Weston Planning Board sends contested tree bylaw to town meeting voters

WESTON — May 4, 2022 — Weston Planning Board unanimously recommends contested tree bylaw for town meeting after eight public forums. The board voted 4-0 on May 4 to send Article 30, the sustainable tree initiative bylaw, to voters, with Chair Leslie Glynn and members Lori Hess, Stephen Oppenheimer, and Alicia Primer all voting in favor; Vice Chair Alex Selvig was absent. Attorney Jonathan Silverstein, representing a coalition of property owners and builders, argued the bylaw constitutes an unlawful exaction and cited a 2021 federal appeals court ruling striking down a comparable Michigan ordinance, while town counsel John Whitten countered that the measure clears the rational basis standard and is "not spot zoning." Remediation costs under the draft run approximately $454.80 per inch of trunk diameter, with a 24-inch tree triggering as much as $109,000 in fees under the alternative trunk value method the board declined to adopt. The board also voted to strip its newspaper publication requirement from site plan approvals after the Weston Town Crier ended its print run, avoiding Boston Globe legal notice costs estimated at $1,400 per hearing.