Wayland Conservation Commission demands planting plan before 51-tree Hickory Hill removal

WAYLAND — May 22, 2024 — Wayland Conservation Commission halts a homeowner's plan to remove 51 trees on Hickory Hill Road. The applicant, identified as Kevin, sought permission to fell nine oaks, two walnuts, a sugar maple and dozens of pines, but Conservation Administrator Linda Hansen said only eight of the trees were documented as dead or in decline and that what he submitted was a removal inventory, not a signed arborist's report. "You don't move to Wayland to take down all your trees," Hansen told him, citing an active enforcement order against one neighbor and unauthorized cutting by another on the same street. Acting chair Luke Legere, sitting in for absent Chair Sean P. Fair, led a unanimous vote to continue the hearing to June 12, when the applicant must return with a planting plan keyed to species native to MetroWest. The commission also continued five other hearings and issued two certificates of compliance for 68 Lakeshore Drive.