The Southborough Conservation Commission agreed July 17 to a policy shift that will reduce reliance on paid peer reviewers for routine residential projects and direct more first-line review work to the town's conservation staff. Commissioners said the change is intended to reduce consultant overages for residents applying for small projects such as decks, pools, garages and septic work.

Staff presented a spreadsheet of peer-review costs through June 2024 and described a proposed scope: conservation staff would perform single-family/residential reviews where work is primarily outside the 0-50-foot wetland buffer (for example, work more than 50 feet from wetland flags), perform site visits and provide a written report and conditions; paid peer review would continue to be required for projects with impacts inside the 0-50-foot zone, for ANR/ANRAD matters, commercial projects and subdivisions, and for any application that requests a wetland confirmation.

Commissioners said they trust staff's technical judgment and supported the change, noting the town had both the in-house experience and recent staffing to handle more of this workload. The commission emphasized that applicants would still be required to cover consultant costs where their application is incomplete or where their submission creates extra review work; staff said they would propose updated fee language and a not-to-exceed range to better align consultant-authorized spending with applicant expectations.

Commissioners asked staff to draft updated regulations and a fee schedule that would: clarify when staff-only review is permitted, define thresholds for mandatory peer review (for example, work within 0-50 feet of wetlands, ANRADs, commercial projects), and set clearer not-to-exceed consultant commitments and pre-authorization notifications. Staff said they will prepare a draft revision for future commission review.