Weston Planning Board approves 98 Love Lane subdivision, debates Case Estates trail access

WESTON — January 23, 2019 — Weston Planning Board approves 98 Love Lane subdivision and advances $645,000 Case Estates trail project. The board voted unanimously Wednesday to issue a certificate of action for the flexible subdivision special permit at 98 Love Lane, completing an escrow arrangement under which a deed restriction limiting each resulting lot to one residential dwelling will be recorded simultaneously with the subdivision decision to eliminate any gap in the chain of title. The bulk of the evening was spent on a proposed accessible legacy trail and Ash Street sidewalk connecting the Case Estates open space to existing town trail networks, with the board pushing back on a fire department request for an 18-foot stone wall opening — members called it "excessive" and "inconsistent" with residential precedents — and directing the applicant's engineers from Howard Stein-Hudson to negotiate with Fire Chief Soar to reduce the opening to 16 feet. The board also asked for an arborist review of trees at risk from sidewalk construction and debated preserving a pine tree along Ash Street through a diagonal crosswalk design. A separate transit and congestion study presented by board member Tony Flynn and a colleague recommended a $5,000 resident travel survey as a first step toward piloting shuttle and ride-share services, citing a 34 percent increase in Waltham-Boston commute times over the past decade.