Conservation Commission sets deadlines, revives fine threat on high school turf cleanup

WAYLAND — September 18, 2024 — Wayland Conservation Commission imposes hard deadlines and revives fine threat on stalled high school turf field cleanup. Chair Sean P. Fair told members the commission will no longer tolerate annual slippage, setting an April deadline for the drainage swale and a March 2025 deadline for the riverfront floodplain remediation, with potential retroactive fines of $400 per day over two years — a figure that would exceed six figures. Conservation Administrator Linda Hansen reported only one of five contractors solicited has bid on the swale work and that U.S. Fish and Wildlife, which co-owns part of the floodplain, has not responded to outreach. Commissioner Luke Legere added an intermediate December deadline for the consultant's remediation report. Separately, members called Veritas Christian Academy's plan to remove 280 of 330 trees at 162-172 Cochituate Road "obscene" and "a terrible location," pending a Planning Board peer review.