Whitman Conservation Commission Continues Rye Hill Duplex Hearing Pending Other Boards

WHITMAN -- March 3, 2026, Whitman Conservation Commission continues Rye Hill duplex hearing and tightens draft wetlands bylaw. The commission opened and continued a public hearing on a Notice of Intent filed by Gary and Fernando Christina, trustees, for seven residential duplexes at 25 Rye Hill Street, with commissioners pressing the project engineer on perc testing, groundwater infiltration capacity, and stormwater treatment documentation before the wetland buffer zone. Because the applicants have not yet appeared before the Zoning Board of Appeals, the commission, describing itself as "the last board", agreed to hold the matter open until other municipal reviews are complete. In a separate bylaw discussion, commissioners reached consensus to designate the innermost 25 feet of the wetland buffer zone as a strict no-disturbance zone, stricter than the state DEP baseline, replacing a prior reference to 50 feet. An abbreviated Notice of Resource Area Delineation off Rose Way, submitted by Ritter Generations, was scheduled for the April 7 meeting pending re-flagging of the site.