Bellingham Conservation Commission Splits on Vernal Pool Buffer Waiver for Blackstone Street Road

BELLINGHAM — June 12, 2026 — Bellingham Conservation Commission advanced a major subdivision road improvement project June 12 but split 3-2 against a key buffer zone waiver, forcing a redesign. The commission voted on four bylaw waivers requested by Wall Street Development Corp for improvements to Blackstone Street, a pre-existing private way serving a planned residential subdivision of roughly 10 lots; it approved three waivers — including a finding that the proposed road alignment is the least impactful practicable alternative near a certified vernal pool — but denied the request to allow the project's stormwater detention basin to intrude into the 25-foot no-disturb zone bordering vegetated wetland. Peer reviewer Andrew Gorman of Beals and Thomas Engineers, participating remotely, noted the proposed buffer-zone planting plan is "something akin to what we might design ourselves." The commission also unanimously revoked an enforcement order against the operator of a restaurant at 455 Hartford Avenue after an investigation confirmed that a discharge over a bank into adjacent wetland was flour-and-water rinse water, not cooking oil, and that all washing operations have been moved inside. A municipal well replacement at 200 Rentham Road and a septic replacement at 511 Rentham Road were both continued or approved on routine grounds; seven new notices of intent for single-family homes on Lots 77 through 83 filed by Toll Northeast Corporation were continued to June 24.