approximately $5.6 million on environmental cleanup; the committee heard that about $725,000 remains in the original CPA account and would be nearly exhausted by a proposed Legacy Trail and stone dust connector giving public access to the open space before historic farm buildings on the property are sold to private owners. A $650,000 construction request for the Ash Street Walkway, presented by Traffic and Sidewalk Committee senior member Clint Schuckel, was reviewed ahead of a March 25 public hearing.