Weston Conservation Commission ratifies enforcement order over unpermitted wetland buffer work

WESTON — March 17, 2026 — Weston's Conservation Commission ratified an enforcement order and demanded a stronger remediation plan for unpermitted work inside a protected wetland buffer zone at 12 Robin Road. The six-member commission voted 6-0 at its March 17 remote meeting to ratify the order Conservation Administrator Jordan McCarron issued on March 4 against owner Kevin Zhao, citing the installation of roughly 1,760 square feet of new lawn with fill, a mulched pathway, and a stone retaining wall estimated at 10 feet tall in places — all within the 100-foot Buffer Zone to a Bordering Vegetated Wetland that lies inside the Cambridge Water Department's public water supply watershed. Chair Rees Tulloss and members including Alison Fronk Barlow characterized the violation as "egregious," saying the 2023 Notice of Non-Significance issued by the commission explicitly barred any buffer zone work without further approval. The commission rejected an initial consultant mitigation plan from Goddard Consulting that proposed native plantings over approximately 4,800 square feet, and indicated that partial or full removal of the retaining wall and fill, combined with a formal after-the-fact Notice of Intent, would likely be required. The hearing was continued to April 14, 2026, at 7:30 p.m.