Mendon Conservation Board Approves Waterfront Buffer Exception

Conservation · Meeting of April 15, 2026

Mendon Conservation Commission unanimously closes hearing on lakefront project, orders buffer markers instead of a dock. Engineer Mike Dean, of D&L Design Group, told the board the 2 Nitmo Drive project for applicant Benny Pinto is "80 percent, 90 percent complete," with revisions responding to an earlier enforcement order over roughly 890 square feet of wetland disturbance. Members agreed to let existing riprap remain inside the 25-foot no-disturbance zone but required granite posts or concrete bounds marking the buffer every 25 to 50 feet, and stripped a proposed dock and vista-pruning plan from the filing.

The board also closed out a septic-related certificate of compliance at 46 Washington Street. Separately, a member warned that a rising Mendon-Upton Regional School District assessment could force staff or service cuts "if things went badly," recalling a prior override failure that cost the district 70 of 400 staff positions.

In the full story:

• The complete report, 890 words

Source: the Conservation meeting of April 15, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.