Weston Planning Board approves two memos urging design standards for affordable housing

WESTON — December 1, 2022 — Weston Planning Board unanimously approves advisory memos pressing design and sustainability standards for two Wellesley Street affordable housing projects. Chair Leslie Glynn led the board through extensive line-by-line edits to a memo bound for the Zoning Board of Appeals ahead of its December 6 review of a Habitat for Humanity 40B development at 0 Wellesley Street. The board agreed the project should be held to the same scenic-road site plan approval standards as private residential development, and added language urging net-zero construction on the grounds that energy efficiency would reduce long-term costs for residents. A second memo, covering a separate development of roughly 179 to 192 units on Wellesley Street, was also approved with new language tying a proposed commuter-rail pedestrian connection to state housing-choice legislation priorities. John Jacobs, a member of the property committee at Saint Peter's Episcopal Church across from the Habitat site, joined late in the meeting to raise concerns about shared groundwater and stormwater disruption, and was directed to voice those concerns at Tuesday's ZBA hearing.