Weston Planning Board Approves Wellesley Street Scenic Road Permit With Conditions

WESTON — February 27, 2019 — Weston Planning Board approves Wellesley Street scenic road permit as Boston Properties withdrawal threatens housing safe harbor. The board voted unanimously at its February 27 meeting to approve the scenic road permit for a 16-foot stonewall opening on Wellesley Street, part of a Legacy Trail connection to Ash Street, subject to conditions including board review of the final gate design, with members pushing for rough-hewn granite posts over cedar and directing the designer to study gates at Danforth Farm for proportions. Town Planner Eamon then reported that Boston Properties had abruptly withdrawn its application for a mixed-use development that would have delivered 125 affordable units and roughly 200,000 square feet of office space — collapsing a deal supported unanimously at a neighborhood meeting just days earlier after Biogen's FDA pipeline setbacks changed the company's expansion calculus. The withdrawal left Weston one Zoning Board of Appeals vote short of the comprehensive permit that would have provided state safe harbor, with three to four Chapter 40B proposals now advancing simultaneously and potentially adding 600 or more units to a town of roughly 4,000 housing units.