The Winchester Inland Wetlands & Watercourses Commission on June 18 accepted an application from Matthew Maloney to remove an existing lakeside house and construct a new 1,306-square-foot walkout house at 602 East Wakefield Boulevard.

The commission accepted the application for review and directed staff to track required details before final approval. The applicant’s engineer presented plans that reduce overall impervious cover slightly (from 4,360 square feet, 27.2 percent, to 4,311 square feet, 26.9 percent) and add a vegetated rain garden sized to meet the stormwater volume target.

Robert Colabella, senior project manager with Haley Ward, told the commission the proposed house would replace an older structure and generate about 130 cubic yards of earthwork. Colabella described a plan to use a temporary pumping/settling basin for dewatering during foundation work, with the basin later converted to the rain garden. He said the rain garden’s required storage volume was roughly 141.9 cubic feet and the proposed feature provides about 156 cubic feet.

Commissioners and staff discussed erosion controls, the need for full‑size construction drawings, and whether footing drains should be shown on the plans. Colabella said the structure will be slab‑on‑grade with a walkout basement; he agreed to add optional footing drains and show roof leader discharge routing to the rain garden if required. He also confirmed filter socks will be installed around the project perimeter and that a staging/settling area for dewatering had been located on the site plan.

The applicant provided written neighbor endorsements from adjacent property owners; Colabella said both neighbors signed letters included in the application packet. The project will also require a zoning variance before certain aspects proceed; Colabella noted the application will appear before the Zoning Board of Appeals as part of the process.

Commissioners voted to accept the application for processing, with the expectation that revised, full‑size drawings and any requested footing‑drain details would be provided before the matter returns for approval.