Wayland Board of Health grants one-year chicken variance at 11 Bow Road

WAYLAND — August 21, 2023 — Wayland Board of Health approves seven-chicken variance at 11 Bow Road. Meeting without Chair Robert Defrancesco, the board voted 3-0 to grant resident Deborah Payne a one-year variance to keep up to seven chickens on her half-acre property; members Genevieve Anand and Jonathan Storer were among those voting yes. Health Director Julia told the board a broader rewrite of the town's animal-keeping regulations is stalled after the drafting attorney left her firm. The director also reported that August lab testing exceeded state cyanobacteria thresholds, closing the town beach a few days early and triggering an advisory for South, Middle and North ponds. An indoor air quality report on a local elementary school by state director Michael Feeney was described as largely reassuring, with maintenance-focused recommendations. Flu and COVID-19 clinics for residents 65 and older are planned for Wednesdays in October through December.