Lexington Conservation Commission Presses Bedford Street Developer on Wetland Buffer Alternatives

LEXINGTON -- April 28, 2026, Lexington Conservation Commission sends 475 Bedford Street multifamily project back for impracticability analysis. The commission voted 4-0 to continue the hearing on Pulte Homes of New England's proposed 150-unit, three-building redevelopment of a Bedford Street sports facility after Chair Ruth Ladd and Commissioner Tom Whelan pressed the applicant team, Scott Morrison of VHB, attorney Ryan Douglas of Rubin and Rudman, and proponent Essek Petrie, to document specifically why reducing the footprints of one or more buildings to lessen encroachment into the 25-foot and 100-foot wetland buffer zones would be impracticable. The project features a net removal of roughly 57,000 square feet of impervious pavement and an 18,059-square-foot reduction in buffer-zone building area, but multiple public commenters, including Lisa Newton and Sandra Hackman of 55 for Lane, argued that improvements over existing conditions do not substitute for a true alternatives analysis. The commission also continued the Lexington High School flood-study hearing to May 19, issued an amended Order of Conditions and partial certificate of compliance for 560 Concord Avenue with a 5-0 vote, and scheduled site visits for May 12 at 5:30 p.m.