Weston Unified Plan Committee votes to restructure stakeholder information gathering

WESTON -- August 27, 2025, Weston's Unified Plan Committee unanimously overhauled how its working groups collect information, authorizing individual members to conduct stakeholder interviews independently and report back to posted open meetings. The August 27 vote followed a town counsel opinion, developed after a detailed consultation with committee staff and board counsel, concluding that multi-member subcommittee sessions involving outside dialogue likely trigger open meeting law requirements. Committee member Bob Scott drew the session's sharpest exchange when he called the plan's 130-page inventory and assessment document error-riddled, citing a demographic chart on page 17 showing nearly 500 more boys than girls under age 18 in Weston as "obviously nonsense," and questioning a state projection of roughly 23 percent population growth over 25 years that he said the projection's own author told him "makes no sense for Weston." Planning Board member Leslie separately flagged what she called a "pervasive undertone of disapproval" toward Weston's land-use character throughout the document. Consultant Jill Barrett of Barrett Planning Group acknowledged the feedback and said the team would respond through the comment resolution matrix, while urging the committee to wrap up the key issues and opportunities phase, originally due June 30, now targeted for October 31, before pivoting to goal-setting.