Fafard v. Conservation Commission of Reading

Although the proposed construction did not encroach on wetland or a protective twenty-five foot “zone of natural vegetation” along the boundary of the wetland, the conservation commission of Reading (commission), on the ground that the construction itself or the use of the resulting house would infallibly cause degradation of the protective zone, declined to issue an order of conditions authorizing the proposed construction. The commission’s order was based on a town by-law, rather than on G. L. c. 131, § 40. On review in the nature of certiorari (G. L. c. 249, § 4), a judge in the Superior…