Conservation Commission charts middle path on two stalled home sales

SUDBURY -- February 5, 2024, Sudbury Conservation Commission steers two property sales through decades-old wetlands violations. At its Feb. 5 meeting, the commission gave informal guidance, but no certificates of compliance, on open orders at 4 Southwest Circle and 36 Plantation Circle, where prior owners cleared roughly 7,500 and 3,500 square feet of protected buffer and conservation-restriction land. Landscape architect Karen Sebastian presented three restoration options for Southwest Circle ranging from a meadow seeding to a full 100-plant woodland-edge planting; commissioners coalesced around what Member Mark Sevier dubbed "plan 2.5," with Member Luke Faust saying he would "love three." Conservation Coordinator Lori Capone told the parties any path forward requires a new request for determination by late April for June 1 implementation and two years of monitoring. The commission also approved a minor modification adding a 12-foot ductile steel culvert extension on the Eversource underground transmission line behind Sudbury Lumber.