Developers and select board members urge changes to proposed 75-foot wetlands buffer ordinance

Chad Grant, a civil engineer who said he represents multiple local clients through Fieldstone Blankens Homes, told the Select Board that the draft wetlands ordinance now before the Planning Board would impose a “75‑foot no disturbance buffer, period” on all mapped wetlands and is likely to halt planned development in town.

Grant said the proposed, uniform buffer does not distinguish between high‑value water bodies and small, altered, or low‑functioning forested wetlands. He told the board that the ordinance makes no provision for access to buildable upland areas and does not clarify how existing developed lots or maintained lawns would be treated. “It’s a 75‑foot no disturbance buffer would be a pretty significant, really almost land‑taking on a number of properties in town,” Grant said.

The matter matters to town finances and existing investments, several board members said. Select Board members and Grant pointed specifically to parcels in and around Safford Drive and other commercial‑industrial areas where utilities and roads…