Lexington Commission Agrees to Consider Cambridge Water Department Conservation Restriction

LEXINGTON -- May 27, 2025, Lexington Conservation Commission agrees in principle to hold a conservation restriction on the Cambridge Water Department's 30-acre Tracer Lane parcel, a forested tract saved from solar development. Chair Philip Hamilton and commissioners voted unanimously on all business items at the May 27 meeting, issuing orders of conditions for four properties, 1–108 Drummer Boy Way, 217–241 Massachusetts Avenue and Zero Cliff Avenue, 81 Reed Street, and 232 Lincoln Street, and reappointing Commissioner Kevin Butel as the commission's representative to the Community Preservation Committee. Conservation Director Karen Mullins said Cambridge has agreed to prepare the baseline documentation report for the Tracer Lane restriction and would address existing encroachments before any formal transfer, though she flagged annual monitoring as a strain on "already stretched" staff. The commission issued a negative determination with conditions for a teardown-rebuild at 14 Thoreau Road, continued the 25 Valley Road driveway expansion hearing to June 10 pending an engineering review, and pushed the troubled 4 Turning Mill Road matter to June 24 after Mullins told commissioners that enforcement of unauthorized wetland disturbance, including truck access into wetlands, has been unresolved for nearly a year.