Residents press Woburn commission as Pulte seeks reissued permit for Highland at Vail

Pulte Homes of New England asked the Woburn Conservation Commission on June 27 to reissue an order of conditions for the Highland at Vail residential development after the original order expired on June 2, 2024.

At the meeting Matthew Leidner of Civil Design Group, representing Pulte, said the project’s plan set and stormwater calculations are unchanged from the 2021 approval and that construction resumed with a new Notice of Intent filed June 12, 2024 so work within jurisdictional areas can continue. Leidner said the missed 30‑day extension filing was the applicant’s fault and that the filing and abutter notice requirements had been met for the refile.

Why it matters: the development sits adjacent to bordering vegetated wetlands and the Abadrona/Mystic river system. Commissioners pressed the applicant for documentation they said the commission would need to enforce conditions if work resumes, including certifications showing infiltration systems were installed correctly and an updated sequence-of-work schedule.

During public comment Tracy Olsen, a volunteer with the Mystic River Watershed Association, urged the commission to “consider limiting the construction of houses and associated lawns and outdoor spaces to areas outside of this 150 foot buffer zone” and proposed removing seven townhouses (units 65–75) from the plan, a change she said would reduce the project’s unit count by less than 4% while delivering meaningful protection for the wetlands. Olsen criticized the Notice of Intent for providing “little evidence” that the work in the buffer will not harm the interests protected by the local ordinance.

David Miller, chair of the Winchester Conservation Commission, told the Woburn board that a March 29, 2021 settlement involving Pulte required the developer to submit weekly environmental-monitor reports to Winchester. Miller said Winchester had not received those weekly reports and suggested Woburn consider adding a monitoring-report requirement into its order of conditions if the commission reissues the permit.

Commissioners asked the applicant to supply written certifications that infiltration systems were installed properly and to provide a current sequence of construction activities. Craig Marchanda, the on-site engineer, said some systems were installed but not yet fully operational and that certifications could be submitted. The commission also discussed the scope of Army Corps permits and whether the larger Vail project held separate federal permits; Leidner said the Highland at Vail component did not require a separate Army Corps authorization for the work currently proposed.

After discussion commissioners closed the public hearing; at the business portion of the meeting the commission later voted to issue the order of conditions for the Pulte Homes filing as drafted (recorded in the meeting minutes). The commission recorded requests for the applicant to supply the requested certifications, the sequence of work, and to consider including monitoring/reporting language in the order of conditions.

Next steps: Pulte must supply the requested certifications and schedule details for the commission’s review; commissioners signaled they expect monitoring and documentation to be part of the compliance path as construction resumes.