Commission votes to fight MassDOT wetlands exemption claim

Conservation Commission · Meeting of September 17, 2026

Natick Conservation Commission vows to fight MassDOT's claim that a Route 27 bridge project is exempt from wetlands review. The commission's chair told the Select Board the agency's own numbers show the project would add more than 40 cubic feet per second, over 300 gallons per second, of stormwater into a ditch behind Running Brook Road homes during a 100-year storm, risking movement of old dry-cleaning contamination plumes near the town's drinking water. "We're digging in our heels on this," the chair said.

Separately, the commission closed hearings on 17 Edgewood Avenue and Cochituate State Park, continued a 5 Glenwood Street filing to October 8, approved a $4,700 contract with LEC Environmental to assess tree removal near a protected vernal pool at Winter Oaks, and spent roughly an hour on youth safety concerns at an informal bike-jump area off Middlesex Path, where residents credited new Jersey barriers with slowing dangerous traffic.

In the full story:

• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report — 3,042 words

Source: the Conservation Commission meeting of September 17, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.