Weston Planning Board votes to save Church Street tree over DPW objection

WESTON — December 5, 2018 — Weston Planning Board preserves contested Church Street oak, halts Oak Street sunroom over compliance failures. The board voted 4-0 with one abstention at its December 5 meeting to deny a DPW request to remove a large tree at 179 Church Street, directing the department instead to investigate lowering the adjacent curb to allow mechanical plowing around the obstacle. Nina Danforth, chairman of the Tree Advisory Group, testified she walked the sidewalk after the most recent storm and found it plowed in a clean arc around both the tree and a nearby utility pole, while resident Alicia Primer told the board a comparable 32-inch pole clearance at Coburn Road and Church Street is handled without incident. A letter from a selectman warned the board that future sidewalk complaints would be attributed to its decision. On a separate matter, the board continued a 44 Oak Street sunroom application to January 9 after a neighbor identified multiple items built out of compliance with the approved site plan — including unapproved sconces, an irrigation system, and an expanded patio — and board members learned a temporary certificate of occupancy had been issued without Planning Board sign-off.