Weston Historical Commission declares four properties significant, schedules February hearings

WESTON — January 16, 2018 — Weston Historical Commission declared four properties significant under the demolition delay bylaw and approved two Community Preservation Committee funding requests at its January 16 meeting. Co-Chair Phyllis Halpern opened by securing a unanimous vote to operate under a modified administrative approval framework drawn from the commission's 2005 rules and regulations, a procedural shift prompted by questions raised the prior week about transparency. The commission voted to administratively approve Phase One addition plans for 195 Conant Road while flagging that Phase Two would require a full public hearing, found 461 South Avenue not significant after a debate over its heavily altered condition, and set public hearings for February 20 for 16 Jones Road, 527 Boston Post Road, and 37 Partridge Hill Road. The commission unanimously approved two separate requests for $4,500 each from CPC administrative funds to appraise potential preservation restrictions on 71 Lexington Street, believed to date to approximately 1685, and 120 Summer Street, a first-period structure where preservation carpentry expert Steve O'Shaughnessy of the North Bennett Street School identified a medieval daisy wheel construction marking and 17th-century timber framing techniques.